The Blog
5 Best Apps for Scanning & Storing Receipts
In today’s world, everything is becoming more and more digitized—from the way you communicate to the way you write grocery lists and store documents, it’s almost guaranteed that an apps exists for whatever you need. With these apps comes convenience and a more minimalistic lifestyle than ever before. Minimalism and slimming down your everyday carry needs are what we’re all about here at Andar, and we get a lot of questions about where and how to store receipts in our wallets. To continue with the trend of an increasingly digital world, we thought we’d put together a list of the 5 best apps for scanning and storing receipts.
#5: Smart Receipts
#4: Evernote Scannable
Evernote Scannable is a free, user-friendly app that isn’t built specifically for keeping record of receipts, but for the everyday individual looking to keep a record of their personal expenses, this app will do just fine. Simply open the app and hold the camera over a receipt, and Evernote Scannable will quickly scan the receipt and store it in your phone’s camera roll. The nice thing about this app is its scanning ability: each receipt is scanned in a way that the final photo only includes the receipt without any of the background, making the words and numbers on the receipt easier to read than other app-generated scans. Evernote Scannable is a very simple app; because of its simplicity, it probably shouldn’t be used for tracking business expenses. For the individual simply wanting to keep track of their spending, however, Evernote Scannable is a great option.
#3: Shoeboxed
The free version of this app is pretty basic, but it’s a good option for someone who isn’t needing to store a lot of complex expense information. Once you’ve scanned a receipt, you have the option to enter any notes associated with the receipt and choose a category to organize each scanned receipt. Under the free version, you’ll have to manually enter the receipt’s data yourself, but the paid version allows you to send the scan to a member of the Shoeboxed team, who will personally review and enter the information so you don’t have to. Shoeboxed also allows you to track mileage and store scans of business cards within the app.
#2: Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense requires you to create a free online account before scanning receipts. Once that’s done, you can scan and store within the app up to 100 receipts a month under the free version. Zoho Expense automatically scans and inputs the information from each receipt, and does this quickly and accurately. You can then categorize each receipt for business purposes. This app is very detailed, but is surprisingly easy to navigate. It also offers options to log other business expenses as well as mileage. Zoho Expense is meant for businesses, so if you’re just wanting to record receipts for personal purposes, this app probably isn’t for you. For employees, though, it’s a great option.
#1: Receipts by Wave
Receipts by Wave is a free app designed for businesses, but it can easily be used by both the employee for business expenses and the individual for personal expenses. It requires creating a free online account with Wave first and you’ll be asked what kind of business you’re in, but if you’re not intending to use it for business expenses, you can just pick a business type and use the basic features rather than the more complex business features. If you are an employee using the app for business expenses, Receipts by Wave allows you to choose a category for each receipt (e.g. Advertising & Promotion, Interest Expense, etc.) for easy expense tracking. One you’ve scanned the receipt, you have the option to let the app input all the information on the receipt into the app , or you can manually input the information yourself if you’d prefer. The app also allows you to review any automatically inputted information for errors. Best of all, unlike the other apps, Receipts by Wave allows for unlimited scans and stores each scanned receipt in the cloud instead of on your phone’s camera roll, so your phone’s storage isn’t used up.
The Consensus
There are many other apps out there designed for business expenses, but considering the prices of most of them, these top 5 will allow you to get the most bang for your buck (and in many cases, you’ll get a lot of bang for no buck at all!). Whether you’re an employee needing to store receipts for reimbursement, or simply an individual looking to have an organized budget, a receipt app is the best method for scanning and storing information in the age of minimalism and digitization.
And speaking of minimalism, our wallets are perfect for helping you slim down your everyday needs, so you can carry what matters. Shop here.
