Say what you spent and Cash Compass parses the amount, merchant, and category — three seconds from speech to saved transaction.
Apple-native · No bank logins · iCloud sync
Voice transcription runs on Apple's SFSpeechRecognizer framework — the same system Siri uses for dictation. On supported iPhones, transcription happens locally on the device, so your voice audio never leaves the phone. Many third-party voice features upload audio to a server for processing. Cash Compass uses Apple's framework deliberately for privacy and latency reasons.
Open Cash Compass, tap the voice button, say something like "twelve fifty Whole Foods groceries." The app transcribes, extracts the amount, infers the category, and saves the entry — usually under three seconds end-to-end. Most other budget apps make you type the amount, pick the category from a dropdown, then save, which takes maybe twenty seconds. Voice removes the friction that kills habit formation.
The free tier includes three voice transactions so you can test the flow before paying. Premium ($2.99/week or $29.99/year) unlocks unlimited voice entry — useful if voice is your primary capture method. Manual entry is always free and unlimited, so you can fall back if you don't subscribe. Most apps either gate voice entirely behind subscription or don't offer it at all; Cash Compass lets you try it first.
Voice, photo of a receipt, or 3-tap manual entry — every method takes under 5 seconds.
Cash Compass picks the category automatically. Override once and it learns your pattern.
Weekly chart shows where money went. Adjust caps before the month is over, not after.
Open Cash Compass and tap the microphone button on the entry screen. The waveform animates while it listens, and you speak naturally — "fourteen dollars lunch at Sweetgreen," "sixty bucks gas Shell," or "three twenty-seven Target groceries." Apple's Speech framework transcribes the audio on-device, and Cash Compass's parser extracts the amount, identifies the merchant, and assigns a category based on keywords. You see the parsed result before confirming, so you can correct anything wrong with a tap. Saving takes one more tap, and the transaction appears in your list. The whole flow is typically under three seconds for a clean utterance, which is meaningfully faster than typing out an amount, picking a category from a list, and adding a merchant by hand.
The free tier includes three voice entries total — enough to test whether voice is your speed before paying for it. After that, voice entry requires premium ($2.99/week or $29.99/year), which unlocks unlimited voice transactions plus unlimited receipt scans, CSV export, iCloud sync, and Apple Family Sharing for up to five members. Manual entry is always free and unlimited, so even on the free tier you can keep logging by typing. The reason voice is gated: the Speech framework counts toward your iPhone's daily on-device recognition budget at scale, and unlimited voice is the most-used premium feature in our usage data. If you're a heavy voice user, premium pays for itself in time saved within a couple of weeks.
Surprisingly few do it natively. Mint never had it. YNAB doesn't have built-in voice — you can build a Siri Shortcut that routes through their app, but it's a workaround. Monarch and Copilot don't have voice. Goodbudget doesn't have voice. Quicken Simplifi doesn't have voice. Apps like Spendee and Wallet have some voice features but they're either web-based (slower) or feel bolted on. Cash Compass treats voice as a first-class entry method because it's the fastest way to log something while you're moving — walking out of a coffee shop, after a grocery run, between meetings. The honest gap: voice works best for short utterances. For complex multi-item receipts, the receipt scanner is faster.
Misparses do happen, especially with unusual merchant names or amounts with currency symbols. The fix is built into the flow: after voice transcription, you see the parsed amount, merchant, and category before saving. Tap any field to correct it manually — the amount field accepts keyboard input, the category opens a picker, and the merchant is a text field. Cash Compass doesn't auto-save voice transactions blindly because the failure mode of a wrong $1,400 entry sitting in your budget is much worse than the failure mode of taking two extra seconds to confirm. For best accuracy, speak the amount clearly, name the merchant after the amount, and add a category keyword like "groceries" or "gas" if the parser doesn't catch it automatically. Repeat misparses on a specific merchant get better over time as Apple's framework learns your voice.
Built native for iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud sync. Works offline.
No bank logins, no Plaid, no data sales. All data lives in your iCloud.
Manual entry, charts, category tracking — all free, forever. Premium is optional.
Three free voice transactions to test the flow. Unlimited voice and receipt scans with premium for $29.99 a year.
Download Cash Compass on the App Store