WhatsApp Budgeting With BudgeFlow: Every Command

Open Settings → WhatsApp, verify your number with the one-time code, and you're done. From that point on, message the same BudgeFlow number on WhatsApp and the parser is identical to SMS — just with longer replies and richer formatting where useful.

All standard commands work: logging ("12.50 chipotle lunch"), income ("+2000 salary"), snapshots (balance, summary, budget, today, week, month), and undo. The exhaustive list lives in the SMS commands explainer — treat this page as the WhatsApp-specific deltas.

Snap a clear photo of the receipt and send it on WhatsApp. BudgeFlow OCRs the merchant, total, date, and line items, creates the expense, and attaches the original image to the transaction for audit.

Tips that materially improve OCR accuracy:

• Take the photo straight-on, not at an angle
• Capture the full receipt including the total line
• Make sure the merchant name is in frame
• Good lighting beats flash; flash tends to wash out thermal-printed totals

If the OCR confidence is low, you'll get a confirmation message asking you to verify the amount.

IOU commands work identically to SMS, but WhatsApp lets you collapse two steps into one:

• split 60 dinner with alex — shorthand for "split 60 between me, alex for dinner". Creates the split, logs the expense, and opens the IOU.
• owe alex 25 movies — same as "i owe alex 25 for movies"
• alex paid me 25 — settles outstanding IOUs FIFO

For scheduled nudges that SMS can't carry cheaply, use remind 8pm bills — BudgeFlow will ping you on WhatsApp at the given time. Useful for "pay rent" or "check budget" weekly habits.

Every Pro command from the SMS guide also works on WhatsApp: goal, save, bill paid, recurring, net worth, mileage, convert, and report. The replies are slightly richer — recurring lists, for example, render with WhatsApp's monospace block so columns line up.