Splitting and Receipts

Scanning receipts

Updated August 21st, 202620 views

Photograph a receipt and HiBill reads it, then drafts the transaction for you.

What it extracts

  • Title — a short name for the expense

  • Total — the amount actually charged

  • Currency — read from the receipt itself, not your account default

  • Date — from the receipt

  • Line items — individual products, quantities and prices

  • Tax, tip and service fee — pulled out separately, not mixed in with the items

Currency detection matters most when travelling, which is exactly when you are least likely to notice a €48 dinner logged as $48.

Tax and tip being separate matters too: they become shared costs that spread across everyone, rather than a mystery line somebody has to claim.

It always creates a draft

A scan never saves a transaction on its own. It opens the normal form, filled in, with everything editable. You check it and save.

This is deliberate. A draft you correct costs five seconds; a wrong number saved silently becomes a wrong balance with a friend that nobody catches for a month. You are the only one who knows whether the number on the paper is the number you care about.

Monthly limits

Scanning has a real per-scan cost, so it is metered:

Plan

Scans per month

Free

5

Pro

100

Ultra

500

The count resets at the start of each calendar month. Free tier's five is meant to cover the cases where scanning genuinely wins — the long restaurant bill, the big supermarket run. Typing in a coffee is faster than photographing it.

Getting a good scan

Receipts are a difficult format — faded thermal paper, creases, several competing totals. To help:

  • Flatten it. Creases across the total are the most common failure.

  • Get the whole receipt in frame, including the bottom where the total usually is.

  • Shoot straight down, not at an angle.

  • Decent light. Restaurant-table lighting is the usual culprit.

If it gets something wrong

Fix it in the draft before saving — everything is editable. Common ones:

  • Wrong total. Receipts often print subtotal, total, and cash tendered near each other. Check the figure matches what was charged.

  • Ambiguous date. 03/04/2026 is two different days depending on the country that printed it.

  • A missed line item, particularly where a long product name wrapped onto two lines.

What to do next

Two combinations that work well:

Scan then itemize. Line items come out separated with their quantities, so assigning them to people is a few taps. Good for small groups with a detailed bill — see itemizing a bill.

Scan then share. Accurate total with no typing, then everyone claims their own share. Good for large groups — see open splits.

Attaching the photo

The receipt image can stay attached to the transaction whether or not you scanned it, which is useful when someone queries a bill weeks later. Attachments count against your storage, which varies by plan — see plans and limits and attachments and comments.