Capture receipts from your phone — no app install needed
May 2026
BillyBox pulls invoices from email automatically — that handles about 95% of what a typical freelancer or small business pays for each month. But not every receipt arrives by email. A café bill at the end of a meeting, a paper receipt from a hardware store, a hotel slip handed over at check-out — those never reach an inbox you can connect.
You have two ways to get those documents into BillyBox without leaving your phone: the in-app camera button, and the Telegram bot. This article walks through the camera approach. If you prefer Telegram, see our Telegram guide.
Open BillyBox on your phone — no install required
The fastest path is simply: visit billybox.app in your phone's browser. The site is a Progressive Web App — it runs fullscreen, remembers you, and supports the camera the same way a native app would. If you prefer a real home-screen icon, use your browser's "Add to Home Screen" option; the workflow is identical either way.
"Install nothing" is the friction-free path: open the link, log in, and you're ready to capture. No app store download to wait for and no updates to worry about — the latest BillyBox always lives at the same URL.
Tap the camera button
From the Review screen on mobile, tap the camera icon in the action bar. Your phone's native camera UI opens, focused on the rear camera. Frame the receipt, tap the shutter, and confirm. That's it.
Tips for clean extractions:
- Lay the receipt flat on a contrasting surface (dark receipt on light table, or vice versa).
- Get the whole receipt in frame — totals are usually at the bottom, so don't crop them out.
- Avoid glare from overhead lights; one diagonal light source is best.
- Don't worry about being perfectly square — the AI handles mild rotation and perspective.
Or pick a PDF from your phone storage
The same button accepts PDFs. If a supplier emails you a PDF invoice that arrives in a different inbox you haven't connected, save it to your phone, then tap the camera button → "Choose file" → navigate to the PDF. BillyBox processes it the same way it processes an attachment that arrived via the connected inbox.
Useful for the long tail: an accountant's annual statement, a one-off contractor invoice that came via WhatsApp, a portal-only invoice you downloaded manually.
Classify with a swipe
Once captured, the document appears in your Review queue alongside your email invoices. The same swipe gestures apply: right for business, left for personal, down to ignore. The same bill grouping rules apply too — if you later receive the matching payment confirmation by email, BillyBox auto-merges the pair under one bill so you don't have to classify twice.
Which capture channel to use?
BillyBox has four capture channels. Pick whichever fits the document you have in hand:
- Email — invoices that arrive in a connected inbox. Auto-fetched overnight.
- Telegram bot — useful on any device where Telegram is open and the receipt is already there (Telegram chat, screenshot, photo). Guide.
- Phone camera (this article) — paper receipts and PDFs you have on your phone.
- Desktop drag-and-drop — files an accountant or supplier sends outside email; faster on a real keyboard.
All four feed the same review queue, the same classification flow, and the same accountant export. The channel is just the on-ramp.