Turn bank SMS into bookkeeping
The message your bank, bKash or Nagad sends already carries the date, the amount and which account. Forward it to Taka Tracker and the entry is drafted for you — you read it and press add. Nothing is typed twice.
This is not connecting your bank
- You are never asked for a banking password, PIN or OTP. Only the messages you choose to forward ever arrive.
- We have no connection to any bank. Your bank does not know this app exists — the message comes from your phone, not from them.
- You choose which senders are forwarded, and you can stop at any time.
- An arriving message writes nothing. Every draft waits for you to read it; the app never records a transaction on its own.
- The secret belongs to your workspace alone. Nobody else’s messages can reach your books, and yours cannot reach theirs.
Android
An SMS forwarder app from the Play Store
Android needs a small app that sends messages from chosen numbers on to a web address. The Play Store has several; the fields below exist in all of them, though the names vary.
Copy the address and the two keys
In Taka Tracker open Settings → SMS inbox. There is an address and two name/value pairs — a workspace id and a secret. Each has a copy button. They are yours; do not share them.
Install a forwarder
Search the Play Store for "SMS Forwarder" or "SMS to URL Forwarder". Any app that can post to a webhook and set custom headers will do.
Create a rule
Add a new rule or forwarder and choose webhook or URL as the destination — not email and not another phone number.
Address and method
Paste the copied address into the URL field. Set Method to POST and Content-Type to application/json.
Two headers
Put the two name/value pairs into the Headers section exactly as shown — name on the left, value on the right. One wrong character and the message is refused with a 401.
The message body
Paste the JSON the app shows you. Where the message text belongs, use the forwarder app’s own token — %text% in some apps, {{message}} in others. Its own help page says which.
Choose which senders
Forward only your bank, bKash, Nagad or Rocket shortcodes. Forwarding everything fills the inbox with OTPs and marketing, and buries the drafts that matter.
Send one test
Send a test from the app. It arrives in the SMS inbox as a draft. Sending the same message twice adds nothing the second time, so no transaction can be recorded twice.
iPhone and iPad
Apple’s own Shortcuts app
There is no third-party iPhone app worth trusting with bank messages — iOS does not really allow one, and bank SMS should not be handed to a stranger anyway. Apple’s own Shortcuts does the job. A few more steps, but only once.
Copy the address and the two keys
In Taka Tracker open Settings → SMS inbox and copy the address, the workspace id and the secret.
Open Automation
Open Shortcuts → Automation at the bottom → + → scroll down to Message.
When it runs
In Message Contains put a word your bank messages always carry — BDT or Tk. Left empty the automation never runs. Choose Run Immediately below, or you will be asked to approve every single message by hand.
Add the action
Next → New Blank Automation → search for Get Contents of URL and add it.
The address
Paste the copied address into the URL field. Not an IP and not a port — it must start with https://, because the secret travels with the request and plain http would put it on the wire in the clear.
Method
Tap the arrow beside Get Contents of. Set Method to POST.
Five fields
Set Request Body to JSON and leave Headers empty. Add five fields — workspace and secret (the two copied values), channel = SMS, sender = the number it came from, and body = the Shortcut Input variable. That blue chip sits above the keyboard, and it holds the actual message.
Headers work too
If you prefer headers, drop the workspace and secret fields and put those two name/value pairs in Headers instead. Name on the left, value on the right — swapped, the answer is 401.
Send one test
Tap Done, then text yourself "BDT 100 test". It arrives in the SMS inbox as a draft.
What happens when a message arrives
- The draft comes with the date, the amount and the direction filled in, and the words each was read from are highlighted in the message itself. Anything wrong can be corrected.
- Expense, income or transfer — three tabs. A DPS instalment or a card bill is a transfer, so it never lands in income or spending.
- Money into a DPS also ticks that month’s instalment, when the amount matches exactly.
- A charge in another currency asks what it cost in taka, because the rate your bank used is not published anywhere.
- The same message arriving twice adds nothing the second time.
Drafts wait for you in the SMS inbox.
If it does not work
- The answer is 401
- The workspace id or the secret is wrong, or name and value are swapped. Copy them from Settings again rather than typing them.
- Nothing arrives in the inbox
- Check the forwarder actually has that sender selected, and that the battery saver has not stopped the app.
- Drafts arrive with no amount
- That bank’s message format is not recognised yet. Fill the amount in and add it, then send us feedback with the message — the format gets added.
- The inbox fills with OTPs and marketing
- Forward only bank and mobile-banking shortcodes, not every sender.
Ready to start?
Signing up is free and takes no card. The address and secret are waiting in Settings.
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