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Importing Data

PocketVault imports from files and messages you already have — no bank login required. Everything is parsed on your device and shown for review before anything is saved.

SMS Import (India, Android)

Indian banks send transaction alerts via SMS. PocketVault parses these messages using a combination of regex patterns and on-device Gemma AI for messages that don’t match standard formats.

Supported banks

HDFC, ICICI, SBI, Axis, Kotak, PNB, Bank of Baroda, Yes Bank, IndusInd, and UPI transactions.

Steps

  1. Go to Settings > Import > SMS
  2. Grant SMS read permission (one-time)
  3. PocketVault scans for bank transaction messages in the background
  4. A progress banner shows live parsing status across the app
  5. Review all detected transactions in the pending review screen
  6. Confirm which transactions to import

The import runs in the background — you can continue using the app while it processes. On Android, a foreground service keeps the import alive.

On iOS, an SMS import shortcut forwards bank messages to PocketVault, since iOS apps can’t read the inbox directly. Setup is guided in the app.

All parsing happens on-device. No SMS data is sent anywhere.

PDF Import (Indian banks)

Import transactions directly from a PDF bank statement.

PDF statement parsing is offered only for banks whose parsers we’ve validated against real statements — Indian banks today. Other countries’ banks are recognised for currency and detection but are deliberately not offered for PDF import yet, because an untested parser can produce wrong transactions without ever looking like it failed. US statement support is in progress.

  1. Go to Settings > Import > Upload file
  2. Select a PDF statement
  3. PocketVault extracts dates, amounts, and descriptions on-device
  4. Review the parsed transactions and confirm

No uploads, no cloud processing — the PDF is parsed entirely on your device.

Paste or add manually

Paste transaction text (for example, from a banking app) and PocketVault will structure it for review, or add a transaction by hand from the (+) button. Imported rows are checked for duplicates before they’re saved.

Coming soon

These import methods are built and rolling out after launch:

  • CSV import with column mapping — download a CSV from any bank, map its columns to dates, payees, amounts, and categories.
  • Receipt capture — snap a receipt and let on-device AI pull out the merchant, amount, and date. Processing stays local; images are never uploaded. (Desktop builds can already extract receipt text with a local Tesseract install.)