Expenses

Caring for someone also costs money, and it’s usually paid by whoever is there at the time: the pharmacy today, a taxi to the clinic tomorrow, some gauze or a cream another day. When several people make those small payments, it’s incredibly easy to lose track of how much has been spent and who has put in what. The Expenses module exists precisely to avoid that mess: you write down each thing as you pay it and the app keeps the books for you.

For each expense, CarePilot stores four pieces of information: how much it was, what type it is (the category), when it was paid and who put in the money. With that, at the end of the month everything is clear and, if the caregivers split the costs among yourselves, it’s very easy to see the accounts without arguments or «who paid for this?».

The expense list

Here are all the expenses together, in order, so you can check them whenever you want. To get there, open the Group tab (in the bar at the bottom of the screen) and enter the «Expenses» section; if you want to see them all at once, tap «All expenses». At the very top you’ll see a card with the total spent in the period and, on the Plus or Pro plans, a small chart of the «Last 6 months» that tells you at a glance whether spending is up or down compared to before.

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Search and filter

Over time many expenses pile up, so you have helpers to find exactly the one you’re looking for without going through them all:

• The search search: type a word from the description (for example «taxi» or «pharmacy») and the app keeps only the ones that match.
• The filters by category («All», «Pharmacy», «Transport»…) to see in one go, for example, only what has gone on transport. There’s also a «With photo» filter, which shows you only the expenses that have the receipt photographed.
• And a handy trick: if you tap a month in the chart at the top, the list filters to that month, to go over «what was spent in March?» in a moment.

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Add an expense

To write down a new expense, tap the add button at the bottom right. If your role in the group has scanning permission, the app will let you choose between two ways: «Scan receipt» (you photograph the receipt and it fills itself in) or «Add manually» (you type it). We explain both below.

Writing down an expense

If you choose to write it by hand, the «Add expense» form opens. It’s only a few details and takes a minute.

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Fill in the expense details

The only required field is the «Amount»: write how much it was. It’s recorded in the group’s currency (the one set when the group was created; you’ll see the amount hint, for example 0.00 €). Just below you can add an «Expense description», which is optional but highly recommended: a short note like «blood pressure pills» or «taxi to the ER» means that weeks from now you’ll know at a glance what each thing was, instead of seeing just a bare number.

Then choose a «Category» to classify the expense (pharmacy, transport…); that’s what later lets you see «how much goes on pharmacy each month». And if there are several people in the group, set «Paid by» to record who put in the money this time. When you have it, tap «Save» and the expense is recorded. Noting who pays isn’t about distrust: it’s exactly what makes settling up at the end easy and fair.

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Or scan the receipt

If you’d rather not type, «Scan receipt» document_scanner is the most comfortable route: you photograph the receipt and the artificial intelligence reads the amount and the details for you, so you only need to glance over them to confirm they’re right before saving. It works the same as the scanner for prescriptions and appointment letters, covered in depth in Scan with AI, in case you’ve already used it there. It saves you typing and, besides, it keeps the photo of the receipt stored in case it’s ever needed.

The categories

Categories are the «boxes» where each expense is sorted, and they’re what makes it possible to later see where the money goes. CarePilot comes with six ready-made so you don’t have to create anything:

• local_pharmacy Pharmacy — medicines, prescriptions, drugstore products.
• directions_car Transport — taxis, petrol, the bus to appointments.
• restaurant Food — groceries, supplements, special diets.
• medical_services Equipment — gauze, nappies, a walker, whatever is needed.
• healing Medical — doctors, lab tests, physiotherapy sessions.
• more_horiz Other — anything that doesn’t fit the ones above.

Create your own categories (Pro plan)

If you still need more categories, with the Pro plan the group’s organizer can create custom categories tailored to you (for example «Hairdresser» or «Home help»), so every expense lands exactly where you want it.

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Open «Expense categories»

You can reach this screen in two ways:

1. While writing down an expense, tap the «Manage» link tune that appears right next to «Category».
2. Or, on the Analytics screen, tap the categories icon category at the top right.

Once inside, you’ll see two lists: at the top, the six predefined categories (they carry the «Default» tag and can’t be changed); below, your «Custom categories». To create one, tap the add button at the top right and the form from the next step will open.

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Give it a name, colour and icon

Write the «Name» (for example «Home help»), choose a «Color» and an «Icon» from the list so you recognize it at a glance, and tap «Save». From that moment on it will be available when writing down any expense, just like the built-in ones.

Viewing, editing or deleting an expense

If you tap an expense in the list, its detail opens, where you see everything that was saved: the amount, the category, the date, who paid and, if it has one, the enlarged photo of the receipt. It’s the place to go when you want to check a specific expense.

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Edit it or delete it

Inside the detail, open the three-dot menu more_vert. You have two options:

• «Edit» edit — to correct an expense that’s wrong (the amount, the category, who paid…) without having to delete it and create it again. The same form opens with the details already in place.
• «Delete» delete — to remove a mistaken or duplicated expense. The app asks you to confirm («Delete expense?») before doing it, because once deleted it cannot be recovered.

Analytics and exporting

When you want to go beyond the monthly total and truly understand where the money goes, there’s an analytics screen with everything in more detail.

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Look at the analytics

Tap the «Analytics» icon insights at the top of the expense list (available with Plus or Pro). It opens a fuller summary: the year’s total, a chart of the last months — 6 months with Plus and 12 with Pro — to see the trend, the split by categories (what takes the biggest share) and the comparison with previous months, to know whether you’ve overdone it this month or not.

Privacy: discrete mode

Money is a sensitive matter, and you don’t always feel like having the amounts visible on screen, especially if you open the app in front of other people. That’s what discrete mode is for.

When you turn it on, all the amounts are covered with dots (•••) and nobody glancing sideways at your phone will be able to tell how much has been spent. It’s perfect for public places like the doctor’s waiting room or the bus. When you’re at ease again, turn it off and the amounts reappear instantly; nothing is deleted or lost, they’re only hidden from view.

You have two ways to turn it on or off, both equally valid:

• From Settings: there’s a «Discrete mode» switch («Hide amounts on screen») that keeps it set until you change it again.
• With the eye icon visibility: you have it next to the amounts — in the expense list, in an expense’s detail and in the analytics. Tap it to hide or show the amounts again instantly.

The expense currency

Each group keeps its books in a single currency, the same for all expenses, so the totals always add up. That currency is chosen when creating the group and is taken from your «Settings»: there, right below «Language», you have the «Currency» option, which defaults to your country’s.

So, if you need a group in another currency, change the «Currency» in «Settings» first and then create a new group: it will be born with the one you’ve chosen.

How much history you will see

CarePilot stores all your expenses, but how many months back you can see them depends on the group’s plan:

• On the free plan, you see the expenses of the last 14 days.
• With Plus, those of the last 6 months.
• With Pro, the full history, with no time limit.

And here’s the important part, for your peace of mind: the expenses that fall outside that period are not deleted. They’re simply kept safe and stop appearing in the list. If you ever move up a plan, they show up again just as they were, without you having to do anything.

When there are older expenses stored, you’ll see it in a notice above the list, along the lines of «3 older expenses hidden». If you tap it, the app explains how to see them (by upgrading the plan). It’s not an error and you haven’t lost anything: that longer history is simply one of the perks of the paid plans.

What each plan includes

Depending on the plan the group has, expenses can do more or less. Here it is summed up so you know what to expect and it doesn’t catch you by surprise: