A personal finance app for India that does not need your SMS inbox
Most Indian households want a clear monthly picture of UPI, cards, and bank spends — without installing an app that can read every text message on the phone. Glass Money is built as that India-first personal finance app: put supported activity in one place from the alert emails banks and card issuers already send.
Broader coverage than Account Aggregator — including joint accounts and issuers AA workflows often miss — is proof of the alert-email approach. The headline is simpler: track your money without SMS permission and without a bank login.
Why SMS readers are a bad trust ask
An expense tracker that asks for SMS access is asking to read a stream that includes OTPs, delivery updates, personal messages, and bank alerts mixed together. Even when an app claims to filter for bank texts, the permission itself is broader than the job. On iPhone, that path is largely unavailable anyway — so SMS-first products leave a large share of households out.
Glass Money never asks for SMS permission. Tracking starts from transaction alert emails your issuers already send. Access is read-only and scoped to known bank and card senders, not your personal conversations. You can revoke it from your Google account at any time. Details are in the privacy policy.
Email alerts still capture UPI
A UPI payment from Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, BHIM, or a bank app still debits a bank account. The bank (or card issuer) emails a transaction alert for that debit. Glass Money reads that alert, so the spend can appear no matter which UPI app you used — without reading SMS, without screenshots, and without typing each payment by hand.
The same stream covers card purchases and many account transfers. When an alert never arrives, add the activity manually after checking your own bank records. Glass Money does not offer statement PDF upload as a product feature; where statements are used in reconciliation, they are downloaded and matched against alert emails.
Want the multi-bank and joint-account story in more depth? See track UPI, banks, and joint accounts in one place.
What's live today
- Auto tracking from bank, UPI, and card alert emails — no SMS permission
- Banks and cards Account Aggregator does not list — when they send supported alerts
- Joint accounts you are authorized to include in your own view
- Editable categories and monthly spend trends
- Manual entries when an alert never arrived
What's upcoming
- Any email inbox (not tied to one provider)
- Account Aggregator connections
- Family / household view
- Adaptive budgets
Upcoming work is labeled as upcoming. It is not presented as shipped, and it is not framed as a gap in what you can already do today.
Not a Gmail app
Glass Money is a personal finance app for India. Tracking comes from bank and card alert emails your issuers already send. Read-only access to alert mail is how beta imports those alerts today; support for any email inbox is upcoming.
FAQ
Do I need to grant SMS permission?
No. Glass Money does not request SMS access on Android or iOS. Automatic tracking uses supported bank and card alert emails.
Will UPI payments still show up?
Yes, when your bank emails a debit alert for the UPI payment. The alert is the source — independent of which UPI app you paid from. See also UPI expense tracking.
Is Account Aggregator required?
No. Account Aggregator is upcoming. Today's automatic source is supported alert emails, which is also how Glass Money can include banks and joint accounts AA workflows often miss.
Can I upload statement PDFs?
No. Glass Money does not offer statement PDF upload as a product feature. If an alert is missing, add the activity manually after checking your own bank records.
Ready to try it? Open the beta app if you have a seat, or ask for a seat on the homepage.