KachingzTrack Alipay spending when you travel to China
On a trip to China, most of what you buy goes through Alipay: metro rides, meals, taxis, shops. Kachingz can record each Alipay payment from its notification and convert it from yuan to your home currency, so the trip shows up in your budget as it happens.
How it works
iPhone's Shortcuts app can run an automation whenever a notification arrives from an app. Point one at Alipay, and every payment notification is passed to Kachingz's Log Transaction action, which reads the amount and the shop and saves the purchase.
Set it up
- Install Kachingz, and allow Alipay to send you notifications.
- Open Shortcuts, go to Automation, tap + and choose Notification. Pick Alipay as the app and set it to run immediately.
- Add the Kachingz Log Transaction action. Set Amount and Merchant to the notification's Body, and type Alipay as the Card Name.
Typing Alipay as the card name matters: it tells Kachingz that a ¥ price means Chinese yuan, not Japanese yen.
What gets recorded
- The amount in yuan, converted to your home currency at that day's reference rate, with the original CNY amount kept beneath it.
- The shop, in English or Chinese, as Alipay names it. Metro rides are filed under Transport.
- Payments without a shop name. Some Alipay notices only say you spent an amount. Kachingz records them as "Alipay" and marks them so you can add the shop later.
- One payment, one row. When Alipay sends two notices for the same payment, Kachingz keeps one.
Failed and cancelled payments are skipped, since no money left your account.
Back home
Every converted purchase counts towards Available to spend and your budgets, so you can see what the trip cost before the card statement arrives.