Topf

Guides

Bank SMS

Your bank texts you about a purchase or a payment in, and the transaction is already in your book. The message reaches Topf through an automation in the Shortcuts app, and Topf finds the amount, merchant and account in it.

  • iPhone with iOS 26 or later
  • Your bank sends SMS about payments
  • Topf from the App Store

Screens are drawn after iOS 27 and iOS 26. On your iPhone they may look slightly different.

First, in Topf

  1. Connect SMS

    Open Settings, then Automatic entry, and tap Connect next to bank SMS.

    The first time, Topf asks whether it may send bank texts to OpenAI. Without that, messages are not read and wait in Inbox.

iOS 27: a ready automation

Topf hands out the whole automation as a link, and Connect opens it for you. If you are reading on your iPhone, you can take it here too.

Add the SMS automation

  1. Add the shortcut

    The link opens Shortcuts with the ready shortcut. Tap Add Shortcut.

  2. Open it

    The shortcut Topf · SMS appears among your shortcuts. Tap it, then Edit.

  3. Name the sender

    Tap the second, pale Sender field and enter who your bank’s texts come from: a name or a number.

  4. Turn the automation on

    Open the first block with its arrow and turn on Automation. iOS adds the automation switched off, and without this step it never runs.

iOS 26: build it by hand

On iOS 26 the link brings the shortcut without its automation, so you build that part yourself. It takes a couple of minutes.

  1. Create an automation

    In Shortcuts, open the Automation tab and tap New Automation. If you already have automations, tap + at the top.

  2. Choose Message

    In the list, choose Message.

  3. Name your bank

    Under Sender, enter your bank. Choose Run Immediately and tap Next.

  4. Create a new shortcut

    After Next, tap Create New Shortcut.

  5. Add Topf’s action

    Find Topf and choose Record Bank SMS. For Text, choose Shortcut Input.

    Tap the checkmark at the top, and the automation is saved.

How to tell it works. On the Automatic entry page, SMS shows Waiting for the first message from the bank, and Active after the first payment.

What goes to OpenAI

The text of the SMS word for word, as your bank sent it: it may include your balance or the last digits of a card. The names of your categories go with it, and Topf adds nothing from your book. The details are in the privacy policy.

What Topf skips

Confirmation codes, ads, balance messages and transfers between your own accounts. Topf leaves such texts unrecorded, without a word.

How to turn it off

In Shortcuts, open the automation and turn off Automation, or delete it. Topf cannot do this for you: iOS does not let apps switch automations off.

What it costs

Connecting is free, all of it. Without Plus, Topf records five payments a month on its own; the rest wait in Inbox for one tap. With Plus there is no limit.