Pack Money

Updated 8 October 2026

Pack Money keeps household spending, savings and upcoming bills together. US$25 · One-time payment · One household. Checkout is in USD; choose your household’s recording currency during setup. Bank SMS and Telegram are optional; manual entry works without SMS or an iPhone. The optional Mental Load connection is read-only, and Mental Load Premium is separate.

Need help? Email Info@dataloup.io. Include what you tried and the error message. Hide names, amounts and account details in screenshots. Never send passwords, bank verification codes, bot tokens or connection tokens.

Find your household and get started

After purchasing Pack Money, follow the setup link to create your sign-in. You can return through the household link in your welcome email or Already bought? Find your household. Use your own household address and confirm your email if requested.

In Setup & connections, choose your household currency and time zone, then invite the household members you want to include. Each invited member uses their own account. Choosing a household currency does not change the USD checkout currency or convert old entries.

Start with manual entries, or optionally connect Telegram and compatible iPhone bank-message capture. Customer-specific Shortcut downloads and connection steps are provided inside your signed-in household setup. We do not publish or email permanent bearer tokens.

Start without bank SMS

1. Open your own household’s Pack Money website and sign in with your account.
2. In Setup & connections, confirm your household currency and time zone before adding records. Choose Add entries myself. A currency change does not convert old entries.
3. Choose Add entry. Select the type, date, shop or description, amount and category, then save. Manual amounts use your household currency.
4. Set your payday, planned pay, savings target and category limits. Add recurring bills and yearly costs you want to track.
5. Compare Transactions with your bank records. Resolve possible duplicates before adding the same purchase again.

Pack Money records money; it does not move it. A transfer between your own accounts is different from a purchase. Tracked savings can include estimated pay-cycle surplus and are not a verified bank balance.

Import a statement

Open the statement importer, choose the file and review its preview before confirming. Resolve any ambiguous matches so an existing purchase is confirmed instead of counted twice.

The current PDF reader supports the documented Emirates NBD AED credit card statement format. CSV imports require posted records in the Family-Spending CSV format. Other banks and layouts may need manual entry. A review export containing estimates is not a restore file.

Optional bank SMS on iPhone

An SMS is a text in Messages, not a bank app’s push notification. Your bank must send a compatible transaction format. Pack Money currently supports the documented Emirates NBD transaction texts; manual entry remains available for other banks.

Install and connect this iPhone

1. Sign in to your own household website. Open Setup & connections → Let bank texts do the typing.
2. Install Pack Money Connect, Pack Money Capture and Pack Money Retry using the downloads in that signed-in setup page.
3. Choose Connect this iPhone, name the phone and confirm that the Shortcuts are installed.
4. Choose Prepare my connection, then Connect in Shortcuts. Approve your household address and the requested Apple permissions.
5. Return to Pack Money and choose Check connection. The connection link contains a five-minute, single-use code. Prepare a fresh connection if the code expires.

This flow gives Shortcuts a revocable, ingest-only device token. You do not need to copy a permanent bearer token. Keep connection links and saved Shortcuts files private.

Create your Message automation

In Apple Shortcuts, create and enable a Message personal automation for your actual bank sender and supported transaction wording. Pass the incoming message text to Pack Money Capture. If iOS cannot select that sender, check the options on your device; do not forward all messages. Do not capture one-time passwords, PINs, verification codes or login and payment approval messages.

Select Run Immediately, or the equivalent available on your iOS version, and approve the necessary file and network permissions. Apple still requires you to install the Shortcuts, approve permissions and create or enable your personal automation. Connecting the phone does not do these steps for you. Apple’s Shortcuts guide explains personal automations.

Test one supported transaction you intend to record and confirm it appears once in Transactions. A “connected” status alone does not mean a transaction has been recorded.

Retry after an offline period

Reconnect to the internet and run Pack Money Retry. Retry the saved record instead of capturing the same text again, then confirm that the transaction appears once. Use one capture automation per shared message stream and review bank statements for missed messages.

Connection settings and pending records are stored in Shortcuts files that may sync through your Apple account. They are not guaranteed to stay only on this phone. Revoke an unused or exposed device connection in Pack Money and remove unneeded copies separately; see the privacy policy.

Optional Telegram

Customers use the shared Pack Money bot. You do not create a bot or need its token. Connect it through your own signed-in Pack Money account.

1. Open Setup & connections → Connect Telegram.
2. Open the pairing link and choose a private household group without topics. The first person connecting must be a group administrator. Add the bot and make it an administrator so membership can be checked; optional powers such as banning people or deleting messages are not needed.
3. Return to Pack Money and select Check setup. Check the group and your Telegram identity, then confirm. Pairing links expire after ten minutes; start again if yours has expired.
4. Send /budget in that group and compare the reply with the website. Choose your notification preferences and save them.
5. Each additional household member signs in with their own Pack Money account and chooses Connect my Telegram account, using the same group. If the bot is already there, the pairing card provides a one-time command to paste into the group.

Only approved members can issue financial commands, but everyone in the group can read its messages. Disconnecting a member in Pack Money does not remove them from Telegram or erase old messages. Remove them from the group too when necessary.

If setup never produces a reply, check the group is private, topics are off, the bot is an administrator and your account is confirmed. Use a fresh /budget message after reconnecting; old buttons stop working. Contact support if Check setup reports a service problem. Don’t create a replacement bot.

The Mental Load + Pack Money — Now connected

Bring selected bills, spending, savings and category limits into The Mental Load’s Money tab. Choose what to share from your Pack Money household. The connection is optional and read-only.

Manage financial records in Pack Money. Completing a reminder in The Mental Load does not record a payment or change your transactions.

Bought the pack in The Mental Load?

1. Open Money → Set up Pack Money.
2. Complete the owner sign-in in the household opened by the app, then choose household currency and time zone.
3. In that household, open Setup & connections → The Mental Load. Choose what to share and connect the app using the available connection button or connection details. Follow the displayed instructions.

Already own Pack Money?

1. Sign in to your existing household. Open Setup & connections → The Mental Load → Connect a device.
2. Choose the information to share and the connection expiry.
3. In The Mental Load, open Money → Already use Pack Money? Connect and follow the connection instructions.

No second household purchase is required for your existing household. Connecting is optional; your accounts are not linked automatically.

Apple purchase and Pack Money sign-in

Your Apple purchase identity and Pack Money sign-in email are separate. The emails do not need to match, including when you use Hide My Email. To restore the pack, use Restore purchases with the purchasing Apple account, then recover and reconnect your existing household instead of repurchasing.

Keep passwords, receipt keys and connection tokens private. Support does not need them. Telegram and compatible iPhone SMS capture are optional; manual entry works without either.

Pack Money is a separate purchase and does not include Mental Load Premium. Explore The Mental Load or get the app on the App Store.

Foreign purchases and exchange rates

A compatible foreign purchase keeps its original amount and currency. When a dated reference rate is available, Pack Money adds a labelled estimate in your household currency to totals. Tap the estimate to see its rate and date inside Pack Money.

Reference rates come from Frankfurter and may use the last available business day. They are not your bank’s final rate and do not include its fees. A confirmed statement amount replaces the estimate for the matched purchase; the original foreign amount remains. If a rate is unavailable, the original is held outside totals until it can be converted or confirmed. Resolve ambiguous statement matches before confirming.

Privacy, deletion and recovery

Pack Money never asks for your bank login and cannot initiate payments. It does store the records you give it in your household’s cloud database. Optional AI and Telegram features process additional information: read the privacy policy.

An exported spending CSV is not a complete backup. For a household export, account deletion or recovery request, contact support from an account we can verify. Disconnect optional services as needed, and delete copies you made in Downloads, Shortcuts or Telegram separately.

Mental Load + Pack Money bundle

The Mental Load + Pack Money bundle is US$50 once in The Mental Load iPhone app, including Mental Load Premium and one Pack Money household. The standalone US$25 checkout does not buy this pack.

Existing Pack Money customers can connect their household without buying another household. Sharing is optional and read-only: selected bills, spending, savings, goals and category limits. Financial records stay managed in Pack Money; ticking a reminder in Mental Load does not record a payment. No upgrade discount or cross-store entitlement has been announced.