Categories

Categories help you group expenses and income by type, such as groceries, rent, salary, or shopping. Each item has one category, and categories are used throughout Expenses for lists, filters, stats, trends, import, export, and Shortcuts.

Categories are separate from Merchant. Use category for what the transaction was for, and merchant for where it happened.

Expense and Income Categories

Expenses keeps expense categories and income categories separate.

When you add or edit a category, choose whether it belongs to Expense or Income. The category then appears in the matching expense or income flows.

Default categories include No Category plus common expense and income categories. Default category names are fixed so they stay localized, but you can still customize their icon and color.

Add a Category

You can add a category from the category picker or from the Categories screen.

To add a category:

1. Open the category field while adding or editing an item, or open Categories from Settings.
2. Tap the add button.
3. Choose Expense or Income.
4. Enter a category name.
5. Choose an icon and color.
6. Save the category.

If you create a category from the category picker, Expenses selects it automatically when it matches the current expense or income type.

Edit a Category

To edit a category:

1. Open Categories from Settings.
2. Choose Expense or Income.
3. Select the category.
4. Update the name, icon, or color.
5. Save your changes.

Renaming or restyling a category updates the category everywhere it is used. Existing expenses and income keep using the same category.

Reorder Categories

On the Categories screen, drag categories to reorder them. Reordering is available when you are managing categories and search is not active.

The order is saved separately for expense and income categories.

Move a Category to Trash

To remove a category from normal category lists, move it to Trash.

You can move a category to Trash from the category edit screen, the category row menu, or swipe actions on iOS and iPadOS.

Moving a category to Trash does not delete the expenses or income that already use it. The category is removed from normal category selection, and you can restore it from Trash if you need it again.

Expenses prevents moving the last remaining category for an expense or income type to Trash.

Change the Category for Existing Items

You can change the category for an existing item from the item actions menu. You can also select multiple items and use Change Category to update them together.

Change Category is not available for transfer items. The bulk action is available when the selected items are all expenses or all income.

Filter and Review by Category

Categories are available in filters, Stats, and Trends. Use category filters when you want to focus on a specific type of spending or income.

For example, you can review:

• Spending for one category during a trip.
• Monthly totals for groceries or rent.
• Income grouped by salary or budget.

Import and Export

CSV import supports a Category column. Category matching is case-insensitive. If Expenses cannot find a matching category, it falls back to No Category when available; otherwise it uses the first category for the matching expense or income type.

CSV export includes category information so you can review or process your data outside Expenses.

Transfer Category

Transfers use a special Transfer category. Expenses creates the transfer categories when needed and keeps the linked transfer items in sync.

For more information, see Transfer Money.