How to Scan a Receipt Using Your Phone Camera
Learn how to use the AskBiz camera button to photograph a paper receipt, allow camera access, and complete the AI-assisted review screen in under a minute.
Key Takeaways
- Tap the floating indigo camera button at the bottom right of any screen to launch the scanner.
- You can choose to take a new photo or upload from your library — both routes reach the same review screen.
- Camera permission is required once; after granting it, the camera opens instantly on every subsequent use.
Finding the Camera Button
AskBiz makes the receipt scanner available from anywhere in the app through the floating camera button. This is a circular indigo button fixed to the bottom right corner of the screen, sitting above the navigation bar. It is always visible when you are inside the CFO dashboard, so you do not need to navigate to the Expenses tab first. If you prefer, you can also access the scanner from within the Expenses tab by tapping the camera icon that appears alongside the Add Expense button in the top right.
Granting Camera Permission
The first time you tap the camera button, your phone will display a permission dialog asking whether AskBiz can access your camera. Tap Allow or Allow While Using App to grant permission. This dialog only appears once. If you accidentally tap Don't Allow, you will need to go to your phone's Settings app, find AskBiz in the list of apps, and toggle Camera access on manually. Without camera permission, the scanner will offer the photo library upload option only.
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Start for free →Taking the Photo
After tapping the camera button and selecting the Take Photo option, your camera viewfinder opens. Position the receipt so it fills most of the frame. Hold your phone roughly 20 to 30 centimetres above the receipt, keeping the phone parallel to the surface rather than at an angle. Good lighting is the most important factor — stand near a window or use overhead light. When the receipt is clearly in frame and the text looks sharp in the viewfinder, tap the white shutter button. AskBiz captures the image and immediately sends it to the AI extraction engine.
What Happens While the AI Processes the Image
After the shutter fires, a brief loading indicator appears on screen, usually for two to five seconds depending on your internet connection. During this time, the image is sent securely to the Claude AI vision service, which reads the text on the receipt and identifies the key fields: vendor name, transaction date, total amount, suggested expense category, and any notes that can be inferred from the receipt content. When processing is complete, the app transitions automatically to the review screen showing the extracted data.
Completing the Flow on the Review Screen
The review screen displays each extracted field alongside a confidence score, shown as a percentage. Fields the AI is very confident about appear in full colour, while lower-confidence fields are highlighted in amber to prompt you to check them. Review every field before confirming. Tap any field to edit it if the value looks wrong. Once you are happy with all the data, tap Confirm to save the expense. The receipt data is written to the expenses database and the new entry appears immediately in your expenses list.