Siri & Shortcuts

Ask Siri

These phrases work as soon as the app is installed — no setup needed. Siri fills in the account or category you name, or asks if you leave it out.

• "Log transaction in Actuali"
• "Check Everyday balance in Actuali"
• "How much is left in Groceries in Actuali"
• "List accounts in Actuali"

Balance answers are spoken back with your budget's currency, and they work even when the app isn't running.

Actions in the Shortcuts app

Search for Actuali when adding an action to any shortcut or automation:

• Log Transaction — add a transaction with amount, payee, account, date, and notes. Used by theApple Wallet automation to log tap-to-pay purchases automatically. It reports the result with a notification rather than an on-screen card; turn on Show Confirmation in the action if you want a dialog you dismiss yourself.
• Add Transaction with Review — open the app on the add-transaction screen with any fields you pass (amount, payee, account, category, notes, date) already filled in, so you can review and save. Handy for Wallet automations where you want to pick a category or add notes at purchase time.
• Get Account Balance — the current balance of an account (or your default account).
• Get Category Balance — how much is left in a category this month.
• Get Accounts, Get Categories, Get Payees — return lists you can feed into menus, filters, or other steps when building bigger shortcuts.

The balance actions also return their result as a value, so a shortcut can speak it, show it, or use it in a calculation.

Route purchases to the right account

If you log from more than one card, you don't need a separate automation account setting for each. TheLog Transaction action has an optional Card or Account Hint field: pass it the card name from a Wallet automation (or any text that identifies the card), and Actuali picks the account for you.

1. In Actuali, open More → Preferences →Card & Account Mappings.
2. Add a keyword for each card — the last 4 digits (1234) or the bank name (HSBC) — and choose the account it should route to.
3. In your shortcut, set the Card or Account Hint field on Log Transaction to the card's name or number (from a Wallet automation, use the Card variable).

Matching is deliberately cautious: a hint that doesn't clearly match one account falls back to the account set in the shortcut, or your default account — a transaction is never silently routed on a guess.

Troubleshooting

• Siri doesn't recognise the phrases? Give iOS a minute after installing or updating the app — the system registers App Shortcuts in the background. Saying the app name ("in Actuali") is required.
• "Select an account" error? Choose an account in the shortcut's action, add a card mapping that matches your hint, or set a Default Account in Actuali's More tab.
• "Open Actuali and select a budget first"? The app needs to have loaded your budget once — open it and pick your budget, then the actions work headless from then on.
• Hint routes to the wrong account? Check your mappings for overlapping keywords — the longest matching keyword wins. Keywords match whole words, so Cash won't match cashback.

Questions?

See the support page or email actuali@mfazz.com.