Why I built Purrse
UPI is brilliant. It is also the reason I could not say where my money went at the end of the month. A chai here, an auto there, a few hundred rupees on delivery: none of it feels like spending when you only tap and go, and India now does more than 24 billion UPI transactions a month.
I tried the apps that read bank SMS and link to accounts. They work for many people, and that is a fair trade. I was not comfortable with it, so I built the version I wanted: you log what you spend in a couple of taps, and nobody gets to read your messages.
Who is behind it
I am Abbas Anandwala, an independent software developer in India. I design, build and publish Purrse on my own, as an individual. There is no team and no ad network behind it. I am not a financial adviser, and Purrse does not give financial advice. It is a notebook that is pleasant to open.
Five cats (Mitten & Paws count as a pair) for four kinds of money and the money friends owe you
Money lives in different places, so each place gets its own cat.
Coco
CashA chubby orange tabby who hugs her coin stack. Notes, coins and travel dollars.
Vault
Bank accountA careful shorthair in round glasses. UPI, debit card, net banking and cheques.
Swipe
Credit cardA sleek black cat who watches your limit, bill day and due date.
Pixel
Digital walletA calico who lives in your phone. Paytm, Amazon Pay, PhonePe and top-ups.
Mitten & Paws
Loans & IOUsTwo kittens passing a coin back and forth. Who owes whom, and when it's settled.
What Purrse will not do
- No SMS reading. Purrse never asks for permission to read your messages.
- No bank linking. You enter what you spend. Nothing is pulled from your accounts.
- No ads, and no third-party advertising or analytics SDKs.
- No counting transfers as spending. ATM withdrawals, wallet top-ups and card bill payments are moves between your own accounts.
Your data is kept on your phone first and synced to your own account. You can delete the account and all server data from inside the app. The details are in the Privacy Policy.
Where Purrse is today
Purrse is in closed testing on Android, and an iPhone version is coming. I am looking for testers who will use it for two weeks and tell me what is clumsy. If that sounds like you, join the Android beta. The yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial, and every plan has every feature.
Free tools and guides
- How to track UPI spending without sharing your SMS
- UPI spend calculator
- Ask a friend for money back: a message generator
Get in touch
I read every email: hello@purrse.in. You can also find me on Instagram and X, Purrse on YouTube, and my code on GitHub.