Addabill
Purchase the Household plan

Add, See, Heads-up, Tap

Four steps. That's the whole app.

Each step in more detail than the home page had room for, plus exactly what the texts say and when they arrive.

  1. The Add a bill sheet in the Addabill app with the biller, the amount, the due day of the month and the text reminder days filled in for the water bill.

    Add

    Give the bill the name you use at home, the day of the month it's due, and the amount if you know it. That's the whole form. On the Household plan you can skip the typing and photograph the paper bill or a screenshot instead, and Addabill reads the amount and the due date off it. Either way an Added stamp appears, a short text confirms it, and the bill is on the calendar.

  2. The Addabill October calendar on a phone, bill tags standing on their due dates and the water bill card open showing $64.20 due Thursday October 2.

    See

    The month view shows every bill standing on its due day, with a Due next list underneath for the week ahead. Switch to the list view when you'd rather read down the month than across it. On Household, each bill shows who in the house handles it, so nobody has to ask. There are no charts, no scores and no totals shouting at you, just what's due and when.

  3. Heads-up

    Before each bill is due, a text arrives at your phone with the biller, the amount, the due date and a link to that biller's own payment page. You choose how far ahead: 7 days, 3 days and 1 day before, any or all of them. On Household, every person gets their texts at their own number, after saying yes to texts themselves. Every message ends with HELP and STOP.

  4. The Addabill Bills list on a phone: eleven October bills, each with the biller, its amount, its due date, a paid check on the rent, and an arrow to open the payment page.

    Tap

    The link in the text opens that biller's own payment page in your browser, where you sign in and pay exactly as you did last month. Addabill isn't part of that transaction and never sees the card you use there. Come back and mark the bill paid, and it gets a check on the calendar. Household keeps 12 months of that history and turns it into a yearly summary of spending by bill, as a PDF.

By typing or by photo

Type

Name the biller the way you say it at home, add the due day, and the amount if you have it. That's the entire form, and it's the same on both plans.

The Add a bill sheet in the Addabill app with the biller, the amount, the due day of the month and the text reminder days filled in for the water bill.

Reminders, exactly when

Each bill gets up to three texts before it's due, and you decide which of the three days you want. Keep all of them for the bills that need managing, or just one for the bills that don't. They come as texts to your phone, not as notifications you'd swipe away, and each one carries the amount and the link. On Household, each person's texts go to their own number.

7 days before

The first text, far enough out to plan around.

3 days before

The middle text, and the default if you only want one.

1 day before

The last text, in case the bill is still open.

Anatomy of a text

Biller

The name exactly as you typed it, so "Water bill" means the one you meant.

Amount

What's due, as you entered it or as read from the paper. Nothing added to it.

Due date

The day with its weekday, because "Thu Oct 2" lands differently than "10/2".

Thu Oct 2Addabill: Water bill, $64.20, due Thu Oct 2. Tap to open your utility's payment page: [link]. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel.

Link

Opens that biller's own payment page. Their page, your usual login, and we're not in between.

HELP

Reply HELP and you get the support number and email straight back.

STOP

Reply STOP and the texts end on the spot. Your calendar keeps working.

An empty wooden kitchen counter along a cream wall with a small potted herb on the windowsill, morning light falling across it.

Put the first bill on its day tonight. The first text comes before you'd have thought of it.

Purchase the Household plan

$5 a month or $40 a year. No fees on your bills. Cancel any time.