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A nickname, the last four digits, the statement day and the due rule (a fixed day of the month, or a number of days after the statement). All of them are printed on your card statement. The credit limit and the available credit are optional, but PickCard needs both to check that a card has room before recommending it.

A purchase made just after a statement closes can wait until a later due date before you pay it. From each card’s statement day and due rule, PickCard works out how long you’d have to pay for a purchase made today, then picks the card with the longest time among those with enough credit left above your reserve.

Tap Why this card on Today to see every card compared, and why any card was left out.

A card is left out, and the Why sheet says which reason applies, when:

• its credit limit or available credit isn’t set, so PickCard can’t tell how much room it has;
• its limit and its balance are in different currencies;
• its available credit is at or below your reserve (25% of the limit unless you change it in Settings → Credit reserve);
• it’s archived, or it’s a debit card (debit cards never enter the recommendation).

Update the balance from the card’s … menu on Cards, or set the limit with Edit card.

It’s an estimate. PickCard starts from the last balance you set or a message stated, and moves it with the purchases and payments it has seen since, dated so you know how old it is. Set the balance again at any time to start fresh.

Three ways, all your choice:

• Share one. In Messages, touch and hold the message, tap Share, then PickCard.
• Automate it. A Shortcuts automation hands messages over as they arrive (next question).
• Type it. Add an entry by hand from Activity.

Capture is a help, never the source of truth: PickCard’s dates work without it.

PickCard walks you through it in Activity → Capture setup. One automation per card:

1. Open Shortcuts → Automation → + → Message.
2. Under “When I receive a message where”, tap the blue Sender and change it to Message. Set it to contains the card’s last four digits. Leave no Sender row: bank senders can’t be contacts.
3. Choose Run Immediately, then Next.
4. Search “Log Bank Message”, add it, tap the Message placeholder and pick Shortcut Input.

Nothing is pre-programmed for any bank. The first message of each shape waits in Activity’s review queue. Open it, tap the amount and the merchant (and the balance, if the message states one), and save. Every later message of the same shape is read on its own. Settings → Known message formats lists the ones you taught, and you can forget any of them.

It waits in Activity behind the “to review” chip, with the reason in plain words: no format taught yet, a format for another bank, or a format for this bank that didn’t fit. It never changes a balance until you deal with it. Teach it, add the entry by hand, or remove it.

A shared message is never counted twice, but an entry you added by hand and a bank message for the same purchase can’t be matched. Open one in Activity and remove it; whatever it changed goes with it.

Add Cash in hand from Cards → + → Cash, with what is in your wallet now. When you take cash out, open the withdrawal in Activity and tap Move to cash: it leaves your spending (the cash counts when you spend it) and adds to Cash in hand. Switch on “Always for” that ATM and later withdrawals move on their own.

Add cash spends from Activity’s +, or skip that and tap Count cash now and then: tell PickCard what is in your wallet, and the difference is filed as one “Cash spent, not itemised” entry, so your totals stay honest.

Taking cash out on a credit card is a cash advance: banks usually charge interest from that day, often with a fee.

Once a statement closes, Today shows its bill and the days left to pay it. Tap I’ve paid when you have, and that bill leaves Today and its reminders stop. You can undo it. A payment message from your bank never marks a bill paid on its own, because a part payment can still leave interest to pay.

The evening before a statement closes, three days before a payment is due, on the day, and when a good window opens, plus the day it becomes time to switch cards. Each is a switch on the card, and Settings → Default reminders sets them for new cards. They are scheduled on your iPhone; allow notifications when asked.

Each day’s bill, statement closes, expected subscriptions and loan instalments, what you spent on days gone by, and, with two or more credit cards, a band in the colour of the card to buy with on each day ahead. Open it from the calendar button on Today.

PickCard is free to download. At the end of setup you start a 14-day trial of everything: every card, bills and reminders, capture, Activity, the recap, widgets, loans and cash. It costs nothing and nothing renews. You can see the days left in Settings → PickCard Lifetime, and PickCard reminds you the day before it ends.

PickCard asks you to unlock it with one payment, PickCard Lifetime (US$4.99 base price; the App Store shows Apple’s localized price tier for your country). No subscription. Until you do, your existing records remain readable, your bill and statement reminders keep coming, and Export and Erase everything stay one tap away. New messages sent to PickCard from Share or Shortcuts after expiry are discarded before storage. Unlock it and full access returns with your existing records intact.

Sign in with the same Apple ID and tap Restore purchases (on the unlock screen, or in Settings → PickCard Lifetime). Family Sharing is off for PickCard Lifetime, so each family member needs their own purchase.

Refunds are handled by Apple: use reportaproblem.apple.com. Erase everything removes your data but not your purchases: the trial and PickCard Lifetime belong to your Apple ID.

Touch and hold the Home Screen, tap Edit → Add Widget, and search for PickCard. There are three: Which card, Coming up and Card balance. Amounts stay hidden until you turn on Settings → Show amounts in widgets. Lock Screen widgets never show amounts.

Settings → Privacy & app lock. PickCard then asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode when it opens, and hides your balances in the app switcher.

PickCard’s data travels in your iPhone backup (iCloud or computer), like any other app’s. Settings → Export also gives you everything as a file. Settings → Erase everything removes every card, message, plan and setting and starts PickCard over.

No. There is no bank login, and PickCard makes no network connection of its own (purchases go through the App Store). PickCard sees only the messages you share and what you type, and everything stays on your iPhone. The privacy policy has the details.