# A Saudi built an Arabic app that reads bank SMS via Shortcuts to answer "how much can I still spend today": OutCap breaks into the Saudi Finance Top Grossing top ten · mobile app

> Source: https://stringers.io/en/apps/ios_6798327313.html (Stringers / 什么值得做, generated 2026-11-08)
> Stringers answers one question every day: what small product can one or two people build in a few months and actually make money from. Numbers come from 15 databases we collect daily, each with source and date.
> For agents: these verdicts and the underlying databases (verified revenue, App Store / Google Play charts, ad libraries, GitHub, Product Hunt…) are queryable live over MCP — tools today / hot / products / directions / direction / data. Setup: https://github.com/komako-workshop/stringers (the user logs in at stringers.io → "配置 agent" to get a personal URL). Site index: https://stringers.io/llms.txt

> The same play has several players in mid-2026, but this one localized for Saudi Arabia all the way to merchants and installment payments. The developer posts updates on TikTok daily and ships a version every week or two based on comments. The Saudi Finance Top Grossing bar is low, so even small volume can crack the top ten.

[Mobile App](https://stringers.io/en/apps/index.md) · iOS · written 11-6

OutCap - يحسب صرفك تلقائياً · Asel ALMIHIyawi

# A Saudi built an Arabic app that reads bank SMS via Shortcuts to answer "how much can I still spend today": OutCap breaks into the Saudi Finance Top Grossing top ten

**What it is:** an Arabic expense tracker that uses Apple Shortcuts to pipe in bank SMS messages for automatic logging, then calculates how much you can still spend today based on your pay cycle.

**Why it took off:** several products used this same approach over the past 2026 year, but only this one localized it deeply for Saudi merchants and installment plans. The developer posts updates on TikTok every day and ships a version every week or two based on reviews. The Saudi Finance Top Grossing chart has a low bar, so a small app can crack the top ten.

**B** **How you could follow it** Don't build a head-on competitor on Saudi iOS. Move to a country that still sends bank SMS and has no dedicated app, or build the Android version it lacks. Front the content yourself on TikTok, building in public and speaking the local dialect, and sell one-time purchase first, then add a subscription.

Grade B: the format is proven and the technical barrier is low, and there's room either by switching countries or going to Android. But revenue is small (estimated at a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a month), Saudi already has a batch of similar apps, and its traction depends heavily on the founder's own short-video distribution, which followers would have to replicate themselves. Few people know about it yet

Data (updated daily) · First released 2026-08-14 · Saudi rating 82 · 11-08 charted in 4 stores

iOS · best category chart rank · by store

Saudi Arabia Qatar Egypt

Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day

iOS · rating count · Saudi Arabia

Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.

OutCap, an Arabic expense tracker built by an independent developer in Saudi Arabia, has only 79 ratings after less than three months since launch, yet it climbed from #25 to #8 on the Saudi App Store Finance Top Grossing chart. It doesn't connect to banks, and it doesn't ask you to log expenses by hand: Apple's built-in Shortcuts pipe bank SMS messages into the app, and it gives you one number: how much you can still spend today. Here's how it works, where users come from, how much money it makes, how many others are already doing the same thing, and where you could break in.

### A video with 99k views

In Oct 2026 14, the TikTok account @a9ldv (bio "A9L | I build apps," with "Building in public" written in it, roughly 5K followers at the time) posted a video with a single line of caption:

> أكثر تطبيق اخذ مني وقت لكن النتيجة تستاهل — This is the app I spent the most time on, but the result is worth it.

As of 11-06, the video had 99K views, 2,817 likes, and 537 shares. The most-liked comment: "I'm starting to believe an idea gets thought of by several people at once... what you built is word for word the thing I thought about for a long time and kept putting off." Nearly all the other comments asked the same kinds of questions: "Is there an Android version?" "Does it work in Bahrain?" "You have no bank API, so how do you read the SMS?" "What about people without a fixed salary?"

The app was built by Asel ALMIHIyawi, whose studio is called A9L. The app is called OutCap, and the second half of its store title is an Arabic phrase: يحسب صرفك تلقائياً, "calculates your spending automatically." It launched on 2026-08-14.

### What it actually does

The first line of the store page reads: "How much can you spend today? One number answers you, and it updates itself."

The logic is simple: you enter your salary and payday, list fixed expenses like rent, installments, and bills, and divide the remaining money by the number of days until your next payday to get your daily allowance. The home screen has a ring: green means you have room, amber means payday is close, and terracotta means you're over. "Not your fault, tomorrow is a new allowance."

The hard part is the automatic logging. iOS doesn't let apps read SMS, and in Saudi Arabia every card swipe and transfer triggers a bank text. OutCap has users set up an automation in Apple Shortcuts: when a bank text arrives, forward it to OutCap. You set it up once, then spend normally. Each transaction is recorded, categorized, and deducted from that day's allowance on its own. 330 Saudi merchants come pre-sorted into 13 categories, and unfamiliar merchants are remembered after you categorize them once. No server, no account, and the data stays on the phone.

The praise that comes up most in reviews is this part. 11-03 One five-star review: "It stopped me from worrying whether I'm spending too much... Best of all, my data is invisible to everyone, even the people who made the app." 10-30 Another, shorter: "It tells you where your paycheck goes."

### Why now, and why this one

The Shortcuts-reads-SMS trick wasn't invented by OutCap. In mid-2026, several new apps doing the same thing appeared across Saudi Arabia and the Gulf: Masarif (launched 7-07, its store subtitle literally says "pulls Saudi bank SMS spending"), Expensly (7-03, English, aimed at the UAE), and EXPENDR (8-13). Their rating counts in Saudi Arabia as of 11-06 were 2, 0, and 1. Same mechanism, but only OutCap broke through. Four things set it apart:

**One number, not a pile of charts.** Most expense apps give you a month-end category pie chart. OutCap gives you today's allowance, calculated on the pay cycle rather than the calendar month. Most Saudi workers are paid once a month and run out near month-end, so this number targets exactly what they worry about.

**Localization down to merchants and installments.** 11-03 shipped 2.2 updates that specifically recognize Tabby and Tamara, the two most common "buy now, pay later" installment services in Saudi Arabia. It knows which installments are paid and doesn't double-count them, and the update notes are written in Saudi dialect. Overseas apps like Wallet, Spendee, and YNAB don't recognize Gulf bank SMS formats, and most don't support Arabic.

**The developer is on TikTok every day.** Starting late August, he posts while he builds: "I built an app with Claude" and every OutCap update. 9-29 one video got 93k views, 10-04 another got 53k, and 10-14 that one got 99k. The people watching are young locals in Saudi Arabia, which is exactly the target user. No #ad, no paid creators. Nobody on X or in the media is talking about it.

**Absurdly fast iteration.** 8-14 launched, and 11-03 is already on version 2.2: 8 releases in two and a half months, roughly one every week or two. Nearly every changelog ends with the same line: "Every new feature came from your messages." Users ask for things on TikTok, the next version ships, and he posts another video about it. That loop is the acquisition.

One comment is worth noting (9-08): a user said they used to pay a monthly fee for a budgeting bot on Telegram to do this, and after switching to OutCap they felt "free." That suggests demand for "auto-log bank SMS transactions" was already paid for in Saudi Arabia before OutCap came along. OutCap didn't create it.

### Where the money comes from and how much

The app is free to download, with three in-app purchase options (App Store Saudi page, 11-06):

| Project | Pricing | About |
|---|---|---|
| Lifetime Pro (one-time) | SAR 49.99 | about $13 |
| Monthly subscription | SAR 9.99 | about $2.7 |
| Annual subscription (with free trial) | SAR 89.99 | about $24 |

It started as one-time purchase only, and reviews specifically praised the "one-time buy." When 10-24's version 2.0 added monthly and annual subscriptions, its Saudi Finance Top Grossing rank climbed from #20 at the end of October to #11-05, then #8,11-06, then #10. The timing lines up, but that doesn't prove subscriptions caused it.

Don't be scared by "top ten." On the same day, Unusual Whales, #9 in Saudi Finance Top Grossing, had only 14 ratings in Saudi Arabia, and budgenie, #6, had 10-07 ratings, having launched only 23 days earlier. This chart has a very low bar. OutCap's monthly revenue is probably in the hundreds to low thousands of US dollars (**estimate** , no public figures). It reached #7 on Qatar's Finance Top Grossing chart and #8 in Egypt. Small-country charts can be climbed with a handful of purchases. That only shows that people in other Gulf countries are buying, not that volume is large.

### Who it's competing with

| Product | Launched | Saudi ratings | How it differs from OutCap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drahim | 2022-04 | 21,101, Finance Top Grossing #5 | Uses the central bank's licensed open banking to connect bank accounts directly, and includes investing; requires account authorization |
| وفير Wafeer | 2021-02 | 1,747, Top Grossing #17 | Established smart budgeting |
| SpendNotes, مصاريف | 2020 / 2011 | 2,557 / 3,395 | Manual budgeting |
| Masarif(AQL Technology) | 2026-07 | 2 | Nearly identical mechanism, never took off |
| Expensly | 2026-07 | 0 | Also reads SMS, English-first, monthly billing, aimed at the UAE |
| EXPENDR | 2026-08 | 1 | Shared family budgets, aimed at the UAE |
| Paid budgeting bot on Telegram | Unknown | — | Monthly fee; users reported migrating from here |

(Ratings are from the App Store Saudi storefront, 11-06.)

The big one is Drahim, which solves "connect your bank." OutCap targets people who don't want to authorize a bank account to a third party. There are already several new apps with the same mechanism, but none has made noise.

### If it were you

**B.** "Shortcut converts bank SMS + shows how much you can spend per day" is a proven, low-barrier product format. OutCap already occupies Saudi Arabia, so the opportunity is to change the country or the platform. But this business is small. OutCap's traction is about half the founder's own presence on TikTok, and that half can't be copied.

**Who it suits** : native Arabic speakers, or people in countries where banks still send transaction SMS (Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Egypt, or India, Southeast Asia, Turkey **inferred** ); people willing to appear on camera on TikTok and post while building; people who can ship a version every week or two.

**Who it doesn't suit** : anyone wanting to build another iOS app head-on in Saudi Arabia (OutCap, Masarif, Expensly and others already crowd it); anyone who won't localize and wants a general English budgeting app for global use (that's YNAB and Spendee's territory, and they don't know local SMS formats); anyone expecting tens of thousands of dollars a month from this.

**How to do it:**

1. Changing the country: copy the approach, but swap the merchant database, bank SMS formats, local installment providers (Tabby/Tamara equivalents in each country), and payday habits for your country's. OutCap has buyers on small charts in Qatar, Oman, and Egypt, which suggests demand exists in those places without a dedicated app **inferred** .

2. Building for Android: one of the most common questions in TikTok comments is "is there an Android version?" On Android you can read notifications or SMS directly, skipping the Shortcuts step, which can make the experience smoother. But Google Play reviews SMS permissions strictly, so reading notifications is safer **inferred** . Check the policies before launch.

3. Fill what it does poorly: the "non-salary income" users named in comments (for example, Saudi citizen account subsidies and housing allowances), "reverse transactions / refund SMS," and "how do people with irregular income use it?"

4. Follow its pricing path: start with a one-time purchase (about $10–15) to earn good reviews, then add monthly/annual subscriptions.

**How to get users** : a founder-on-camera TikTok series, "I'm building an app," in local dialect, addressing pain points like "how much of your salary is left each day," with a post for every update. Answer "how do I connect SMS?" in comments and turn the setup guide into a video (OutCap's 1.6 version specifically added a setup video button, which shows this step is the biggest drop-off point). Write the store title directly in the local language as "automatically calculates your spending."

**Timing** : the sooner the better. This wave of similar apps launched between 2026 7 and August, and most Gulf countries will likely see someone build one within half a year **inferred** . If you want another country, ideally launch and start posting videos before Q2027 1.

**Signs you got it wrong** : ① OutCap falls out of the top 50 on Saudi Finance Top Grossing before December 2026 and doesn't come back, suggesting subscriptions can't retain users and the format can't sustain payments; ② Apple or a major local bank adds a "how much can I spend today" feature in their own app; ③ Apple changes the Shortcuts SMS automation (for example, no longer allowing forwarding without confirmation), which closes this path on iOS; ④ The reverse: if you find a similar app in your target country that has passed 100 ratings within a month or two of launch, the demand there is real but you're late, so switch to the next country.

[iOS store page ↗](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6798327313)

**Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report**

Competitors

| Name | Where | Launched | Scale | How it differs from this one |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drahim | iOS | 2022-04 | Saudi 21,101 ratings, Finance Top Grossing #5 | Open Banking direct bank connection + investing; OutCap doesn't connect banks, runs no servers, and focuses on a daily limit |
| وفير Wafeer | iOS | 2021-02 | Saudi 1,747 ratings, Top Grossing #17 | Established smart budgeting; OutCap uses Shortcuts with no authorization, a single-number daily limit, and iterates faster |
| Masarif: Auto Expense Tracker | iOS | 2026-07-07 | Saudi 2 ratings | Nearly identical mechanism; OutCap is more localized (330 + merchants, Tabby/Tamara) and has founder-led TikTok distribution |
| Expensly | iOS | 2026-07-03 | Saudi 0 ratings | English-first, monthly billing, aimed at the UAE; OutCap uses Saudi Arabic dialect and one-time purchase first |
| EXPENDR | iOS | 2026-08-13 | Saudi 1 ratings | Shared family budgets; OutCap focuses on individual daily limits |
| SpendNotes / مصاريف(Salla) | iOS | 2020 / 2011 | 2,557 / 3,395 rating | Manual budgeting |
| Wallet / Spendee / YNAB | iOS | 2013-2015 | Hundreds to thousands of ratings in Saudi Arabia | Doesn't recognize Gulf bank SMS, mostly no Arabic |
| Paid budgeting bot on Telegram | Other | Not verified | Not verified | Monthly fee, experience on Telegram; comments say users migrated from here |

Where users come from

- **Verified** **by the developer's own TikTok @a9ldv (building in public)** : 5,234 followers; 8-23 to 10-26 multiple OutCap/Claude coding videos, 10-14 one with 99K views/537 shares, 9-29 93K, 8-23 74K (TikHub)

- Inferred **Store search / keyword title** : the title directly reads "يحسب صرفك تلقائياً"; the store page and Masarif recommend each other

- **Verified** **Word of mouth + iterating on reviews** : reviews say "first time writing a review on the App Store" and "developer responded to feedback"; 8 versions in two and a half months

- **Verified** **Migration from a paid Telegram bot** : 9-08 review: used to use the Telegram one, which had a monthly fee, and switched to this

## OutCap - يحسب صرفك تلقائياً (ios_6798327313) research report

> Research date 2026-11-06. Data sources: our appstore database (from 2026-10-28), iTunes lookup, App Store Saudi store page (read via r.jina.ai), TikHub (TikTok), x-radar, Jina search.

### One line

An Arabic budgeting app by Saudi indie developer Asel ALMIHIyawi (studio A9L, a9l.app). It uses iOS Shortcuts to pass bank SMS to the app, auto-logs and auto-categorizes transactions across 330+ Saudi merchants, then divides "salary minus fixed expenses" by remaining days to show **how much you can spend per day** , a single number. No server, no account. Launched 2026-08-14.

### Key data

- Ratings: 2026-10-28 total 62 → 11-06 total 79 (global, data card); Saudi Arabia accounts for 77,7 days +14. Rating 4.8 (App Store Saudi page). Very small scale.

- Saudi Finance Top Grossing (appstore database, chart_rank, genre 6015): 10-28 #25 → 11-01 #19 → 11-04 #14 → 11-05 #8 → 11-06 #10; during the same period, Top Free went 138 → 38 (11-02) → 58.

- Spillover: Qatar Finance Top Grossing 10-28 #7, 11-03 #9, now #35; Oman Top Grossing 11-03 #21 → 46; Egypt Top Grossing 11-02 #8 → 79; UAE and Turkey Top Grossing 100-200; Bahrain, Kuwait, and Yemen Top Free 100-200. The bar on small-country charts is very low, and a handful of purchases can get you on.

- Benchmark: on the same day, #9 on Saudi Finance Top Grossing was Unusual Whales (only 14 ratings in Saudi Arabia), and #6 was budgenie, launched 2026-10-07 days earlier (23 ratings). So the revenue behind "#10 on Saudi Finance Top Grossing" is not large in absolute terms (unverified; rough estimate in the hundreds to low thousands of US dollars per month).

- Pricing (in-app purchases on the App Store Saudi page): OutCap Pro one-time SAR 49.99; the 2.0 version released by 10-24 added subscriptions: monthly SAR 9.99, annual SAR 89.99 (annual includes a free trial). The Top Grossing rank climbed from #20+ at the end of October to #11-05 8, which matches the timing of adding subscriptions (correlation, not proof of causation).

- Very fast iteration: 1.5 (early September) → 1.6 (9-03) → 1.7 (9-16) → 1.8 (9-28) → 1.9 (10-12) → 2.0 (10-24) → 2.1 (10-30) → 2.2 (11-03), roughly one version every 1-2 weeks, with changelogs saying "every new feature came from your messages."

### Competitors

The same thing = "personal budgeting in Saudi Arabia/the Gulf that automatically pulls transactions from bank SMS/notifications."

| Product | Channel | Launched | Scale (Saudi Arabia) | How it differs from OutCap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drahim | iOS/Android | 2022-04 | 21,101 rating, #5 in Finance Top Grossing | Live with licensed Open Banking bank access, plus an investment wallet; requires account authorization. OutCap connects to no bank and runs zero servers |
| وفير Wafeer | iOS/Android | 2021-02 | 1,747 ratings, Top Grossing #17 | Long-running "smart auto-bookkeeping" app; OutCap's pitch is a single daily spend limit + Shortcuts, no authorization needed |
| مصاريف(Salla) | iOS | 2011 | 3,395 rating | Old manual bookkeeping app |
| SpendNotes سجل المصاريف | iOS | 2020 | 2,557 ratings, Top Grossing #56 | Mainly manual bookkeeping |
| Masarif: Auto Expense Tracker(AQL Technology) | iOS | 2026-07-07 | 2 rating | **Nearly identical mechanism** (Shortcuts reads Saudi bank SMS, swipe-to-categorize), but it never took off |
| Expensly(Farhan Fazil) | iOS | 2026-07-03 | Saudi 0 ratings | Same Shortcuts SMS reading, targeting UAE/Saudi, English-language, monthly subscription |
| EXPENDR | iOS/Android | 2026-08-13 | 1 rating | Shared family budget, one-time purchase, UAE-focused |
| Ektifai(Bin Askar) | iOS | 2026-08-13 | 7 rating | Salary-based budget planning, mostly manual |
| مال بلان / نماء / Km SAR | iOS | 2026-03~08 | 1-3 rating | Manual entry or reading PDF statements |
| Wallet, Spendee, YNAB, Monefy, etc. | Global | 2013-15 | Hundreds to low thousands of ratings | Doesn't understand Gulf SMS formats; mostly no Arabic |
| Telegram bookkeeping bot (paid) | Other | Not verified | Not verified | A user review (9-08) says "I used to do this with a Telegram bot that had a monthly fee, your app freed me". That shows demand for Shortcuts + SMS bookkeeping was already validated by paying users |
| Built-in Apple (Wallet/Apple Pay transaction automation) | Big-company features | — | — | Covers only Apple Pay, no budgeting |

Sources: appstore library app_profile (cc=sa, 2026-11-06); iTunes lookup; expendrapp.com's UAE comparison article (updated 2026-10-19).

**Bottom line** : the mechanism itself isn't unique. Around mid-2026, a batch of new Saudi apps appeared that use "Shortcuts reads bank SMS" (Masarif, Expensly, Pockito, MoneyLoop, Mohamed Gado's Masareef, etc.). OutCap isn't first, but it's the only one in this wave that ranks notably on the Saudi charts.

### Growth channels

1. **Developer's own TikTok "building apps" diary (confirmed)** : @a9ldv (display name "A9L | أصنع تطبيقات", 5,234 followers, 56k total likes, bio reads Building in public). Posting consistently since 8-23, covering Claude coding and OutCap: 8-23 74k views, "يحسب ويصنف بدالك" 9-24 18k, 9-29 93k (#claude), 10-04 53k, "the most time-consuming app I've built, but the result is worth it" 10-14 99k views / 2,816 likes / 537 shares, and "changing OutCap every day" 10-26. The audience is young local Saudis, exactly the target users. No #ad or paid creators spotted. (TikHub fetch_user_post_videos)

2. **Store search / keyword titles (confirmed, impact not verified)** : the title is literally "يحسب صرفك تلقائياً" (automatically calculates your spending), with keywords packed into the subtitle. On the Saudi App Store page, it shows up alongside Masarif in "You might also like".

3. **Reviews and developer responsiveness (confirmed)** : reviews repeatedly mention "the developer responds to feedback and keeps adding features" and "first time I've written a review on the App Store". Update notes repeatedly say "features came from your messages", suggesting review prompts (not verified whether there's a popup).

4. **Not found** : on X (x-radar finds nothing in 90 days), media coverage, Meta/TikTok ads, Reddit/HN.

### Why it took off

- **Turns "bookkeeping" into one number: how much you can still spend today** : cycle anchored to payday, rent/installments/bills subtracted, the rest split per day, shown as a green/amber/terracotta ring. For Saudi users paid monthly who run out by month's end, that's more direct than category reports (store description; review: "it figured out where my salary went").

- **Zero manual entry, no bank credentials** : iOS doesn't allow reading SMS, so it has the user route messages in via Shortcuts. Zero servers, no accounts. Reviews specifically praise that "nobody can see my data". A reasonable alternative for people who won't grant bank access to something like Drahim.

- **Deep localization** : 330+ Saudi merchant pre-categorization, Tabby/Tamara installment detection (2.2 release), reports by salary cycle, Sadaqah (صدقة) reminders, Saudi-dialect copy. Overseas peers and most local newcomers haven't gone this deep.

- **Solo rapid iteration + constant TikTok exposure** : 8 versions in about two and a half months, each one paired with a TikTok video, forming a loop of "watch video → download → give feedback → next version ships with it".

- **Pricing** : Launched as a 49.99 SAR one-time purchase (reviews praise "one-time buy" and "no more Telegram monthly fees"). Top Grossing rank kept climbing after 10-24 monthly/yearly subscriptions were added.

### Is differentiation why it took off?

Differentiation = the "daily spendable amount" product shape + deep Saudi localization + the privacy story (no server) + the developer's personal presence on TikTok. The mechanism (Shortcuts reading SMS) is **not** a differentiator; at least 4-5 others were doing it at the same time. What actually separates it from Masarif and Expensly is product polish and localization, plus founder-driven distribution (several TikTok videos with 5-100k views). Without both, it'd likely go as quiet as the 0-7 similar apps with a few ratings.

### How many people can see it?

Not many people know about it yet: no X discussion, no media, no public revenue; only the developer's own TikTok account with 5k followers talks about it. Absolute numbers are small (79 ratings), and the Saudi finance Top Grossing bar is low.

### Takeaways

- Using "Shortcuts + SMS" to get around iOS restrictions and build automatic bookkeeping works in any country where banks still send transaction SMS (Gulf, Egypt, India, Southeast Asia, etc.), paired with local merchant databases and local BNPL (installment) detection.

- The main screen shows just one number (how much you can spend today), which spreads and retains better than category charts.

- A founder who "ships while building" on TikTok and iterates fast on comments is a zero-budget cold-start path for small-language markets.

- Win loyalty with a one-time purchase first, then add subscriptions to lift ARPU.

### Uncertain

- Actual revenue and downloads (rough estimate: hundreds to low thousands of dollars a month, unverified);

- Conversion and retention after subscriptions launched;

- The concrete contribution of TikTok videos to downloads (no attribution data);

- Whether there's a review-prompt popup; the specific mechanics of Wafeer's automation;

- The developer account shows developer_app_count=1, which doesn't match the official site's "4 apps". The same developer also has a task app called "مسارك" (2026-04-23 launched, 12 ratings). The rest is unverified.

This article was written by AI from public data and the data we collect daily. Numbers are sourced, and inferences are labeled.