Review & Categorize Transactions
How transaction review works in Forbidden Finance: Smart, Full, and Off review modes, the review wizard, merchant rules, and applying a category to all pending transactions.
Overview
When new transactions arrive — from a bank sync, an import, or a partner's shared account — Forbidden Finance categorizes them automatically. Transaction review is how you stay in control of that: transactions the app isn't sure about wait in a review queue until you confirm or correct their category.
Review Modes
Choose how much you want to be asked. Go to Settings > Transaction Review:
- Smart review (default) — High-confidence categories apply and confirm automatically: anything matched by one of your own merchant rules, a category you picked yourself, or a category that came with your bank or import file. Only uncertain transactions wait for you.
- Review everything — Every new transaction waits for your confirmation, no matter how it was categorized. Maximum control, more taps.
- Off — Nothing ever waits for review. Categories apply automatically, and anything currently waiting is accepted the moment you switch this on. You can still change any transaction's category by hand at any time.
The Review Wizard
Open the review queue
Tap the To Review card on your dashboard, the Review transactions card at the top of your Transactions list, or the reminder banner that appears when transactions are waiting. The badge on the Transactions tab shows how many are in the queue.
Check each transaction
The wizard shows one transaction at a time: merchant, amount, date, account, and the suggested category with a note on where the suggestion came from.
Confirm or change
Tap Confirm to accept the category as shown, or Change to pick a different one.
Teach it your rules
Every card offers Always categorize this merchant like this — check it to create a rule so future charges from this merchant get this category automatically, and confirm themselves in Smart mode. When you change the category, a second option appears: Apply to all pending from this merchant also updates every other transaction from the same merchant that's still waiting in your review queue, so you only answer once.
Where You'll See It
- Dashboard card — the "To Review" widget shows how many transactions are waiting, or "All caught up" when the queue is empty.
- Transactions tab badge — a count on the tab icon whenever the queue is non-empty.
- Reminder banner — once per app session, a dismissible "N transactions need review" banner appears at the top of the dashboard. Tap Later and it stays gone until you next open the app.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a transaction waiting for review count in my budget?
Yes. Review state never changes whether a transaction counts — it counts from the moment it arrives, under its suggested category. Confirming or changing the category just moves where it counts.
What happens to my queue if I turn review Off?
Everything currently waiting is accepted with its suggested category, and nothing new enters the queue. Switching back to Smart or Review everything starts fresh from your next sync.
Can my partner review transactions on our shared accounts?
Yes — anyone with write access to a shared account can confirm or re-categorize its transactions. Their own accounts' queues stay theirs. The "apply to all pending from this merchant" option only works on your own transactions.
Why did a transaction confirm itself?
In Smart mode, transactions matched by one of your merchant rules — or categorized by your own explicit pick — confirm automatically. That's the point of teaching it rules: the queue gets quieter over time.
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