@GeorgeP said:
If anyone finds an alternate to Wave that still has the OCR functionality, please post it. I don't link to my bank account so this is a major blow, and will add hours to my accounting.
Well this is some good timing, Google has just come out with an app called "Stacks" which will scan receipts and other docs then categorize them using OCR. It's Android-only for now but looks promising.
Thank you @Tobias and quoting this to spread it to more users out there. This won't alleviate all the damage inflicted by Wave's latest slim-down, but it will at least help a little bit. As long as you and your employees use Android phones...
The old workflow app-based worked great for cash transactions, and allowed receipt capture well before the transactions were uploaded (or when they came in on a personal credit card). I like the idea of adding the receipt upload right on the transaction, but losing the app and the ability to create transactions from just a receipt submission is definitely a step backwards and complicates what is currently a great workflow for us.
I am also very disappointed with this change. The receipts app was one of the coolest features. I used it every day. The ability to snap receipts and forget it knowing they’re processing with OCR and I can match it later put your company ahead of the others. Now I will have to wait for the bank to load before snapping, meaning I need to hold on to it then scan it later. This is a huge step backwards. Let’s keep the Receipts app.
I do agree there is some limitation with the receipt app for bank sync people, but what about those who do not use bank sync? I def do agree; as soon as I get a receipt I take a pic and upload it etc. without having to log on to the web app from my mobile device. If people do not want to use the mobile app because of duplicates then let them use the web app.
This was a great receipt functionality. Was getting ready to pull the plug on getting payroll. But now will look elsewhere. Bad idea. I think I saw two positive responses.
I agree with the majority of other posters commenting here: I am very disappointed to hear the receipts app and OCR functionality is being retired. This was my favourite feature and one of used often for all my business expenses. The convenience of snapping pictures of receipts on the go and letting the OCR do its thing automatically creating transactions was unparalleled.
The new "mobile experience" will not be adequate if it doesn't use OCR and auto-create transactions. Hopefully we can find another accounting system that has this functionality if Wave won't reconsider.
This is a terrible idea, and it's very frustrating that they are trying to position it as "new and improved" when it's clearly a step backward in functionality for many users. If you're going to take features away for your own business reasons you are certainly entitled to, but at least be honest and apologize rather than pretending you're making things better.
Just want to add my voice to the growing chorus of disappointed wavers. What a horrible idea to get rid of an excellent tool. I use the Receipts app to take a picture of my receipt so I can toss it immediately and not have paper junk cluttering my life. Nobody under 35 uses waveapps the way you're suggesting. If you just want to stop paying to maintain your awesome app, just say so, or maybe try charging a small monthly or annual fee for it.
I'm an incorporated medical Doctor and I hate the business side of medicine SO MUCH. I pay for a wave book keeper even though I only few transactions per month, only to keep track of business expenses. All I want is to photograph receipts with the app and upload them to wave for my book keeper to sort out for me.... And now that feature is going away? I learned about wave from a doctor's group and literally the receipts app was the main feature for people like us. I seriously doubt this was really a 'you asked' situation 🤦♂️
This is my second post on this subject. I read FIVE pages of responses, without one positive review. I wonder if WAVE actually reads these posts???? I logged into the app on my phone.. Very hard to manipulate and see entire screen. Characters are tiny. It is cumbersome to log in manually. The whole world is moving towards apps, WAVE is moving away. To echo everyone's statements, this is a move backwards and will take extra time and possible challenge the accuracy of my accounting as like others I am in the field full time and the current email receipts or photos from vendors, screen shot, email to WAVE takes seconds.
I do appreciate using WAVE and using it for free. I have used WAVE in my small home repair business for about 15 months. So thank you. But his is a disappointment. I have also used HR Block and it's processors for my taxes for about 20 years. So I am very loyal.
Like QuickBooks you should expand your mobile apps, combine them into one (invoicing and receipts are separate) not remove them.
Wow. I don't think I've ever seen so many negative comments about an "improvement."
I hated having to merge duplicates. I LOVED the OCR feature. It's why I switched from Quickbooks and Quicken. What I really wanted is the receipt to match to an existing transaction or identify duplicates and in one action, merge them.
I am disappointed in a) the loss of OCR and b) that the answer to this is to completely change the user behavior.
Doesn't seem that the voice of the customer is represented in this change.
I do not agree that this is "good news" I used the Receipts app almost every-time I wanted to input a receipt/transaction. Now I have to do double the work - input the transaction AND upload the receipt. It's not convenient to login to wave on my phone as your site is NOT mobile friendly. So this means receipts aren't going to get into the appropriate spots because I can't scan it immediately upon receiving. Bad move, who was asking for this? I wasn't surveyed by you, wouldn't you ask ALL of your paying customers?
As with most posters, I see this move as a step backward and reduced functionality compared to other platforms. Holding onto receipts until transactions clear is not reduced complexity and does not streamline the process for us users. I became a Wave Money user and was considering the payroll services based on my positive experience with the Wave accounting services, in particular, the receipt processing capabilities-- I now will need to rethink my use of the accounting side, which also affects my decision on the banking and payroll services.
I've always found Wave customer service to be an oxymoron, but this takes the cake. Removing what was clearly the most useful feature of the service and posting it as a desired enhancement is beyond the pale. Like everyone else in this community, I will be looking for another service.
#waveapps If you want to recant and keep reciept app do it fast. It is the end of the quarter tomorrow and most of us will be looking to jump ship by April 1st to help with future accounting. Let me put it plainly....you just shot a giant hole in your boat and if you don't fix it fast your boat will sink fast and you will not be able to salvage it.
This is insulting to call this good news in an e-mail when shutting down a feature that I rely on. This will finally trigger me to look for another alterative.
I know a lot of people have already said it, but I feel the need to also voice my thought about removing the OCR image processing - don't do it, please.
This is straight up BS. Sounds like a decision to satisfy stock holders only by "keeping it fresh". OCR is automation that makes life easier. Clearly you are not listening to your customers. I'm only hearing about this now, and through Reddit. No email, no pop up, etc.
Please pay close attention ----->
The only major issue that existed with the previous receipts function was the fact that it created two transactions. One transaction once it reconciled with your bank and the other when you uploaded a receipt via the app.
There's an easier solution to this and there's two major routes to look at. One, the customer who ties their bank account to Wave and two, the customer who doesn't.
For the customer who doesn't tie their bank account to Wave this shouldn't be an issue. The second transaction will never be generated.
Now for the customer who has their bank account tied to wave, there's needs to be some sort of automation on the server end that nixes a new transaction generated if the user uses the receipt app to upload a receipt; use OCR and match up the date and purchase amount. This way a second transaction is not automatically generated from bank reconciled data.
I still don't see ease of use uploading from a mobile responsive website. Don't you have an app? Why don't you guys implement a receipt feature into the app instead of mixing it all together. Manually typing in data from a receipt is counter productive.
If you won't listen to your customer base, at least show us an icon for transactions that include receipts. Don't make us click on every single transaction to see if it includes a receipt or not. That's counter productive. Put it in line with said transaction. That leads me to my next point.
Making the text smaller on the webpage to show more data on the transaction line item would be nice. Or make it two lines, one on top of the other in the same space it takes to display one actual line now. Or better yet, let the Wave website take full advantage of the left to right space. None of this Web 2.0 "keep the entire page" within a set column space of 400 pixels.
This is what sucks about smaller companies that have been bought out by bigger ones, they listen to their stock holders only who don't give a shit about the end users because they aren't one.
Sincerely, Pat aka "just a regular user of software that should make life easier, not harder"
Please say this is an early April fools joke. So now I have to keep paper receipts around until a bank transaction posts (or never does cause your bank uses MFA which is compatible with Plaid but not supported by Wave). I liked Receipts functionality cause I could scan and toss. The merge step was an important QA aspect to my process, not a burden.
Who voted this because the comments say otherwise. I don’t have my bank attached because I generally keep business transactions separate even though I use personal accounts. I don’t want ALL my transactions on Wave. I feel like this is more work because if we don’t have a bank attached we have to manual put in each transaction. Gas receipts are going to be fun...
I don't understand how this is going to be good. I loved how the OCR filled out much of the info by just taking a picture with the App. Manually entering all the transactions defeats the purpose on what made the Receipts so good!!
This really feels like a step backwards. Every responsible website, even from larger companies, ends up sacrificing end user fidelity for one reason or another. Sometimes it’s rendering inconsistencies leads to over or undersized buttons. Other times it’s elements don’t flow properly leading to forms being oddly placed. Fluent and responsive design has been claimed to be the solution but hasn’t really shown to pan out. This doesn’t even get into the frequent security updates to browsers that require frequent tweaks that could be acceptable on desktop but not mobile. Progressive web apps would have at least had more forethought.
Beyond that, the biggest advantage of mobile was having staff take pictures of receipts immediately on purpose and upload them. This way you didn’t have to depend of staff actually holding onto to receipts to turn it or taking a picture on their phone to accidentally forget it. Instead you tell them just take the picture with the app and I’ll do the rest. This way it’s not in their camera roll waiting for the to address and no longer on their mind. This new workflow, as it is currently described, will remove the single largest advantage of wave which was to get staff to turn in receipts on time and in good shop. Just open, click, and close. Friction to this process was nonexistent. I was actually getting receipts in good condition before the transaction for the digital transaction completed. It looks like I might have to go back to Quickbooks regardless of how much I loathe it.
This is such a bad idea that I am considering paying $70 a month to switch to quick books just to HAVE the receipt OCR function. My last CC transaction had a fee (profit for wave) of over $700.00. That’s what you will be losing if I switch. As others have said instead of removing valuable features you should be enhancing them, like adding AI merging of duplicate transactions or adding a PO module. Remove the receipt OCR and I’ll be taking my CC fee’s elsewhere.
HR Block, this is actually what you asked for when you bought Wave
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I started using Wave in 2019 after I sold my company of 20+ years (used Sage 100) and researched accounting solutions to hold the winding down transaction data that took place over two years. I really liked the Wave system enough to start my next company with it even though I was advised to go with Quickbooks. My company is still small (thanks covid) but I recently started researching payroll solutions and was very close to moving forward with Wave's own built in payroll even though it's not the most robust for the money. The one worry I've always had is that as a new platform it is prone to being sold off (and it was to HR Block) or discontinued if its business model fails.
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I'll admit that the OCR receipt service was not the reason I started using Wave, but it is one of the reasons I've stayed and started my new company with Wave. There are other reasons I like Wave, such as its multi user access, simplicity, free/low cost, integration ability, invoicing, acceptable reporting, to name a few. But, I'm afraid this move to take OCR off the table and the "cable news network" type spin, calling this an upgrade that "we" begged for is telling me that the new owner (HR Block) doesn't have an appetite for the Wave business model.
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I believe this is potentially the start of several other desirable functions of the system becoming "upgraded out". The functions will be removed from the free version, or removed altogether. Accordingly, I feel I need to take my CPA's advice and start looking to Quickbooks for my new company now that I need to add employees. I do appreciate Wave and the service it provided. But, my trust eroded a great deal with this functionality removal and the spin job.
I think that most haters here do not understand the difference in an app on their phone and a responsive site which you are calling waveapp. I like that you are going with an all responsive site and skipping the app which had very limited usefulness. It is cleaner for you and us both. Thank you for making it simple to attach a receipt to an imported transaction. The OCR function just increased he chance of a miscode. These people saying that they will run over to QB are either jump from the pan into the fire or just slinging mud. Make sure it actually works well and is bug free when you throw the switch or you will get a legit explosion in your community. 🤗
@Core said:
I think that most haters here do not understand the difference in an app on their phone and a responsive site which you are calling waveapp.
Their "app" is useless for anything other than adding a quick invoice. I could care less about a responsive site. I shouldn't have to be zooming in and out and tapping on stuff on a 6" screen.
Invest in the application and make it work like it should. Bake the receipt function into the app.
They're skipping the app because some bone headed moron suggested it was a cost savings to just work on one UI. It's cheaper to have a team that just designs a single front UI rather than have multiple teams working on multiple interfaces. I mean shit if you're owned by H&R Block you have the money to devote teams to both UI's. It's not like we're talking about a company that's owned by 5 people.
This is why we need more open source software and less of whatever Wave has become.
agree with the majority of posters here. This is a huge step backwards. I have many receipts that the transactions don't get imported for one reason or another. The ability to make a transaction quickly was a huge benefit for me. Also, bank transactions don't happen in real time, meaning I am going to have to hold on to receipts until they import, and then deal with the mobile interface, which is fine for quickly getting a bit of info, but not something I want to use for managing my finances. Having an option on which version to use would be ideal.
While I like that it will become easier to attach receipts to transactions, I agree with most of the other comments here that the net outcome is actually worse for most users. Being able to quickly snap the receipt image and then discard the paper receipt is a huge benefit. I don't see why your newly announced feature/workflow is not compatible with the current Receipts app? Why not allow the user to take/upload the photo with the app like they do now, and then when it's in the Receipts queue, allow the option to either generate a new transaction or attach it to an existing transaction. As others have pointed out, it can take 1 to 5+ days for the transactions to pull from the bank and show up in the Transactions list. That's a really long time to sit on receipts. This update is one step forward and three steps backwards, when it does not need to be like that.
Comments
Thank you @Tobias and quoting this to spread it to more users out there. This won't alleviate all the damage inflicted by Wave's latest slim-down, but it will at least help a little bit. As long as you and your employees use Android phones...
The old workflow app-based worked great for cash transactions, and allowed receipt capture well before the transactions were uploaded (or when they came in on a personal credit card). I like the idea of adding the receipt upload right on the transaction, but losing the app and the ability to create transactions from just a receipt submission is definitely a step backwards and complicates what is currently a great workflow for us.
I am also very disappointed with this change. The receipts app was one of the coolest features. I used it every day. The ability to snap receipts and forget it knowing they’re processing with OCR and I can match it later put your company ahead of the others. Now I will have to wait for the bank to load before snapping, meaning I need to hold on to it then scan it later. This is a huge step backwards. Let’s keep the Receipts app.
Already looking to migrate to Quickbooks, even though it's more expensive and the migration is a total pain. That's how much I value this one feature.
I do agree there is some limitation with the receipt app for bank sync people, but what about those who do not use bank sync? I def do agree; as soon as I get a receipt I take a pic and upload it etc. without having to log on to the web app from my mobile device. If people do not want to use the mobile app because of duplicates then let them use the web app.
ARE YOU OAYING ATTENTION to your users?
The new "mobile experience" will not be adequate if it doesn't use OCR and auto-create transactions. Hopefully we can find another accounting system that has this functionality if Wave won't reconsider.
This is a terrible idea, and it's very frustrating that they are trying to position it as "new and improved" when it's clearly a step backward in functionality for many users. If you're going to take features away for your own business reasons you are certainly entitled to, but at least be honest and apologize rather than pretending you're making things better.
Just want to add my voice to the growing chorus of disappointed wavers. What a horrible idea to get rid of an excellent tool. I use the Receipts app to take a picture of my receipt so I can toss it immediately and not have paper junk cluttering my life. Nobody under 35 uses waveapps the way you're suggesting. If you just want to stop paying to maintain your awesome app, just say so, or maybe try charging a small monthly or annual fee for it.
This is my second post on this subject. I read FIVE pages of responses, without one positive review. I wonder if WAVE actually reads these posts???? I logged into the app on my phone.. Very hard to manipulate and see entire screen. Characters are tiny. It is cumbersome to log in manually. The whole world is moving towards apps, WAVE is moving away. To echo everyone's statements, this is a move backwards and will take extra time and possible challenge the accuracy of my accounting as like others I am in the field full time and the current email receipts or photos from vendors, screen shot, email to WAVE takes seconds.
I do appreciate using WAVE and using it for free. I have used WAVE in my small home repair business for about 15 months. So thank you. But his is a disappointment. I have also used HR Block and it's processors for my taxes for about 20 years. So I am very loyal.
Like QuickBooks you should expand your mobile apps, combine them into one (invoicing and receipts are separate) not remove them.
I hated having to merge duplicates. I LOVED the OCR feature. It's why I switched from Quickbooks and Quicken. What I really wanted is the receipt to match to an existing transaction or identify duplicates and in one action, merge them.
I am disappointed in a) the loss of OCR and b) that the answer to this is to completely change the user behavior.
Doesn't seem that the voice of the customer is represented in this change.
I do not agree that this is "good news" I used the Receipts app almost every-time I wanted to input a receipt/transaction. Now I have to do double the work - input the transaction AND upload the receipt. It's not convenient to login to wave on my phone as your site is NOT mobile friendly. So this means receipts aren't going to get into the appropriate spots because I can't scan it immediately upon receiving. Bad move, who was asking for this? I wasn't surveyed by you, wouldn't you ask ALL of your paying customers?
As with most posters, I see this move as a step backward and reduced functionality compared to other platforms. Holding onto receipts until transactions clear is not reduced complexity and does not streamline the process for us users. I became a Wave Money user and was considering the payroll services based on my positive experience with the Wave accounting services, in particular, the receipt processing capabilities-- I now will need to rethink my use of the accounting side, which also affects my decision on the banking and payroll services.
I've always found Wave customer service to be an oxymoron, but this takes the cake. Removing what was clearly the most useful feature of the service and posting it as a desired enhancement is beyond the pale. Like everyone else in this community, I will be looking for another service.
This is insulting to call this good news in an e-mail when shutting down a feature that I rely on. This will finally trigger me to look for another alterative.
I know a lot of people have already said it, but I feel the need to also voice my thought about removing the OCR image processing - don't do it, please.
Please pay close attention ----->
The only major issue that existed with the previous receipts function was the fact that it created two transactions. One transaction once it reconciled with your bank and the other when you uploaded a receipt via the app.
There's an easier solution to this and there's two major routes to look at. One, the customer who ties their bank account to Wave and two, the customer who doesn't.
For the customer who doesn't tie their bank account to Wave this shouldn't be an issue. The second transaction will never be generated.
Now for the customer who has their bank account tied to wave, there's needs to be some sort of automation on the server end that nixes a new transaction generated if the user uses the receipt app to upload a receipt; use OCR and match up the date and purchase amount. This way a second transaction is not automatically generated from bank reconciled data.
I still don't see ease of use uploading from a mobile responsive website. Don't you have an app? Why don't you guys implement a receipt feature into the app instead of mixing it all together. Manually typing in data from a receipt is counter productive.
If you won't listen to your customer base, at least show us an icon for transactions that include receipts. Don't make us click on every single transaction to see if it includes a receipt or not. That's counter productive. Put it in line with said transaction. That leads me to my next point.
Making the text smaller on the webpage to show more data on the transaction line item would be nice. Or make it two lines, one on top of the other in the same space it takes to display one actual line now. Or better yet, let the Wave website take full advantage of the left to right space. None of this Web 2.0 "keep the entire page" within a set column space of 400 pixels.
This is what sucks about smaller companies that have been bought out by bigger ones, they listen to their stock holders only who don't give a shit about the end users because they aren't one.
Sincerely,
Pat aka "just a regular user of software that should make life easier, not harder"
Please say this is an early April fools joke. So now I have to keep paper receipts around until a bank transaction posts (or never does cause your bank uses MFA which is compatible with Plaid but not supported by Wave). I liked Receipts functionality cause I could scan and toss. The merge step was an important QA aspect to my process, not a burden.
sudo reconsider
I don't understand how this is going to be good. I loved how the OCR filled out much of the info by just taking a picture with the App. Manually entering all the transactions defeats the purpose on what made the Receipts so good!!
This is NOT an upgrade for us users
The photo/OCR scan is the sole reason I use Wave. I will be moving to a different (even paid!) solution if this goes forwards.
This really feels like a step backwards. Every responsible website, even from larger companies, ends up sacrificing end user fidelity for one reason or another. Sometimes it’s rendering inconsistencies leads to over or undersized buttons. Other times it’s elements don’t flow properly leading to forms being oddly placed. Fluent and responsive design has been claimed to be the solution but hasn’t really shown to pan out. This doesn’t even get into the frequent security updates to browsers that require frequent tweaks that could be acceptable on desktop but not mobile. Progressive web apps would have at least had more forethought.
Beyond that, the biggest advantage of mobile was having staff take pictures of receipts immediately on purpose and upload them. This way you didn’t have to depend of staff actually holding onto to receipts to turn it or taking a picture on their phone to accidentally forget it. Instead you tell them just take the picture with the app and I’ll do the rest. This way it’s not in their camera roll waiting for the to address and no longer on their mind. This new workflow, as it is currently described, will remove the single largest advantage of wave which was to get staff to turn in receipts on time and in good shop. Just open, click, and close. Friction to this process was nonexistent. I was actually getting receipts in good condition before the transaction for the digital transaction completed. It looks like I might have to go back to Quickbooks regardless of how much I loathe it.
This is such a bad idea that I am considering paying $70 a month to switch to quick books just to HAVE the receipt OCR function. My last CC transaction had a fee (profit for wave) of over $700.00. That’s what you will be losing if I switch. As others have said instead of removing valuable features you should be enhancing them, like adding AI merging of duplicate transactions or adding a PO module. Remove the receipt OCR and I’ll be taking my CC fee’s elsewhere.
HR Block, this is actually what you asked for when you bought Wave
.
I started using Wave in 2019 after I sold my company of 20+ years (used Sage 100) and researched accounting solutions to hold the winding down transaction data that took place over two years. I really liked the Wave system enough to start my next company with it even though I was advised to go with Quickbooks. My company is still small (thanks covid) but I recently started researching payroll solutions and was very close to moving forward with Wave's own built in payroll even though it's not the most robust for the money. The one worry I've always had is that as a new platform it is prone to being sold off (and it was to HR Block) or discontinued if its business model fails.
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I'll admit that the OCR receipt service was not the reason I started using Wave, but it is one of the reasons I've stayed and started my new company with Wave. There are other reasons I like Wave, such as its multi user access, simplicity, free/low cost, integration ability, invoicing, acceptable reporting, to name a few. But, I'm afraid this move to take OCR off the table and the "cable news network" type spin, calling this an upgrade that "we" begged for is telling me that the new owner (HR Block) doesn't have an appetite for the Wave business model.
.
I believe this is potentially the start of several other desirable functions of the system becoming "upgraded out". The functions will be removed from the free version, or removed altogether. Accordingly, I feel I need to take my CPA's advice and start looking to Quickbooks for my new company now that I need to add employees. I do appreciate Wave and the service it provided. But, my trust eroded a great deal with this functionality removal and the spin job.
I think that most haters here do not understand the difference in an app on their phone and a responsive site which you are calling waveapp. I like that you are going with an all responsive site and skipping the app which had very limited usefulness. It is cleaner for you and us both. Thank you for making it simple to attach a receipt to an imported transaction. The OCR function just increased he chance of a miscode. These people saying that they will run over to QB are either jump from the pan into the fire or just slinging mud. Make sure it actually works well and is bug free when you throw the switch or you will get a legit explosion in your community. 🤗
Look down.
Their "app" is useless for anything other than adding a quick invoice. I could care less about a responsive site. I shouldn't have to be zooming in and out and tapping on stuff on a 6" screen.
Invest in the application and make it work like it should. Bake the receipt function into the app.
They're skipping the app because some bone headed moron suggested it was a cost savings to just work on one UI. It's cheaper to have a team that just designs a single front UI rather than have multiple teams working on multiple interfaces. I mean shit if you're owned by H&R Block you have the money to devote teams to both UI's. It's not like we're talking about a company that's owned by 5 people.
This is why we need more open source software and less of whatever Wave has become.
agree with the majority of posters here. This is a huge step backwards. I have many receipts that the transactions don't get imported for one reason or another. The ability to make a transaction quickly was a huge benefit for me. Also, bank transactions don't happen in real time, meaning I am going to have to hold on to receipts until they import, and then deal with the mobile interface, which is fine for quickly getting a bit of info, but not something I want to use for managing my finances. Having an option on which version to use would be ideal.
While I like that it will become easier to attach receipts to transactions, I agree with most of the other comments here that the net outcome is actually worse for most users. Being able to quickly snap the receipt image and then discard the paper receipt is a huge benefit. I don't see why your newly announced feature/workflow is not compatible with the current Receipts app? Why not allow the user to take/upload the photo with the app like they do now, and then when it's in the Receipts queue, allow the option to either generate a new transaction or attach it to an existing transaction. As others have pointed out, it can take 1 to 5+ days for the transactions to pull from the bank and show up in the Transactions list. That's a really long time to sit on receipts. This update is one step forward and three steps backwards, when it does not need to be like that.