Guide
How it works, with worked examples
Most of Split Things is obvious once you have seen the numbers move. Below is each part explained as a rule, then the same thing as a small worked example you can follow along with.
The basics
A Thing is whatever you are splitting - a trip, a meal out, or shared household bills. You add people to it, add expenses, and Split Things keeps a running picture of who is up and who is down.
You do not need an account to join one. Whoever starts it shares a link, and anyone can open it in a browser.
Settling up
Split Things nets everything off and suggests the fewest payments that make everyone square, rather than one payment per expense. Someone marks a payment as sent, and the person who was owed confirms they received it.
Ada, Bram and Cass are on a trip.
Ada pays £60 for dinner, split 3 ways - that is £20 each.
Bram pays £30 for a taxi, split 3 ways - that is £10 each.
Everyone owes £30 in total. Ada paid £60, so she is +£30. Bram paid £30, so he is square. Cass paid nothing, so she is -£30.
Split Things suggests one payment: Cass pays Ada £30. Cass taps Mark paid, then Ada taps Confirm received. Done.
Important: a payment settles your overall balance with someone, not one specific expense. There is no such thing as “paying off the taxi” - you pay off your net position. This matters when a charge is later changed or removed (see below).
Recurring bills
In a Bills Thing you can set up costs that repeat - rent, energy, broadband. There are two separate ideas here, and keeping them apart explains almost everything else:
- The bill is the instruction: “Rent, £1000, monthly, due on the 1st, split equally.” On its own it charges nobody.
- The charge is what appears when you post that bill for a given month. That is an ordinary shared expense, and only then does anyone owe anything.
Ada and Bram share a flat. Ada adds a bill: Rent, £1000, monthly, due 1st.
Nothing is owed yet.
On 1 July, Ada posts it for July. A £1000 expense appears, split equally, so Bram owes Ada £500. It shows in the ledger for everyone, Premium or not.
A bill that changes each month
Energy and water move around. Change the amount on that month’s row before (or after) posting - it only affects that month, and the bill keeps its usual amount for future months.
The energy bill is set to £90 a month. October comes in at £120. Change October to £120 - November onwards is still £90.
Splitting a bill unevenly (different room rates)
Housemates rarely owe the same. Under How to split choose Shares (the big room counts for more), Exact amounts, or Percentages - instead of splitting equally.
Shares and percentages are relative, so if the bill changes they simply re-scale. Exact amounts are absolute: if the total changes they no longer add up, so Split Things asks you to set the new total and the amounts together rather than guessing.
Rent is £1200. Ada has the big room, Bram the small one, so you use shares of 3 and 2.
Ada owes 3/5 = £720. Bram owes 2/5 = £480.
If rent drops to £1000, the shares still apply: Ada £600, Bram £400. Nothing to re-enter.
When more than one person pays the bill
Sometimes a bill isn’t paid by one person - rent might go to the landlord half from each of you. Choose Split the paying on the bill and enter what each person pays. The amounts must add up to the bill total exactly, and the bill can’t be saved until they do.
Because of that, changing just the total for one month isn’t possible from the bills list - it would leave the paid amounts not adding up. Split Things asks you to open the expense instead, where you set the new total and who paid what together.
Rent is £1000, paid £600 by Ada and £400 by Bram, split equally between them.
Each owes £500. Ada paid £600, so she is +£100. Bram paid £400, so he is -£100. Bram pays Ada £100 and they’re square.
If February’s rent rises to £1100, you can’t just change the total - £600 + £400 no longer adds up. Split Things opens the expense so you can set £1100 and, say, £700/£400 at the same time.
A bill in another currency
Bills default to the Thing’s home currency. If you’ve added other currencies to the Thing (in its currency settings), a recurring bill can be in any of them - handy for a subscription billed in dollars or euros.
Each month’s charge locks in the exchange rate at the moment you post it. So a foreign bill is worth what it was worth that month, and changing the rate later doesn’t disturb months you’ve already posted - each one keeps its own rate.
Your home currency is GBP and you have a $100/month subscription.
You post July with the dollar at 0.80, so July is £80. In August the dollar is 0.90, so August posts as £90.
If you change the rate again later, July stays £80 and August stays £90 - they were each locked when posted. (Ordinary one-off expenses aren’t locked this way; they follow the Thing’s current rate.)
Editing a bill after a month has been posted
Editing a bill changes it from the next posting onwards. A month that has already been posted keeps the figures it was posted at, because that charge is a real expense people may already have settled.
So Split Things asks. If the month you are looking at is already posted, saving an edit offers to update that month to match - and if payments have been recorded, it warns you first. Either way you can undo it straight after.
Rent is £1500 and July has already been posted.
You edit the bill down to £1200.
August onwards will be £1200. July still says £1500 - until you accept “Also update July?”, which re-posts July at £1200.
If someone had already paid toward the old £1500, updating it re-works the balances and can leave them owed the difference, so you get a warning before it happens.
Pausing a bill
Pausing is forward-looking. It stops the bill being charged in future months. It does not remove charges already posted, because those are real expenses that people may already have paid toward.
July’s gas has already been posted. On 10 July you pause the gas bill.
July’s charge stays - it already happened. August onwards will not be charged.
If you also want July’s charge gone, remove it explicitly (next section). The app will offer to do that for you when you pause a bill whose current month is already posted.
Removing a single month’s charge
Use Remove this month on a posted bill to delete just that month’s charge. The bill itself and every other month are untouched, and you can undo it straight away.
The one thing to understand: removing a charge never removes a payment. If someone already paid toward it, their payment stays and they end up in credit.
July gas is £100, split equally, paid by Ada. Bram owes Ada £50.
Bram pays Ada £50. They are square.
Ada now removes July’s gas charge. Bram’s £50 share disappears, but Bram’s £50 payment does not - so Ada now owes Bram £50.
Nothing has been lost. The money Bram actually sent is still recorded; it has simply become a credit. Split Things warns you before this happens and lets you undo it.
Using it offline
Split Things keeps working without a connection. Your Things live on your device, so you can open the app, read everything, and add or change expenses on a plane or with no signal. Whatever you do is saved straight away and sent up on its own the next time you are online - you do not have to remember to sync.
A few things do need the internet, because they involve other people or the server:
- The very first time - open the app online once so it can install itself for offline use.
- Signing in or creating an account.
- Sharing and joining - creating an invite link or QR code, or opening someone else’s.
- Seeing other people’s changes - your edits queue up and sync when you reconnect, and theirs arrive the same way.
On the train with no signal, you add three expenses and mark a payment as sent. Everything updates on your screen right away and your balances are correct.
When you get back online those four changes upload on their own. If a housemate had changed the same expense while you were offline, the most recent edit wins.
Keeping your data safe: without an account, everything is stored only in that one browser. That is perfect for quick, personal use, but clearing your browser data - or a phone that tidies away unused site data - can remove anything that has not synced. If a Thing matters, sign in so it is backed up to the server and waiting on your other devices too.
Quick answers
I paused a bill but I can still see this month’s charge.
Pausing is forward-looking: it stops the bill being charged in future months, but it deliberately leaves charges that were already posted alone (someone may already have paid toward them). To drop the charge itself, use “Remove this month” on that bill’s row.
Why did removing a charge make me owe someone money?
Because removing a charge never removes a payment. If they had already paid toward it, that payment stays and they are now in credit, so the balance flips and you owe them the difference back. Nothing is lost - it just moves.
Someone marked a payment as paid, but they still show as owing.
Check the amount they marked. Marking a payment settles the balance by that amount only, so a part-payment leaves the remainder outstanding. The payment also stays “pending” until the person who received it confirms.
Can I add a recurring bill to a trip or a meal?
No - recurring bills only apply to a Bills Thing, because they describe costs that repeat every month. Trips and meals are one-off.
Does everyone need Premium to see recurring bills?
No. Only the person managing the bills needs Premium. Once a bill is posted it becomes an ordinary shared expense, so everyone in the Thing sees it, and it counts in their balances and settle-up as normal.
Can I use it on a plane or with no signal?
Yes. Once you have opened it online once, the app and all your Things work offline. Add and edit as normal - your changes save on the device and upload on their own when you are back online. Only the parts that involve other people (sharing a link, joining one, or seeing someone else’s latest changes) need a connection.