
Show HN: IOU – Split shared expenses - janberchtold
https://www.iou.ch
======
joshstrange
I know it's been mentioned but Splitwise is an AMAZING app/webapp. I've used
it with friends on vacation (uber rides, hotel/airbnb, dinners, etc), I've
used it with roommates (electric bill, rent, etc), and now I use it with my
boyfriend (rent, groceries, utilities, furniture, tools, etc).

I find it really helps me as I HATE talking about money and asking for it
(even when I'm owed it). This way I never feel like I'm paying in more than he
is and he doesn't feel like he is paying in more than me. Some months he
"pays" his portion of the rent by just buying all the groceries or buying
something else we both agreed on getting and it all evens out. Because of this
we rarely have to actually settle up but when the balance gets out of wack by
like $500 one of us will just venmo the other one and record it in splitwise.

~~~
modo_
I've used splitwise a few times for large group activities and really
struggled with the UX every time.

The most frequent problem happens when people are slow to add their expenses.
It's too easy to pay up before everything has been added, which means having
to remember to log back in when that last straggler finally adds their items

The UI and integration with Venmo feel pretty clunky too

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jancborchardt
For small apps like these, sign up is really a pain. That is why a friend and
I have been working on a simplified version, which is mostly based on links so
you can also easy share a tab: [https://grouptabs.net](https://grouptabs.net)

We also try to keep the interface very simple, and it works offline.

~~~
markovbot
Wow, this looks great. Self-hostable but with an easy to use public instance,
no app and a decent UI.

A few things I would really like to see added seem to already be in
discussion, such as an "add to homescreen" option
([https://github.com/xMartin/grouptabs/issues/146](https://github.com/xMartin/grouptabs/issues/146),
[https://github.com/xMartin/grouptabs/pull/143](https://github.com/xMartin/grouptabs/pull/143))
and a delete option
([https://github.com/xMartin/grouptabs/issues/152](https://github.com/xMartin/grouptabs/issues/152)).

I look forward to playing with!

------
haydenkshaw
Splitwise user here. Interface is clear and easy to use with most of the
required functionality.

Personally I find the per-bill itemised expense part of Splitwise essential,
being able to split a receipt into it's items and then charge particular
participants for only certain items. Uploading images of receipts to each bill
is also essential imo.

~~~
janberchtold
Thanks for your feedback! We will be adding more features soon. The image
upload of receipts will be coming soon.

------
sancha_
Feature wise Splitwise offers more, I also never thought Splitwise to be
complicated at all.

~~~
noja
Does Splitwise (or any app) support OCRing the receipt to visually split the
bill?

Edit: I found
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.astepanov....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.astepanov.mobile.splitcheck)
which works offline and does OCR from a photo

~~~
kbyatnal
There’s an app called Tab which does a pretty good job of this.

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k5hp
Another great app for tracking expenses is Splid [1] – IMO much better than
Splitwise, no accounts required, clean and beautiful UI. (I'm not affiliated
with this app)

[1]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=splid.teamturt...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=splid.teamturtle.com.splid)

~~~
fheld
iOS: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/splid-split-group-
bills/id99...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/splid-split-group-
bills/id991473495?mt=8)

and the website (no web app ATM): splid.app

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Yizahi
Is it an actual problem without solution though, to be "simpler than
Splitwise"? And is it actually perceptibly simpler? I find Splitwise rather
easy to use and just functional enough to cover all usecases. From the first
look this site does about the same stuff, no? The only significant difference
I see is app vs website.

------
afarrell
Niche that you might want to target: splitting grocery delivery.

Why?

In the UK, it is common for grocers like Tesco, ASDA, or Sainsburys which
offer grocery delivery to require a £40 minimum for an order. It is quite hard
to hit that minimum with a week's worth of groceries and ordering groceries
for longer than a week is less useful because meat & veg expires. Therefore,
it would be nice to be able to split a grocery delivery with flatmates or with
the flat across the hall. There is a coordination challenge here.

It would be nice if I could sign up for an account, my flatmate could sign up
for an account, we could link our accounts and then we could add stuff to the
same Tesco cart--with a record of who had ordered which groceries and who owes
whom when someone hits the "thats enough groceries in the cart. please
deliver" button.

~~~
fredley
In our office we use a shared takeaway system called Seamless. We each submit
our order ahead of a cutoff time, pay, then when it arrives each container is
individually named so you know what belongs to each person.

Something like this could be really good for shared grocery orders for flat
shares, but ideally you'd have buy-in from the grocers, so that the bags are
separated and there's no quibbling about who ordered what.

~~~
andrewmunsell
I always wondered why Instacart never took their Group Carts feature and made
it more holistic.

Right now, Instacart lets you create shared "Group Carts" for their grocery
delivery, which I use with my girlfriend. But, there's no payment splitting,
ability for other people in the shared cart to add items after-the-fact,
Instacart Express benefit sharing, or any sort of shared order management
abilities.

If Instacart extended the "Group Carts" feature to actual "Group Orders", this
would make situations like mine (and also those who use Instacart with
roommates) much more convenient and would be similar to how you describe
Seamless

------
oftenwrong
I was actually looking for something simple like this for dividing expenses.

I suggest adding "Note" field on a "Item" that could be used for an extended
description. The current "Description" field seems to be a single line, and is
truncated on some of the views - it is really more of a "Title" than
"Description".

~~~
preya2k
I agree. A longer text field for describing expenses would be appreciated.

~~~
janberchtold
Ok thanks I will add this to the backlog of features

------
eMerzh
Nice... look slick... got some issues trying to add a item... it didn't want
that i type in the amount

i also like [https://github.com/spiral-
project/ihatemoney](https://github.com/spiral-project/ihatemoney) which is
opensource and goes with a mobile app.

~~~
janberchtold
what exactly did you try to type in for the amount? or what was the error?

~~~
eMerzh
No errors ...didnt type anything funky... Numbers ....

------
esel2k
It is a usefull functionality, as I have used splid several times.

My two recommendations: Don’t forget the more seniors in terms uf usability. I
think the flow should focus on adding expenses quickly on the first screen as
you want to do this on the fly.

Secondly: as you are from Switzerland I proposed exactly that idea while I was
working for post to postfinance to get 50k startcapital, but did not get it. I
guess if you come with this UI and say youll build a interface to their
payment system (twint 2Dbarcode) you might get some funding. Cheers

------
cuddlecake
I used SettleUp for a while, for writing down food expenses (small amounts,
frequent, and different amounts per person)

It was such a hasslr that I decided to set up a transaction log (person A paid
X for Person B for item Y) in Google sheets instead, which automatically
tracks debts per combination of persons.

It's so much easier since I can parse and note down a receipt within one
minute, compared to doing calculations in my head and writing the debts down
in an App.

Edit: After giving splitwise a quick look, it also doesn't solve my grocery
debts problem.

------
kickopotomus
Interesting solution. My coworker created a similar app that aims to reduce
debt complexity over time for a group.

Ex. 1: Alice owes Bob $10. Bob owes Alice $5. So Alice really just owes Bob $5

Ex. 2: Alice owes Bob $10, Bob owes Charlie $5, and Charlie owes Alice $5.
This can also be reduced such that Alice just owes Bob $5.

We use it to track who owes who and who is up next to buy lunch.
[https://github.com/famish99/cuenta](https://github.com/famish99/cuenta)

------
subbu
I implemented this feature in a shared flat context. The problem gets
simplified as the users are all part of a group already and even the
settlement happens without exchanging any money. Your share gets added to the
monthly rent. Full write-up: [https://blog.simplyguest.com/flatmate-
expenses.html](https://blog.simplyguest.com/flatmate-expenses.html)

------
dalbotex
Great work, I like the simplicity!

So far I have two issues with your solution:

1\. It doesn't accept my email address. Looks like the pattern is way too
strict and doesn't allow any new TLDs.

2\. The use-case I most often see Splitwise used for is trips abroad with
friends. In this situation, expenses are often recorded while no internet
connection is available and synced later. I'm not sure if IOU supports this, I
haven't tried it.

~~~
janberchtold
Thanks!

1\. Can you send an email to iou@iou.ch so I can check you address and fix the
bug? 2\. We will be building mobile apps as soon as possible with this
functionality.

~~~
Freak_NL
Please read up on present day email address validation. If you have a regex
that is doing more than ^.+@.+$, then you are doing it wrong.

Don't validate the address beyond looking for an '@' in the string; just send
an email with a confirmation link to see if it actually works.

~~~
shhsshs
I prefer the _true_ email validation regex:
[https://regex101.com/r/iE0rF5/1](https://regex101.com/r/iE0rF5/1)

~~~
Freak_NL
I feel bad for the developers who run into that monstrosity and actually
implement it.

------
m52go
This is brilliant! I find Splitwise annoying...need yet another account, need
to use an app or clunky web interface, etc.

This is perfect. Breath of fresh air. I will use it the next time I need it!

Lately I've been using a local app on my phone, which I find more reliable (no
need for data or reliance on a website) but of course it doesn't allow for
collaboration with others.

------
georgyo
This is pretty neat, I always create fairly complicated spreadsheets for trips
with friends, however this covers most of the edge case.

One is does not though is adding and removing people. IE, you rent a house but
you might squeeze two more people in at the last minute. Then you need to edit
all previous ledger items to make their split even.

------
ckastner
This is exactly the functionality I have been looking for, in a minimal
implementation. I love it!

When creating a participant, why require an email, though, instead of making
it optional?

I'd wager that most people will use this on mobile, and therefore share this
via WhatsApp or some other IM client. Adding an email then becomes a pointless
burden.

~~~
janberchtold
Thanks for your feedback! The email is optional when creating a participant.
Try it!

~~~
ckastner
Indeed, thanks. I saw that it was required on the pot creation page, and then
assumed it was necessary for adding users, too.

------
cork
Your home view is throwing a “No entry is registered for key user_country” on
iOS webview, it’s also spitting out a partial stack trace, you might want to
consider not showing this to users in production environments, not sure how
you do that with Zend but i would think it’s trivial to configure

------
dvgt
I created an even simpler version of this optimized for mobile usage ("add to
homescreen") for personal use a couple of years ago. Never dared to advertise
it though. Initially used it to look into fancy front end tech, but quickly
resorted to PHP, SQL and a bit of jQuery.

------
cuddlecake
Checking this app out I was immediately frustrated. Just switching between the
tabs of a pot always takes like 500ms. The FAB immediately glitches because
it's not sticking to the bottom of the screen immediately.

Also, clicking on the same tab again also causes annoying friction.

------
preya2k
Great tool! Love that it works without creating an account. Will keep this in
my bookmarks.

------
theomega
Alternative to this is KittySplit. Similar concept, no registration required
and web-based.
[https://www.kittysplit.com/en/](https://www.kittysplit.com/en/)

~~~
janberchtold
Yes KittySplit is similar but in my opinion the UI is too confusing to use.

~~~
caspii
Kittysplit founder here. Can you be more specific about what's confusing?

Would be great to get some feedback!

~~~
janberchtold
Hey! To be honest Kittysplit is the best tool in terms of simplicity and
accessibility...besides IOU ;) I believe the overview page of a kitty could be
cleaned up much more. Using it the first time was not at all intuitive for me.
We tried to cut it down to the most important features and hope that even my
mom would understand to use it. But lets talk more...contact me on iou@iou.ch
if you want to!

~~~
caspii
OK :-D

Have you used Kittysplit recently? We updated the overview page 2 months ago.

Congrats on your mention on HN. I'll be in touch.

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aloisdg
Nice to use. Is it Open Source/Libre? If not, do you plan to do it?

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juliusbk
Funny! Made almost the exact same website a while ago:
[http://moneter.pythonanywhere.com/](http://moneter.pythonanywhere.com/)

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udfalkso
My goto for this has been shortreckonings.com, I also find splitwise
overcomplicated. Will try this one out as well.

------
PopeDotNinja
It says "create a new pot". What is a pot?

Disclaimer: I have not had my morning caffeine yet.

------
nobrains
Some questions:

What is a pot?

When should I create multiple pots?

~~~
janberchtold
A pot holds all expenses of a group. You create one pot for a trip with
friends and another pot with your roommates. You can (but don't have to)
create an account if you want to manage and access many different pots. Or you
can just bookmark the url of the pot to access it.

------
sebubu
Nice how you handle exchange rates. This is way too complicated on Splitwise.

------
alexxxyz
Very simple and easy to use. I like that I don't need a login.

------
johnfisher57
Nice work

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noah_greeen
I still prefer Splittr ([https://splittr.io/](https://splittr.io/))

\- Works offline \- Syncs with friends \- No registration needed \- All
currencies supported \- PDF and CSV export \- It's FREE to download!

