What a group is, and starting one
Keep a flat, a team or a trip's people in one place, so every tab and bill started in it begins with them.
A group keeps the same people together over time, like a flat, a team or a trip. A tab or a bill started in a group begins with its people ticked, so you do not pick them again. A group has no balance of its own: what is owed is in its tabs and bills, and each of those settles on its own, in its own currency.
How to start a group
- Open Groups from Settings, and press New group.
- Enter its Name, and if you like, What it's for (optional).
- Under Who's in?, you are listed as Owner. In Search or add a name, tick the people you share with, or type a new name to add someone by name.
- Press Create group. The group opens.
Friends come first in the list, then the people you shared with lately. Someone added by name joins later through the group's link, with an account (see Joining a group and its tabs). Making a group needs a connection.
How to use a group
A group has its own bar at the bottom: People, Tabs, the add button, Bills and Home, with how many people, tabs and bills it has beside the first three. A group opens on its Home:
- You owe and You're owed: what you owe and are owed across the group's tabs and bills, in each currency, with who it is to or from beneath, and the tab or bill when it is all one. A second currency is a line under the first; nothing is added across currencies. Press one to open Balances for the group alone, where In and the group's name, pressed, shows everything again. A side with nothing on it has no tile.
- What waits on you in the group, as on the app's Home: Payments pending or Needs you, with each payment to confirm or pay, and each bill to claim on, as a row. When nothing waits and nothing is owed, it says All settled.
- Lately in the group: the three tabs and bills changed last, with where you stand in each.
- Photos and places: the group's Gallery and Map, from its bills on their own and those in its tabs you are in. Each opens the gallery or the map of the group alone, under In and the group's name; press the name to show everything again. It is left out while none of the group's bills has a photo or a place.
- A group with nothing in it yet shows one card with New tab and New bill, and its people.
The other views:
- Tabs lists the group's tabs, with the chips Open, Settled, Closed and Archived, and closed tabs under Done.
- Bills lists every bill in the group you can open, by day: those on their own, and those in the group's tabs you are in, each with its tab named under it or "on its own". The chips are Needs action, Open, Ready for payment and Settled. A bill in a tab you have not joined is not listed.
- People lists everyone in the group (see The people in a group).
- The add button opens Add to the group, with four ways in: New tab, Quick split, Scan a receipt and Itemised bill. Each starts with everyone in the group on it, and a scanned or itemised bill is made with them seated; take anyone off on the bill's People step. Each needs a connection, and says so offline.
- Search this group, at the top of every view, finds what is in the group alone: a bill by its name, its place or its people, a tab by its name or its people, and the group's people by name. Results replace the view, under Bills, Tabs and People; a tab found through one of its bills says which, such as "Has Taxi". When nothing is found it says Nothing matches., and Clear empties the search. It works offline on the group as your device last saw it.
- Each tab's and bill's row says where you stand in it, in its own currency: You owe, Owed, Square, or Not in it with a Join button for an open tab you are not in.
The group's menu, at the top, holds Invite people, Choose tabs and, for the owner and admins, Group details. The owner can Delete the group; anyone else can Leave the group. Both offer Undo, and neither changes a tab or a bill: they stay as they were, in no group.
Group details changes the group's Name and What it's for (optional), with Save, and its picture: press Add a picture, or Change picture and Remove once it has one. Everyone in the group sees the picture, on Groups and at the top of the group.
On Groups each row has the group's picture and name, then its people and what it holds, such as "2 tabs" or "1 tab, 1 bill", and how many of its tabs and bills wait on you, such as "1 to settle". A group where nothing waits on you says nothing there. No amount is shown, since its tabs and bills can be in different currencies. Search, at the top, finds a group by its name or a member's.
Worked example: Lisbon crew and Flat 4B
Maya opens New group, names it Flat 4B, and enters "Bills for the flat" as what it is for. She ticks Tom and Priya, types Jo, who has no account yet, and presses Create group.
Her Groups list then reads:
| Group | What it holds | Waiting on Maya |
|---|---|---|
| Lisbon crew | 2 tabs | 1 to settle |
| Flat 4B | 1 tab, 1 bill | 1 to settle |
Lisbon crew opens on its Home. Its You owe tile reads 21.80, in euros, with "Priya, in Lisbon weekend" beneath, and there is no You're owed tile, since nobody there owes her. In its Tabs:
| Tab | Line | Where Maya stands |
|---|---|---|
| Lisbon weekend | Open, 5 bills, 4 people | You owe 21.80 |
| Porto in October | Open, 0 bills, 3 people | Square |
The Lisbon weekend counts five bills, though Brunch is still open and counts toward nobody's balance yet.
Flat 4B's Home has a You're owed tile of 58.96, in pounds, with "3 people, Luigi's Trattoria" beneath, and under Payments pending the row "Tom and 2 others have not paid 58.96". In its Bills, Luigi's Trattoria reads "Ready for payment, on its own". Neither group adds the euros and the pounds up anywhere.
If something stops you
- A tile is missing on a group's Home. Nothing is owed on that side in the group.
- New group, New tab or New bill cannot be pressed. You are offline. They say "Connect to make a group" or "Needs a connection".
- Create group cannot be pressed. The group has no name yet.
- There is no Group details or Delete in the menu. Only the owner and admins change a group's details, and only the owner deletes it.
- Search does not find a bill. It searches only this group, and a bill in a tab you have not joined is not in it for you.
- A row has no amount but Not in it. You are not in that tab. Press Join to be on bills added to it from then on.