Frequently Asked Questions¶

SplitHappens is a free app for fairly splitting shared expenses. Whether it's a restaurant bill, vacation, shared apartment costs, or a club outing – the app automatically calculates who owes whom and optimizes the number of required transfers.

Yes, SplitHappens is completely free – no ads, no in-app purchases, and no premium version. All features are available to all users right away.

SplitHappens is available for iOS (from iOS 15.5) and Android (from Android 5.0).

Yes, as long as the bill is not fully settled. Tap the bill and select "Edit."

Assign to Me = You say "That was mine!" and assign the position to yourself.

Assign = You assign a position to another participant.

With Split Total Amount, the amount is divided among all participants. You can choose between even split, custom amounts, shares (e.g., 2:1:1), or percentage split. Ideal for taxi, vacation rental, or similar expenses. With Individual Items, you enter each item separately (e.g., each dish at a restaurant). Items can then be individually assigned or split among multiple people as needed.

Unassigned positions remain open and are not included in the balance calculation. Only when a position is assigned does it factor into the calculation.

That depends on whether you have assigned positions:

• With assigned positions: You are automatically converted into a guest. All your positions and splits are preserved — nothing is lost.
• Without assigned positions: You are simply removed from the bill.
• Last participant leaves: The bill is completely deleted since no one is involved anymore.

Yes, partially. Already settled positions (after settlement) are individually locked and cannot be edited, deleted, or released. All unsettled positions on the same bill remain editable.

A bill can only be edited overall as long as its status is open or paid. Fully completed or archived bills are completely locked.

No. SplitHappens deliberately has no user search. Your profile is not discoverable by other users — you connect exclusively via QR code, invitation link, or through shared bills and events.

The friendship is ended, but existing bills are preserved. Open balances also remain and can still be settled.

There are several ways:

• Scan QR code: Scan your friend's personal QR code (when you're face to face).
• Share invitation link: Send a link via messenger or email.
• Via shared bills/events: You can send a friend request directly to people you already share expenses with.

Yes, creators and organizers can change name, date, location, and participants at any time.

SplitHappens automatically optimizes payments within an event (known as multi-way netting). Instead of everyone transferring money to everyone individually, the app calculates the minimum number of transactions.

Example: Instead of 6 individual payments between 4 people, perhaps only 3 transfers are needed.

Yes. Event organizers can edit all event bills — change title, description, amounts, and positions. However, only the original creator can delete a bill.

For event bills, the payer is automatically replaced by a guest. The bill remains in the event and continues to work normally — only the payer is now a guest account.

For friend bills, the payer can only leave by deleting the bill.

No. When settling, event settlement and friend settlement are completely separate systems. Event debts are only settled within the event, friend debts only in the Friends tab.

On the Home screen, however, you see a total overview of your balances — broken down by friends and events, plus a total balance. This gives you the full picture, even though settlements run separately.

Learn more: Event Settlement · Friend Settlement

No. SplitHappens calculates and tracks who owes whom. The actual payment is made externally (bank transfer, PayPal, cash, etc.) and then marked as completed in the app.

If you owe someone 30 EUR but they also owe you 10 EUR, SplitHappens shows the net amount: You only pay 20 EUR. This avoids unnecessary back-and-forth transfers.

In the settlement section you see all open amounts. Tap an amount and select "Settle" or "Mark as Paid" after you've made the payment externally.

It depends:

• Friend Settlement: Here the entire calculated net amount is always settled at once. Partial payment of individual positions is not possible.
• Event Settlement: Here settlement isn't per position but is continuously optimized against the entire event. The system calculates optimal payments between all participants (multi-way netting) — you can mark these suggested amounts as paid with one click. Additionally, you can record manual transactions with any amount, e.g., if you've already given someone 5 EUR in cash.

Yes, per position. Swipe a settled position to the left — you then have two options:

• Mark as Unpaid: The position stays assigned to you but is marked as open again.
• Release: The position is fully released and can be reassigned.

If the last settled position of a bill is reset, the bill status automatically changes from "Completed" back to "Open."

A confirmation dialog appears. When removing, all of the guest's positions are released (back to "Open") — they are not deleted. The released positions can then be reassigned.

During takeover, all of the guest's bills and events are transferred at once — you don't need to transfer each bill individually. All positions, splits, and debts automatically move to the new account. The previous invitation link becomes invalid afterward.

There are several paths, depending on where you are:

• From a bill: send icon (✈️ arrow icon) directly next to the guest's name, or via the 3-dot menu in the top right → "Share guest link".
• From an event: send icon when editing participants, or tap a guest in the overview → "Share guest link" in the action sheet (no edit mode required).
• From the Friends tab: tap the guest in the list, then the share icon in the top right of the guest detail page.

All paths produce the same link — the recipient always sees all of their open debts on a single overview page, no matter where you sent it from.

In most cases, a fresh app login is enough. The takeover is automatically retried at login, and small hiccups (e.g., double-clicking the confirmation link) are caught in the process. If the problem persists, check whether the invitation link is still valid (30 days) and that the guest hasn't already been taken over by someone else.

Yes. When a guest uses your invitation link and registers, you both automatically become friends — no separate friend request needed. That's the point of the takeover: a temporary guest becomes a permanent contact.

Photograph a receipt with the camera or select an image from the gallery. The AI automatically recognizes individual items, prices, and the total amount. You can review and adjust everything before saving.

The AI is optimized for cash register receipts and restaurant bills. Handwritten notes or severely damaged receipts may not be recognized correctly.

You can manually correct all recognized items and amounts before saving. Missing items can easily be added by hand.

Your data is stored on European servers (Hetzner, Germany) and is GDPR compliant.

Yes, under Profile → Export Data you can download your bills as a CSV file.

Yes, under Profile → Delete Account. All your personal data will be permanently removed. Open bills are transferred to an anonymized guest account — your name and data are no longer visible, but the bills remain functional for other participants.

Only the participants of a bill can see it. There is no public access to bill data.