Guests Without an Account¶

Sometimes you split bills with people who don't have a SplitHappens account — for example when dining with acquaintances or at a party. That's what the guest feature is for.

Create a Guest¶

Guests are created via the participant selection screen. You can access it when creating or editing a bill or event.

Option 1: Via Search¶

1. Open the participant selection screen (when creating/editing a bill or event)
2. Tap the search field "Search friends or guests..."
3. Enter the person's name
4. Tap "Add as Guest"
5. The guest appears as a participant with a "Guest" badge

Option 2: Via Guest Management¶

1. Open the participant selection screen
2. Scroll to the Guests section and tap "Manage Guests"
3. Create a new guest with a name
4. The guest is then available for selection

Guests automatically get their own avatar color so they're easily recognizable in the bill.

Manage Guests¶

Guests can be managed in two places:

• In the participant selection screen — Via the "Manage Guests" link in the Guests section
• In the Friends tab — Your guests are also displayed there and can be edited or deleted

Properties¶

• Reusable: Once created, guests can be reused on additional bills and events. You don't need to create them each time.
• Custom avatar color: Each guest has an individual color for their avatar to visually distinguish them from other participants.
• Creator manages: As the guest's creator, you have management rights and can change the name or delete the guest.

Remove a Guest¶

Assign Positions¶

Guests work exactly like regular users for position assignment:

• You can assign positions to guests
• Guests can share positions with other participants (split)
• The owed amount is calculated correctly

Convert a Guest to a Real Account¶

When a guest becomes a regular contact, you can send them a personal invitation link. The guest then creates their own SplitHappens account, and all their existing debts and bills are automatically transferred to the new account — without you having to re-enter anything.

How to send the invitation link¶

You can reach the guest link from several places in the app — no matter which one you pick, the recipient always sees the same overview of all open debts.

From a bill:

• Send icon directly next to the guest (✈️ arrow icon) in the participant list — the fastest path when you have a specific guest in mind.
• 3-dot menu in the top right → entry "Share guest link". If the bill has several guests, a small picker opens so you can tap the right recipient.

From an event:

• When editing participants — every guest has a send icon next to their name.
• From the event overview — tap a guest in the participant overview and choose "Share guest link" from the action sheet that opens. No edit mode required.

From the guests overview (Friends tab):

• Share icon in the top right of the guest detail page — that's the direct path to the web link.
• Alternatively, the action area below has a "Send debts as text" button if you'd rather send a formatted debt list instead of a link (e.g., as a WhatsApp reminder with amounts per bill).

What the recipient sees¶

When your guest opens the link, they land on a friendly overview page with:

• A personal greeting with their name and avatar
• Total amount of their open debts at the top
• Friend bills with the individual positions
• One section per event showing the bills and a recommended settlement
• If you owe the guest something: a "Money you'll receive" section
• At the bottom, a "💳 Here's where you pay" summary block — one line per recipient, cleanly grouped. If your guest owes money to several people (e.g., to you from a friend bill and to Tom from an event), the amounts appear side by side, each with its own payment methods (PayPal, IBAN). No duplicate buttons — if the same person is the recipient multiple times, the amounts are added together automatically.
• A "Create account & take over" button for sign-up — collapsed by default so the page doesn't feel overloaded. The sign-up form only appears once your guest taps the button.

How the takeover works¶

The recipient has two paths:

If they don't have the app yet (e.g., on a computer):

1. On the overview page in the browser, enter email and password → "Create account & take over"
2. A confirmation email is sent to the address they entered
3. Click the confirmation link → account is activated
4. Install the SplitHappens app on their phone and log in with email + password
5. At the first app login, all bills are transferred automatically — they see everything immediately on the home screen

If they already have the app installed:

1. Clicking the link opens the app automatically
2. If they're not yet logged in, they see the login screen with a banner reminding them about the takeover (with your guest's name and the open amount)
3. They tap "Create account & take over", register, and confirm their email
4. At the first login, the data is transferred automatically

What changes after the takeover¶

After a successful takeover, several things happen automatically:

• All debts, bills, and event participations move to the new account
• You automatically become friends with the new user — no separate friend request needed
• The guest disappears from your guests list in the friends overview (the former entry stays in the database for audit purposes but is no longer visible to you)
• The invitation link becomes invalid and cannot be reused for a second takeover
• The new user can immediately assign positions, create bills, and use all features

If the takeover doesn't work¶

If the recipient clicks the confirmation link in the email but no bills appear at the app login, they can simply log in again in the app — the takeover is automatically retried at login. This catches typical issues like accidentally double-clicking the confirmation link.

When to Use Guests?¶