Guide
How to use SplitWagon
From the first expense to the last UPI payment. It takes a couple of minutes to set up, and nobody needs an account.
1. Start a trip
- Open the app and tap Start a trip.
- Give the trip a name (up to 40 characters) and type your own name.
- Add your friends' names if you like. You can add more later, up to 12 people in all.
- Pick the trip's currency. It can't be changed after the trip is created.
You become the organiser. Only the organiser approves new phones, cuts off a phone, resets the invite link, archives or deletes the trip. You can name one co-organiser to share those jobs.
Friends who don't use the app can still be in the trip. Anyone can add their name, and the group tracks their share.
2. Invite friends
- Open the trip's People tab and choose Invite.
- Share the invite link, or show the QR code for a friend to scan.
- Your friend opens the link and picks their name with That's me, or asks to join as someone new.
- You see the request and approve or decline it. Until you approve, their phone sees only the trip name and people's names.
The invite secret sits after a # in the link, so it is never sent to any server. If a link ends up in the wrong hands, reset it from the Trip tab. Phones that don't have the new link can no longer find the trip.
3. Add an expense
Tap Add expense and fill in:
- The amount and a title (up to 60 characters).
- The date. It defaults to today and can be any earlier day.
- A category: Food, Travel, Stay, Fun or Other, or one of your own.
- Who paid. More than one person can pay, as long as their amounts add up to the total.
- How it splits (see below).
Anyone in the trip can edit or delete any expense. The Activity tab records who changed what, with the amounts before and after.
4. Four ways to split
| Mode | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Equal | Everyone ticked pays the same. |
| Shares | Some people count for more, for example 2 : 1 : 1 for a room with two beds. |
| Exact | You know each person's amount and type it in. |
| Everyone except | Start with everyone, then pick who is left out. The rest pay equally. |
Amounts are kept as whole paise (or the smallest unit of your currency), so any leftover paisa is shared out by a fixed rule and every phone shows the same numbers.
5. See who owes whom
The Balances tab shows each person's net position in words as well as colour, for example “+₹3,230 gets back” or “−₹1,490 owes”. The expenses list is grouped by day, with search and filters by person and category.
6. Settle up by UPI
- Open Settle up. With Simplify debts on, you get the fewest payments that clear everyone. The organiser can turn it off before any payment starts.
- Tap Pay next to your payment. Your UPI apps open with the receiver's UPI ID, the amount and a note filled in.
- Back in SplitWagon, tap I paid. It now shows as Awaiting.
- The receiver taps Got it, and the payment is Confirmed.
SplitWagon can't see the result inside your UPI app, so only these taps change a payment's state. Either side can undo a payment at any stage. If a UPI app doesn't open, or the trip isn't in rupees, mark the payment as paid by cash or another way. Each person sets their own UPI ID on their own phone.
If you edit an expense after payments started, the plan is recalculated and shows only what is left to pay. When every payment is confirmed, you see Settled up.
7. If phones won't connect
When SplitWagon is open on two phones, they sync live and changes show up within seconds. Live sync needs both phones online. If a connection fails, use a sync update instead:
- On one phone, open the sync update screen and share the link or QR code.
- On the other phone, open the link or scan the code. In Settings you can also paste one in.
A sync update always carries the whole trip, so nothing is missed, and applying the same update twice changes nothing.
8. Back up your trip
Trips live only on your phone, so a lost or wiped phone means lost trips unless you have a backup.
- Open the Trip tab and tap Make a backup.
- Type a passphrase twice. Write it down. It can't be recovered, by us or anyone else.
- Save the encrypted file somewhere safe.
To restore on a new phone, choose Restore a backup, pick the file and type the passphrase. The new phone asks to join as “That's me”, and the organiser approves it and can then cut off the lost phone.