Help
I have a question
You can always get in touch to ask about anything at all. We jump at any opportunity to make our project better which means we love feedback.
Simply write an email to info@kittysplit.com or use the feedback button.
What can I use Kittysplit for?
Kittysplit is ideal for situations where a group of friends do something together and everyone is spending money for the group, for example a skiing holiday, a bachelor party or a naked picknick. It's a calculator for working out who owes what.
What is an upgraded or Super Kitty?
An upgraded Kitty has a number of additional features, such as a read only link and more. Take a look at the upgrade page for the full list.
To upgrade a Kitty, click on the upgrade button which is located at the top right of the overview page. Upgrading one Kitty will not affect other Kitties.
How do currencies in Kittysplit work?
Each Kitty has a currency that is specified on Kitty creation. We call it the home currency. Expenses and debts are all displayed in that currency.
If you want to work with multiple currencies in a Kitty (for example, because you're on an international trip) then you need to upgrade your Kitty first. Afterwards, you can add expenses in any currency you want and Kittysplit will convert the amount back to your home currency. All debts will be displayed in your home currency.
We fetch the exchange rates from swop.cx, a simple and lightweight internet service for current and historical foreign exchange (forex) rates. To make it as fair as possible, we fetch the exchange rate for the given date of the expense, which we feel is rather smart 🤓. Editing an expense will only change the rate if the date changes too. We keep the most current rates for all currencies and a refresh every 12 hours.
Please note that you can change the home currency of a Kitty only as long as all expenses are in the same currency. Once you have a mix of currencies you can no longer change the home currency. Sorry!
How do I start?
Go to this page to create a "Kitty" for your event.
First, you have to give your event a name. Then enter the name of everyone who participated. Don't worry, you can edit everything later on.
After you've clicked on "Create Kitty" you can start entering expenses.
How do I add expenses?
Expenses are entered one at a time by clicking on the "Add Expense" button.
The tabs at the top allow you to choose between an expense paid for the group, transfer of money between participants, or incoming money for the group.
You must then choose who did the paying. You must also supply a name for the expense and of course the actual amount.
Below that, select who was involved. The default is that everyone is involved in an expense. To change that, click on "Split differently"
Can expenses be split unequally?
Yes. Click on the option "Split differently" under the "How Much" field.
You can then overide the default splitting strategy (splitting equally) and choose between splitting by a set amout (e.g. one person pays 10 USD and another 23 USD) or by weight (one person pays for 5 nights at the vacation home and another only for 3).
Can expenses be calculated for families or couples grouped together instead of individually?
Yes. A participant can be a single person or a group of people - useful for families, and couples who don't want an individual balance, but share their expenses.
To set up groups, click the dropdown menu in the top right and choose “Manage Participants”. You can set the number of people for each group there. Note that decimal numbers are allowed, which can be used if you want to calculate a different amount for children than for adults. For example, for a family with 2 adults and one child, you could enter 2.5 people.
Note that only Super Kitties can have participants grouped together.
How does lending of money work?
Money lent from one person to another can also be entered into the Kitty. Click on the "Add Expenses" button and then on the "Money Given" tab.
After that, it's very similar to entering an expense (see above).
What if the group receives money?
If the group has incoming money, for example a deposit that is returned, these transactions can be entered into a Kitty too.
One person needs to be designated to receive the money. Click on the "Add Expenses" button and then on the "Income" tab.
After that, it's very similar to entering an expense (see above).
Who has seen the Kitty?
The first time a person accesses a Kitty, they will be asked to identify themselves. Once this has happened, we make a note that this person has seen the Kitty and they get a green tick by their names. Otherwise, their name will have a grey cross.
How are debts calculated?
Kittysplit shows you the simplest way to settle all debts, ensuring that the number of transactions is kept to a minimum. It's a tiny little bit like magic.
Sometimes these payments may appear strange. Someone may end up owing money to someone else that they didn't actually pay for or lend to. You have to trust us on this one: it's always correct!
Here's a super easy example: Matt owes Paul and Pete 10 EUR each. Paul also owes 10 EUR to Pete. Instead of three transactions, this can be simplified to one: Matt gives Pete 20 EUR. Much simpler!
What does "Mark as settled" do?
Once have repaid a debt to someone, you can record it in the Kitty by clicking on the "Mark as settled" button. This will remove your name from the debt list and a transaction will be added to the expense list.
This function is merely a convenience to make it easier to track who has and who hasn't paid their debt.
How can I add or delete people, edit or delete expenses or change the Kitty name?
You can edit or delete expenses by first clicking on "View all expenses” and then clicking on the expense in question.
To edit the Kitty name or currency, click the dropdown menu in the top right (on mobile it's a "hamburger" icon, on desktop it's labelled "Kitty") and choose “Edit Kitty”.
To delete or add participants, click the dropdown menu in the top right and choose “Manage Participants”.
Why the deuce is there not an app for Kittysplit?
An app would be great, yes. However, it would also be a huge amount of work and would not add that much value. Sure, it would allow offline splitting, but we're not convinced that it would be the best use of our time to implement this. Also, you can be online in most places these days, including when you're abroad.
Anyway, this is not to say there will never be an app, it just won't happen soon.
Kittysplit works on every platform, be it iOS, Android, Windows Phone, your computer at home or at the Internet café.
How can I export my data?
You can download all expenses as well as all balances from you Kitty as XLSX (which you can then import into Excel or Open Office).
Simply click on "Export as Excel file" at the bottom of the overview page.