Build a bill splitter app for meals and trips, passed round on one phone
Splitting a bill sounds like division until someone didn't drink, someone had the steak and someone else paid for the taxi. A bill splitter app handles uneven shares, tips and service charges, and for trips works out who owes whom in as few payments as possible. Anticode can build one that runs on a single phone passed round the table, with no accounts and nothing to install.
Two different jobs
A split the bill calculator for a single meal and a group expense splitter for a weekend away share some arithmetic but very little interface. Decide which you need, or ask for both as two modes.
| One bill | A trip or shared house | |
|---|---|---|
| Input | One total, or line items from the receipt | Many expenses, each paid by someone |
| Question | What does each person owe now? | Who owes whom at the end? |
| Hard part | Tips, service charge, shared dishes | Uneven participation and settling up |
| Session | Minutes, then forgotten | Days or weeks, saved between uses |
Splitting a meal fairly
- Even split as the one-tap default, with the per-person figure rounded up to a sensible amount and the leftover shown.
- Itemised split: enter each line, tap who had it; shared dishes split between the people ticked.
- Tip and service. A tip calculator step with percentage buttons, applied in proportion to what each person ordered. If the restaurant already added a service charge, a warning avoids tipping twice.
- Tax shown on the receipt distributed the same way, or ignored where prices already include it.
- Adjustments: someone covers another person, or the birthday guest pays nothing.
Large numbers, high contrast and big tap targets matter more than usual here. It will be used in a dim restaurant by someone holding a card machine.
Settling a trip in the fewest payments
For a trip, each expense records who paid, the amount and who it was for (everyone, or a subset: not everyone went to the museum). The app keeps a running balance per person: what they paid minus their share. At the end, a settle-up screen matches people who are owed with people who owe, so a group of six might settle in four or five transfers rather than a tangle of fifteen. Show the list of transfers plainly: "Sam pays Priya 42.50".
Trip data is saved in the browser on the phone it was entered on, so the group's spreadsheet-keeper can add expenses over several days. Installed to the home screen, it opens like an app. Because only that phone holds the data, nominate one person as the keeper, or share a screenshot of the settle-up screen at the end.
How to describe it
"A bill splitter app for friends. Two modes: Tonight's bill (even or itemised split, tip buttons at 10, 12.5 and 15%, service charge detection, rounding up to whole units) and Trip (people, expenses with payer and who it's for, running balances, settle up in the fewest payments). Saves trips on this phone. Dark design with big numbers and large buttons for one-handed use. Currency symbol picker."
Ask for the currency to be a display choice only; there's no conversion. If friends travel across currencies, have the app record each expense in one agreed currency. Related tools: the budget tracker, trip planner and event budget calculator.
What it won't do
- No payments. It can't send or request money. People pay each other with their own banking or payment apps.
- No shared group. Each phone has its own data. Friends can't each add their own expenses to one trip from separate phones.
- No receipt scanning. There's no camera access; items are typed in.
- No live exchange rates. Conversion would need a network; enter amounts in one currency or type a rate yourself.
Questions people ask
Do friends need to install the bill splitter app?
No. It's a web page. Whoever holds the phone does the splitting; the others just read the result.
Can it split by percentage rather than items?
Yes, ask for weighted shares, for example a couple counting as two or someone paying 60% of the rent.
Could a restaurant put one on its website for diners?
Yes. It works as a small page linked from a QR code on the table. The restaurant never sees what diners enter, and the bill itself still has to be paid at the till or card machine.
How does it deal with pennies that don't divide evenly?
Ask for the remainder to be shown and assigned, for example to whoever paid, so the shares add up exactly to the receipt total rather than drifting by a cent or two.
What happens to the data afterwards?
It stays in that phone's browser until deleted. Ask for a 'Clear trip' button so old trips don't pile up.