An update: we’re still not planning to add the concept of a payment for a specific bill or a specific expense. We’ve left this idea under review for many years, but we’re not convinced it’s the right idea for Splitwise. We think focusing on a total balance makes things simpler in most cases. This is also how a bank balance works.
Here’s two potential work-arounds if you’re not satisfied:
1. Let’s say you want to set things up so you can see if people have specifically paid for a certain bill, or for a certain month of expenses. You can create a group just for that bill or month – then, when viewing that group, you will only see balances owed from that specific bill or set of bills.
2. Once you pay an amount and want to keep track of it being for a certain bill, you could use a comment on the payment and the expense. This would allow you to note down your intentions.
Also, since this request was added, we’ve added the following feature: if you ever /fully/ settle up with a friend or group, we automatically hide all bills before that time behind a tap or click to make things cleaner. This way, you generally can see only which bills specifically are affecting the group or friendship balance. (If things have been only partially settled, we leave everything visible.)
If you’d like to share more about why this feature is important to you, or why these workarounds are not sufficient, we always appreciate specific feedback so we can understand how it could help you specifically. For this reason, we’ll leave the request “under review”
An update: we’re still not planning to add the concept of a payment for a specific bill or a specific expense. We’ve left this idea under review for many years, but we’re not convinced it’s the right idea for Splitwise. We think focusing on a total balance makes things simpler in most cases. This is also how a bank balance works.
Here’s two potential work-arounds if you’re not satisfied:
1. Let’s say you want to set things up so you can see if people have specifically paid for a certain bill, or for a certain month of expenses. You can create a group just for that bill or month – then, when viewing that group, you will only see balances owed from that specific bill or set of bills.
2. Once you pay an amount and want to keep track of it being for a certain bill, you could use…
WOW this thread is truly remarkable. I'm a 20 year software developer at one of the Big 4 global software companies. I currently run an app team responsible for a very public-facing application. If I told my boss that my end-users have been asking for a feature for YEARS but my response to the is "eh, WE don't think you need that feature," I'd be fired. What planet do you come from where you think this is a good way to run a software company? Do you realize that you can and will be a forgotten memory literally overnight when a better app is discovered by your users? Furthermore, HOW is it possible that this painfully obvious feature was not the FIRST thought during your initial product meetings?!?
Use case: A friend owes me $1,000 on the first of ever month for rent. We go out to dinner and he pays. He sets up a bill where I owe him $100 for dinner. Your unusable app now says that HE owes me $900 and there is no way for me to "settle up" with him and pay the $100. Instead I'm supposed to act like a bank and let his debt be chiseled away at until the first of the month when he will have to send me the balance of the initial $1,000? That's absurd. What if he needs the $100 NOW?
Clearly anyone should be able to settle up any time they want on any single bill. A simple list of bills with check boxes would be fine. Would you like me to show you how to do it? I work as a consultant. I'll write the code for you in a day. Until then I will personally be using an app from one of your competitors and I suggest others do the same.
Anonymous
WOW this thread is truly remarkable. I'm a 20 year software developer at one of the Big 4 global software companies. I currently run an app team responsible for a very public-facing application. If I told my boss that my end-users have been asking for a feature for YEARS but my response to the is "eh, WE don't think you need that feature," I'd be fired. What planet do you come from where you think this is a good way to run a software company? Do you realize that you can and will be a forgotten memory literally overnight when a better app is discovered by your users? Furthermore, HOW is it possible that this painfully obvious feature was not the FIRST thought during your initial product meetings?!?
Use case: A friend owes me $1,000 on the first of ever month for rent. We go out to dinner and he pays. He sets up a bill where I owe him $100 for dinner. Your unusable app now says that HE owes me $900 and there is no way for me to "settle up" with him and pay the $100. Instead I'm supposed to act like a bank and let his debt be chiseled away at until the first of the month when he will have to send me the balance of the initial $1,000? That's absurd. What if he needs the $100 NOW?
Clearly anyone should be able to settle up any time they want on any single bill. A simple list of bills with check boxes would be fine. Would you like me to show you how to do it? I work as a consultant. I'll write the code for you in a day. Until then I will personally be using an app from one of your competitors and I suggest others do the same.