Expenses

Add, track, and manage shared expenses within your groups

Overview

Expenses represent purchases or costs that need to be split among group members. Every expense records who paid, how much, and how it’s divided.

Creating an Expense

To add a new expense to a group:

1. Open a group from your Groups list
2. Tap Add New Expense
3. Enter the total amount in dollars
4. Add a description (e.g., “Dinner at Maple Bistro”, “Groceries”)
5. Select who paid for the expense
6. Choose a split method (see Split Methods)
7. Select which group to add it to
8. Tap Add expense to save

If you scanned a receipt, the amount and description will be pre-filled automatically.

Expense Fields

Each expense includes:

Amount

Enter the total cost in dollars and cents. The large currency input makes it easy to enter amounts quickly:

$ 47.50

The amount must be greater than $0.00 to create the expense.

Description

A short label to identify the expense (e.g., merchant name, event, or category). If left blank, it defaults to “Expense”.

Paid By

Select who fronted the money for this purchase. Options include:

• You (default)
• Any other group member

This determines who should be reimbursed.

Split Method

Choose how to divide the cost among members. Three options are available:

Split equally

Everyone pays the same amount

By percentage

Custom % for each person

By items

Assign items to people

See Split Methods for detailed workflows.

Equal Split Preview

When splitting equally, Divvy shows a live preview of the per-person amount:

Example: $60.00 split among 3 people = **$20.00 each**

The preview updates instantly as you change the total amount or add/remove members.

Group Selection

If you belong to multiple groups, select which group this expense belongs to. Each group card shows:

• Group icon
• Group name
• Selection indicator (checkmark when selected)

You can only add an expense to one group at a time.

Editing Expenses

Currently, expenses cannot be edited after creation. To correct an expense, delete it and create a new one.

Deleting Expenses

Expense deletion is managed through the group activity feed. Contact your group admin if you need to remove an expense.

Expense Data Model

Expenses are stored with the following structure:

data class Expense(
    val id: String,
    val groupId: String,
    val merchant: String,           // Description/merchant name
    val amountCents: Long,          // Total amount in cents
    val splitMethod: String,        // "EQUAL", "PERCENTAGE", or "ITEMIZED"
    val currency: String,           // Default: "USD"
    val paidByUserId: String,       // Who paid upfront
    val createdAt: String           // ISO timestamp
)

Key Details:

• Amounts are stored in cents to avoid floating-point precision issues
• splitMethod determines how the expense is divided (see ~/workspace/source/app/src/main/java/com/example/divvy/ui/splitexpense/ViewModels/SplitExpenseViewModel.kt:27)
• Each expense is tied to exactly one group via groupId

Reference: ~/workspace/source/app/src/main/java/com/example/divvy/models/Expense.kt:7

Split Calculation

When you create an expense, Divvy automatically:

1. Calculates each person’s share based on the split method
2. Creates Split records for each member
3. Updates group balances in real-time
4. Posts an activity item to the group feed

See Ledger to understand how balances are calculated across expenses.