 | |
| Initial release | February 2011 |
|---|---|
| Type | Personal finance software |
| Website | www |
Splitwise is an online expense-splitting application developed by a privately owned American company of the same name. The app facilitates repayments of shared bills by calculating what each person in a group owes. Splitwise has faced mixed reception, with supporters saying it reduces complications and stress, and critics saying it and similar apps make people petty and can cause disagreements.
The Splitwise app launched in February 2011 and is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. [1]
On September 11, 2013, Splitwise integrated payments via Venmo to settle up between friends. [2]
Splitwise raised $20 million in funding during a series A round run by Insight Partners. [3]
On November 14, 2023, Venmo announced a competing feature called Venmo Groups which implemented bill-splitting within their app [4] and which Lifehacker said "could be a Splitwise killer." [5]
In April 2024, Splitwise partnered with Tink, a Visa payment services company, to incorporate a bank transfer feature directly in the Splitwise app. [6]
Splitwise allows users to create groups with friends to determine what each person owes. All expenses and their splitting methods are added to the app, and Splitwise simplifies the transaction history to determine exactly what payments need to be made to settle outstanding balances. [7]
Splitwise stores user information in the cloud to allow users to access their application from any web browser or a mobile app. [8]
A 2022 opinion piece in The Guardian by London journalist Imogen West-Knights shared the negative effects of exactly splitting bills among friends and family members. West-Knights argued that Splitwise and similar apps can "turn people into those true enemies of all that is fun and joyful in the world: accountants." However, she said the app does work better when used by couples rather than friend groups. [9] A similar article published in The Telegraph used the story of a group trip to illustrate how expense-splitting apps make people petty. [10]
In contrast, an article published by Condé Nast Traveler describes how Splitwise eliminated stress caused by complicated offline bill splitting, saying it "fixed such a pervasive obstacle in group travel." [11]
Coverage by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) lands somewhere in between the two contrasting views, saying Splitwise and similar apps are helpful, but users need to be prepared for difficult money-related conversations that may arise. An etiquette advisor at Debrett's, said, "The less talk you can have about money on any of these occasions, the better." A WSJ editor suggested conversations as simple as asking, "We’re splitting this evenly, right?" before a meal. [12]
Wired is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, its editorial offices are in San Francisco, California, and its business office at Condé Nast headquarters in Liberty Tower in New York City. Wired has been in publication since its launch in January 1993. Several spin-offs have followed, including Wired UK, Wired Italia, Wired Japan, Wired Czech Republic and Slovakia and Wired Germany.
iTunes is a discontinued media player, media library, and mobile device management utility developed by Apple. It was used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating systems, and can be used to rip songs from CDs as well as playing content from dynamic, smart playlists. It includes options for sound optimization and wirelessly sharing iTunes libraries.
Epicurious is an American digital brand that focuses on food and cooking-related topics. Created by Condé Nast in 1995, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City, where it is part of the publisher's Food Innovation Group that also includes Bon Appétit, with significant overlap in staff between the two companies.
Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android has historically been developed by a consortium of developers known as the Open Handset Alliance, but its most widely used version is primarily developed by Google. It was unveiled in November 2007, with the first commercial Android device, the HTC Dream, being launched in September 2008.
LastPass is a password manager application. The standard version of LastPass comes with a web interface, but also includes plugins for various web browsers and apps for many smartphones. It also includes support for bookmarklets.
Sparrow was an email client for OS X and iOS. After a 4-month beta period, Sparrow went on sale in the Mac App Store on February 9, 2011 and became the top paid and top grossing app in less than one day. On July 20, 2012, the company announced that it had been acquired by Google and was ceasing continued development of the application except for critical bug fixes.
Braintree is a Chicago-based company that primarily deals in mobile and web payment systems for e-commerce companies. The company was acquired by PayPal on September 26, 2013.
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store or Play Store and formerly known as Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and it's developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating system and its derivatives, as well as ChromeOS, allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android software development kit and published through Google. Google Play has also served as a digital media store, offering games, music, books, movies, and television programs. Content that has been purchased on Google Play Movies & TV and Google Play Books can be accessed on a web browser and through the Android and iOS apps.
Google Keep is a note-taking service included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms and Google Sites. Google Keep is available as a web application as well as mobile app for Android and iOS. The app offers a variety of tools for taking notes, including texts, lists, images, and audio. Text from images can be extracted using optical character recognition and voice recordings can be transcribed. The interface allows for a single-column view or a multi-column view. Notes can be color-coded and labels can be applied to notes to categorize them. Later updates have added functionality to pin notes and to collaborate on notes with other Keep users in real-time.
Venmo is an American mobile payment service founded in 2009 and owned by PayPal since 2013. Venmo is aimed at users who wish to split their bills. Account holders can transfer funds to others via a mobile phone app; both the sender and receiver must live in the United States. Venmo also operates as a small social network, as users can observe other users' public transactions with posts and emoticons. In 2021, the company handled $230 billion in transactions and generated $850 million in revenue. Users can view transactions on the Venmo website but cannot complete transactions on the website.
Zelle is a United States–based digital payments network run by a private financial services company owned by the banks Bank of America, Truist, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. The Zelle service enables individuals to electronically transfer money from their bank account to another registered user's bank account using a mobile device or the website of a participating banking institution. There is no fee or charge on the transaction.
Google Allo was an instant messaging mobile app by Google for the Android and iOS mobile operating systems, with a web client available in some web browsers. It closed on March 12, 2019.
Peer-to-peer transactions are electronic money transfers made from one person to another through an intermediary, typically referred to as a P2P payment application. P2P payments can be sent and received via mobile device or any home computer with access to the Internet, offering a convenient alternative to traditional payment methods.
Google Pay is a mobile payment service developed by Google to power in-app, online, and in-person contactless purchases on mobile devices, enabling users to make payments with Android phones, tablets, or watches. Users can authenticate via a PIN, passcode, or biometrics such as 3D face scanning or fingerprint recognition.
Cash App is a mobile payment service available in the United States that allows users to transfer money to one another using a mobile phone app. As of 2024, the service reports 57 million monthly transacting users and US$14.7 billion in annual revenues.
PayMe is a mobile payment service from HSBC, currently available only for Hong Kong users with local phone numbers and banks. Users can pay businesses, transfer money to one another using a mobile app, linked to their credit card or bank account.
Joom is a Latvian group of e-commerce and fintech companies founded in June 2016. It also has offices in China, Hong Kong, Brazil, the USA and Germany. At the end of 2022, Joom moved headquarters from Riga to Lisbon, Portugal. Joom currently consists of three businesses.
BeReal is a French social-networking app released in 2020, developed by Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau. Its main feature is a daily notification that encourages users to share photos with friends of themselves and their day to day life given a randomly selected two-minute window every day. Critics noted its emphasis on authenticity, which some felt crossed the line into the mundane. The name "BeReal" is a pun. Its primary reference relates to its focus on users uploading unpolished photos, while also being a pun of the term B-reel.
Google Pay, also known as GPay, is a mobile payments application developed by Google. It has been rolled out in India and Singapore.
Ziina is a company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates that specialises in digital payments. Its digital wallet is currently used in the United Arab Emirates.