The Core Challenge

Have you ever gone on a group trip, and after ten days of fun, it’s time to figure out who paid for what, and who still owes whom? That moment when you’re scrolling through receipts or reminding a friend they owe you money never feels great, right?
A product design case study to uncover why group settlements often failed due to manual tracking, lack of payment transparency, multi-currency confusion, and social friction over fairness.

Product

Splitwise is a utility tool that acts as a digital ledger for shared group expenses. Its primary function is to accurately track and facilitate the division of costs among friends, roommates, or travel companions. Users can log expenses, specify who paid and who owes, and the app automatically calculates balances. It then uses a debt simplification algorithm to minimize the total number of necessary transactions for the final settlement.