Splitting with people who hate apps

Every group has one. The friend who will absolutely pay you back and will absolutely not install anything to do it. Most splitting apps treat that person as a problem to be converted. We treat them as a member.

A tracked member is a real member

A no-app member is a name and, optionally, a phone number. They appear in every split, carry a real balance, and show up on the settle plan like anybody else — with a dashed avatar ring and a NO APP tag so nobody is confused about who can see what.

The important part is the second rule: anyone in the group can record their payments. When Zoya hands over Rs 8,620 in cash, whoever received it records it. Waiting for her to confirm inside an app she does not have would be theatre.

Claiming the history later

If she does join, and signs in with the same number the group tracked her by, she claims the membership and everything attached to it — every expense, every share, every payment recorded on her behalf. From that moment she controls it.

Nobody has to re-enter a thing.