Adding expenses

An expense needs only an amount. Everything else is optional or filled in for you, and the person who added it can change it later. Adding works the same way on the web, iPhone and Android.

Choose the + button at the bottom right of the screen, enter the amount, and choose Add expense. Screen readers call the + button Add. In a nest with no expenses yet there is no + button, so choose Add your first expense on the home screen instead.

On iPhone and Android, you enter the amount on Eider's number pad. On the web, you type it, or use the same number pad on a touch screen. Add expense stays off until the amount is more than zero.

If an expense already in the nest, added by anyone, has the same amount and a similar merchant, dated within three days of yours, Eider asks Already added this? and shows that expense. When one of the two has no merchant, it asks only if the day and the category match too. Choose Add to add yours anyway, or Cancel to go back without adding it.

Only the amount. If you leave the rest alone:

• The title is the merchant's name, or the category's if there is no merchant. An amount on its own is saved as Other.
• The merchant is optional. Its tile reads Pick a merchant until you choose one.
• The category starts on Other.
• The account starts on the one your last expense used. If you have one account, it is that one. If you have none, it is Cash, and Eider makes the Cash account when you add the expense.
• The date is today. Choose Today, at the top right of the add sheet, to pick Yesterday or another day from the calendar. The calendar goes back five years and stops at today, so a future date cannot be picked.

When the title names a merchant your nest has used, or a well-known store, Eider fills in that merchant, its category, and the account you last paid it with. When the title only points to a category, such as babysitter, Eider fills in that category, and the merchant you use most in it if there is one.

Typing a title never changes a field you have already picked. Picking a merchant yourself works differently: it sets the category Eider knows for that merchant, even over one you chose first, and the account you last paid that merchant with, unless you chose the account.

Eider splits it with your nest's split rule as soon as you add it. The rule lives under Standing split in the nest menu, which opens from the ring at the top left of the home screen. To split one expense differently, open it and choose the three dots at its top. The person who added it chooses Edit expense, then Split. Everyone else chooses Change split. Pick Even, Percent or Amount. Changing one expense never changes the split rule.

To set the split each time you add, open your account menu at the top right of the home screen, choose Preferences, and turn on Set the split after adding. The setting covers every nest you are in. The add sheet's button then reads Continue instead of Add expense. The expense is added when you choose it, and its split opens next. Choose Done when it looks right.

The split opens this way by default once three or more people have joined the nest, or when its Nest type, in Nest settings, is Trip or Event. Turn off Set the split after adding to stop it. A repeating expense always opens its split.

You did. Eider records an expense as paid by the person who adds it, so each person adds what they paid. Nobody can record an expense as paid by another member who has joined.

If someone in the nest has not joined yet, the add sheet shows You at the top right. Choose it and pick them under Paid by to record an expense they paid.

Open the expense, then choose the three dots at its top, named More actions. The person who added it can choose Edit expense or Delete expense. Everyone else in the nest can choose Change split, which changes how that one expense is split and nothing else.

Delete expense asks Delete this expense? first. Choose Delete to confirm. The Expense deleted message then offers Undo for 5 seconds.

Once the period an expense belongs to is settled, the expense is locked, and nobody can edit it, delete it or change its split. If the person who added an expense leaves the nest, its split is locked too.

Yes, with Plus. Choose the camera button just above the + button, named Scan a receipt. Like the + button, it shows once the nest has an expense. On iPhone and Android, take a photo, choose one from your library, or upload a PDF, and the add sheet has the same camera beside Add expense. On the web, drop or browse to a JPEG, PNG, WebP or PDF up to 4 MB, or drop the file anywhere on the screen.

If whoever created your nest has an annual Plus membership, you can scan receipts in that nest too.

Without Plus, the camera button opens a screen about Plus instead. Adding an expense by hand stays free. Trying Eider on the web without an account shows no camera button.

Yes, and repeating expenses are free. In the add sheet, choose One-time so it reads Repeats, then choose Define frequency. Set how it repeats and choose Continue, then set its split and choose Create rule. You can also open the nest menu from the ring at the top left of the home screen, choose Repeating expenses, then Add. Repeating expenses explains how they can open new periods.

Yes, at no cost, once Expenses in other currencies is turned on for the nest. It starts off, and any member can turn it on. Open the nest menu from the ring at the top left of the home screen, choose Nest settings, and find it under Currency settings. The add sheet then shows a currency at the top right. Choose it and pick the one you paid in, and Eider converts the amount into the nest's currency when you add it. The next expense starts in the currency you last added in. A repeating expense always stays in the nest's currency. Currency covers the nest's own currency.