Settling up

Settling up is how the people in a nest record paying each other back. Eider keeps the record of who paid whom and how much, and it moves no money. Settling up is free, and you can do it at any time.

It means recording a payment you made to someone in your nest, or one they made to you. You pay each other however you like, outside Eider, and then record it. The balance between the two of you goes down by that amount.

Each pair of people in a nest has its own balance and settles on its own. A payment between you and one person changes nothing between you and anyone else.

A nest's expenses are grouped into periods. A period starts with the first expense added to it, and it closes once a payment leaves everyone in it square. It has no fixed length, and nobody starts or ends one by hand. If a new period starts while an older one is still open, which a repeating expense can do, the older one is marked Unpaid and stays open. A settled period is closed, and its expenses are locked.

Look at the balance card on the home screen. In a nest of two, it names the other person: Sam owes you, You owe Sam, or Square with Sam when neither of you owes the other. In a nest of three or more, it reads You're owed or You owe. That figure nets what you owe one person against what another owes you, so open Details to see each person.

The card covers the current period only. Older periods that are still open are listed under Unsettled periods, just below it, each with what you still owe or what's still owed to you. Choose one to open it. The section shows only when an older period is still open.

Choose Details on the card to see more:

• In a nest of two, Details opens the pair page: just you and the other person in that period, with the expenses you share and how to settle.
• In a nest of three or more, Details opens a breakdown of the period, with your balance with each person under Every member. A person marked Settled or Even is square with you. Choose a person to open the pair page for the two of you.

Until someone joins your nest, its expenses split with a stand-in called Your other member, or with the people you added by name. You settle with them the same way.

Pay the other person first, then record it in Eider. In a nest of two, when you owe:

1. Choose Settle on the balance card on the home screen.
2. Choose I paid.
3. Check the amount. It starts at everything you owe.
4. Choose the button that reads I paid and the amount.

Eider then shows Settled up when the payment covers everything you owe, or Payment added with what's still owed when it doesn't. On the web you type the amount in the Amount field, and on iPhone and Android you enter it on the keypad.

When the other person owes you and has paid, choose It's paid on the card instead. The screen is titled Record a payment rather than Make a payment, and its button reads They paid and the amount.

In a nest of three or more, the card has no Settle or It's paid button. Choose Details, then the person, and use the pair page. There, choose I paid when you owe them, or their name and paid, such as Sam paid, when they owe you.

To record part of what's owed, change the amount to a smaller one. The line under the amount shows what will still be owed, and you can record the rest later as another payment. You can't record more than is owed: the amount stops there, and the line reads You only owe and the amount. If you owe in more than one period, the payment settles the oldest first, and the same line says which periods it covers.

Venmo, next to I paid, opens Venmo on the other person's payment handle, or just opens Venmo when they haven't added one. When they have a handle and the nest uses US dollars, the amount on the card is filled in. Venmo records nothing in Eider, so come back and choose I paid once you've paid. It shows only when you owe, in a nest where someone else has joined. To add your own handle, open the account menu from your avatar at the top right, choose Profile, fill in Payment handle and choose Save changes. Your account has more on that screen.

If nobody else has joined your nest yet, the button reads Settle and opens the amount straight away.

You can record a payment only between yourself and one other person. Nobody can record a payment between two other people. You can record one with someone you added by name who hasn't joined yet, and nobody is notified.

They open the pair page and choose I received it on the payment, under Payments. The notification Eider sends them about your payment opens the same page. Choosing I received it confirms every payment from you in that period they haven't confirmed yet, and each one then reads Acknowledged. You get a notification that they confirmed it.

Confirming only says the money arrived. It changes no balance, and a period closes whether or not anyone confirms. There's no way to reject or dispute a payment. A payment recorded by the person who was paid is already confirmed.

No. Once a payment is recorded, nobody can edit it or undo it in the app. Check the amount before you choose I paid or They paid.

Automatically, as soon as a recorded payment leaves every pair in the nest square. In a nest of two, that's a payment for the full amount owed. In a nest of three or more, the period stays open while anyone in it still owes anyone else. There's no button to close a period yourself.

Once every period is settled, the next expense anyone adds starts a new one.

Only a payment closes a period. If expenses bring every balance to zero with no payment, the period stays open, and since nobody owes anything there's no payment to record.

A repeating expense can also start a new period. When one with Once per period turned on comes due again in a period that already has it, Eider starts a new period for it, and the earlier one stays open as Unpaid. Whether repeating expenses can do this is a nest setting: open the nest menu from the ring at the top left of the home screen, choose Nest settings, and find Allow repeating expenses to open new periods under Periods. Repeating expenses explains when it helps.

Its expenses are locked. Opening one shows This expense is locked, and nobody can edit it, delete it or change its split. Its Period row says when the period was settled, and expense lists mark it Settled.

To see past periods, open the nest menu and choose Periods, or choose Expenses there and then the Periods pill at the top. Each settled period is listed by who settled up, such as Sam settled up, or as Marked settled when it was settled with someone who hasn't joined. Choose one to open it. Its pair page says who paid whom and how much, and lists each payment, with its date, under Payments. In a nest of three or more, choose a person in the breakdown first.

The Payments pill, beside Periods, lists every payment you've made or received in the nest, such as You paid Sam or Sam paid you.

Yes, in two ways: a nudge that someone sends, and an automatic reminder about a balance left open.

• Nudge: when someone owes you, open the pair page and choose Nudge, then confirm. On a phone, Nudge is the round button with a hand on it. They get a notification saying you nudged them and what they owe. You can nudge each person once every 24 hours, and only someone who has joined the nest.
• Running-balance reminders: when a period has been open for two weeks or more with a balance on it, Eider reminds the people who owe or are owed, at most once a month.

Eider also tells the other person when you record a payment, with Settle-ups, and tells you when they confirm yours, with Payment confirmations.

Each of these has its own switch. Open the account menu, choose Notifications, and under Activity turn off Settle-ups, Payment confirmations, Settle-up nudges or Running-balance reminders. Turning one off stops it in the app and as a push. None of them is sent by email. A nest where nobody else has joined gets none of them.

Always the nest's base currency. There's no way to record a payment in another currency.

The first payment also fixes the nest's currency, so nobody can switch it after that. Currency covers what else fixes it.