Households

A household lets two or more people share selected expenses through Expense Trail’s cloud sync. Each person signs in with their own account but sees shared entries marked by members.

Requirements

Before creating or joining a household:

Sign in with Google or Apple
Turn Cloud sync on under Settings → Account

Households do not work in local-only mode.

Open household settings

Settings → Family tab → Household section

Create a household

Tap Create household
Enter a name — “Smith family”, “Our apartment”, etc.
Save

You can belong to more than one household (for example home and a shared apartment).

Invite members

Add the person as a buddy first (invite code or QR)
Open the household → Invite buddy
They accept under Household pending invites

There is no public household invite link — only buddies you have already accepted can be invited.

Shared vs private expenses

When logging an expense, choose Visibility:

Setting	Who sees it
Private	Only you (on your synced devices)
Shared	All household members

Default may be private — switch to Shared for rent, groceries, or other joint costs.

End-to-end encryption in households

If you use end-to-end encryption, household members need proper key setup so everyone can read shared encrypted fields. Complete the privacy checkup if prompted after joining.

Notifications

Turn on Household activity under Settings → Alerts to get a push when someone accepts an invite or joins.

Edit household name

Household owners can rename the household from Settings → Family.

Leave a household

Settings → Family → Leave household
Read the confirmation — shared expenses may become private on your account after leaving
Confirm

Leaving does not delete your personal account or local data.

Trust and privacy

Only join a household with people you trust to see shared spending. Private entries stay private unless you mark them shared.

See Privacy overview.

Household vs split bills

Feature	Household	Split bills
Purpose	Shared ledger in the cloud	Informal “who owes whom” (buddies + local contacts)
Needs sync	Yes (for shared ledger)	Local splits work offline; buddies need cloud sync
Best for	Partners, family budget	Roommates, one-off dinners

See Split expenses and Buddies.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Try
Partner cannot see shared expense	Confirm visibility is Shared, correct household if you belong to several, and both finished encryption setup
Buddy cannot be invited to household	Add them as an active buddy first, then send a household invite
Cannot create household	Check sign-in and cloud sync

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