Not Everyone Drank? Split by Custom Shares or Amounts

Dinner's over, time to split the bill. You pull out the calculator and someone goes "I didn't drink," then "my kid barely ate," then "that dessert was just mine"...

Splitting equally sounds easy, but everyone's secretly doing math in their heads, and suddenly the vibe gets weird, right?

This is when "Custom Split" saves you

When you add an expense in Lightsplit, there's a small but powerful feature called Custom Split. No calculator needed. One button lets you switch between three modes for uneven splits, and you can even mix them together. Built for exactly this kind of "I don't want to split equally" situation.

What is Custom Split?

Open the Add Expense screen and look for the "How to Split" row. Next to it, there's a subtle settings button. Tap it and you enter the world of Custom Split.

This feature lets you freely decide:

• Who participates in this expense
• How many shares each person takes
• Exactly how much each person pays

Three modes for three common scenarios, and they can be mixed. Let's look at them one by one.

Three ways to split for three situations

Pick specific people: someone wasn't there for this one

The most common case. Five of you are traveling together, but two went back to the hotel early because they weren't feeling well and missed dinner. That bill shouldn't land on them.

Tap the "How to Split" dropdown and uncheck anyone who didn't join. The top even shows "Split Equally (3 people)" so you know how many are actually sharing. Whoever's left gets an equal split.

People who weren't there skip it, people who were split it. No arguments.

Split by shares: 2 for adults, 1 for kids

A family-trip classic. Adults take one share, kids take half, vegetarians eat less so they take half, hungry teens take two, you get the idea.

Tap the adjustment button to the right of "How to Split" to open the Custom Split detail page, and use the Shares column. Shares are just weights. The system figures out the math for you.

Example: a $500 meal with Scott (2 shares), ゆりあ (2 shares), and Rama (1 share). That's 5 shares total, so each share is $100. Scott and ゆりあ pay $200 each, Rama pays $100. You don't do the math, Lightsplit does.

Specify amounts: everyone pays for what they got

Sometimes you know exactly what each person owes. Someone added an extra item to a group order, or one person stayed in a private room while others shared.

Same button on the right of "How to Split" opens the Custom Split page. Switch to the Amount column and type in what each person owes.

The orange bar at the top shows "Allocated / Total" and flags what's left. You can't hit Done until the remainder is zero, so it doubles as a sanity check.

The power move: mixing shares and amounts

This might be the smartest trick Custom Split has. Within the same expense, some people can use Shares while others use Amount. Mix them however you want.

Here's the real example: three friends have a $500 dinner. Scott ordered something pricier and wants to cover $200 himself, and the remaining $300 should be split evenly between ゆりあ and Rama.

On the Custom Split page:

• Scott's Amount field gets 200, leave Shares blank
• ゆりあ and Rama's Shares fields both get 1, leave Amount blank

The system subtracts Scott's $200 first, then splits the remaining $300 by share ratio. ゆりあ and Rama each get $150.

The orange bar hits "$500 / $500, $0 left." Reconciled. Perfect for "someone ordered the expensive thing and covers it, everyone else splits the rest evenly."

Let me walk you through one

Same scenario as above: five people traveling. One night Hello and Eric feel sick and go back to the hotel, skipping dinner. Scott, ゆりあ, and Rama go out to eat. Total: $500, Scott paid. Scott ordered something pricier and wants to cover $200, the remaining $300 should be split evenly between ゆりあ and Rama.

Step 1: Fill in the amount and who paid

Title: "Dinner". Amount: $500. Paid by: Scott.

Step 2: Tap the adjustment button next to "How to Split"

The Custom Split page opens. The top shows "$0 / $500" which means you still have $500 to allocate.

Step 3: Uncheck Hello and Eric

Scott, ゆりあ, and Rama remain.

Step 4: Enter 200 in Scott's Amount field

The orange bar updates to "$200 / $500, $300 left."

Step 5: Enter 1 in both ゆりあ and Rama's Shares fields

The system splits the remaining $300 evenly between them, $150 each. The orange bar hits "$500 / $500" and zeroes out.

Step 6: Tap "Done"

Tap Done to return to the record page, then Create to save. Under 30 seconds, uneven split done right.

When this is a lifesaver

• Someone missed this one: just uncheck them, no charge
• Family trip, kid = half share: adults 2, kids 1, one tap
• Roommate stayed an extra night: assign that night's rent directly
• Group buy with someone adding extras: give them an amount, others split the rest by shares
• Vegetarian eats less: set their share to 0.5, stop being polite every time

A few heads-ups

• Each person uses either Shares or Amount, don't fill both fields for the same person
• Different people can use different columns, Scott with Amount, others with Shares, totally fine
• Allocated = Total is required before Done, the app checks for you
• You can always edit later, change the split anytime by reopening
• Equal split is the default, if you don't touch anything, everyone splits evenly

Pair it with "Transaction Defaults" for even less work

If your group splits the same way most of the time (fixed adult/kid ratios, fixed proportional splits), pair this with Transaction Defaults. Pre-set the shares ratio once and new expenses auto-fill them. You won't even need to open Custom Split.

Next time someone says "I didn't drink" or "my kid only had a bite," skip the calculator gymnastics and the quiet resentment. Open Lightsplit, use Custom Split, and your uneven splits are handled in seconds. Back to actually enjoying the meal.