Why kisir has no sign-up, and what that costs

The problem was never the math

Splitting money is easy arithmetic. What actually kills a shared expense list is getting everyone into it.

Think about how it goes. One person in the group chat says “I’ll set it up.” They download an app, make a group, and post a link. Then comes the first screen for everyone else: create an account, enter an email, choose a password, confirm the email. With eight friends, a couple of them simply won’t. Not because they’re difficult. It’s a Tuesday evening, they’re on the bus, and it’s several minutes of friction for a €14 dinner.

So the list ends up with six of eight people in it, and the other two are tracked in a note on the organizer’s phone. Which is the spreadsheet problem all over again.

That is where the rule came from: anyone in the group chat should be able to join in ten seconds. An account step breaks that rule. So we took it out.

What the first launch looks like

You open kisir. It asks for your name. You type it. That’s the whole onboarding.

There is no email field, no password field, and nothing to confirm. Your phone remembers who you are, so you don’t have to prove it again every time you open the app.

When someone sends you a group, you can join in whichever way is easiest:

• tap the link in the chat,
• scan a QR code if you’re sitting next to each other,
• or type the six-character code if all you have is a message that says “the code is K7M2QX.”

Then you pick the name the group will see. It can be different in each group, if you like. That’s all.

The person who never installs it

Even without an account step, some people won’t install an app at all. A grandparent on a family trip. A friend who joined the dinner for one evening. A flatmate who is moving out in two weeks.

They don’t have to. Anyone in the group can add someone by name. That person is in the group and in every split, with a balance like everybody else.

Here is a hypothetical. Say four flatmates, Ana, Ben, Cara and Dan. Dan doesn’t want another app. Ana adds him by name. She pays €86.40 for the weekly groceries and splits it equally four ways:

Dan owes Ana €21.60, exactly like Ben and Cara do. Nobody had to guess his share or keep him in a separate note. If Dan changes his mind a month later and installs kisir, he can claim that spot and take over his own name, with everything he is on already attached to him.

That is the other half of the idea. Joining the group and being in the group are two separate things, and the second one should never depend on the first.

What it costs

A choice like this isn’t free. Here is the honest list.

Your name is a label, not a proof. The group’s link is what lets people in, and anyone who has it can join. We think of a name in kisir as attribution, not security: it says who paid, not who is legally who. For a trip, a flat or a dinner, where you already trust the people in your chat, that is the right level. Share the link where you’d share the plans.

Anyone can see everything, but not change everything. To keep a shared list honest without accounts, there is one simple rule: only the person who added an expense can edit or delete it. Everyone else can see it, and every expense keeps a history of who changed what and from which number to which. It’s not a lock on the group. It means nobody can quietly adjust a figure that someone else entered.

A new phone needs a plan. This is the biggest cost. If there is no account, there is nothing on a server that says “this person owns these groups.” Your phone is the only thing that knows who you are. Lose it, switch to a new one, and a phone without that memory would look like a stranger.

How restoring works

That is why there is one optional step: a recovery email.

You can add an email in Settings, any time, or skip it forever. It does exactly one job: when you set up kisir on a new phone, it restores your groups. It is not a login, it doesn’t unlock features, and nothing in the app needs it to work. You confirm the address with a code, and from then on a new phone can get your groups back.

If you never add one, kisir has nothing to restore you with, and a new phone starts fresh. That’s the trade. We would rather ask for an email once, from the people who want that safety net, than ask everyone for one before they’ve even seen the app.

A practical tip: if you’re in a group that has real money in it, such as a long trip or a shared flat, add the recovery email before you switch phones, not after.

Why not just ask for the email anyway?

We get asked this. Three reasons.

Every extra step costs people. The ones who bail out are exactly the casual members: the friend who comes to one dinner, the cousin who joins for the weekend. They are also the ones you most need in the list, because someone owes them money or they owe someone.

Most people don’t want another account. There’s already an account for the bank, the phone, the shop, the airline. Not having to make one more, for something you’ll use for five days in Cyprus or an evening with flatmates, is a small relief, and relief is a real feature.

Less to hold. An app that doesn’t ask for your email, password or identity documents has less of it to look after. We find that a comfortable position for a small app.

The short version

• You type a name and you’re in.
• Join by link, QR code or a six-character code.
• Someone without the app can still be in every split, and claim their spot later.
• The group’s link is the way in, so share it where you’d share the plans.
• A recovery email is optional, and it only does one thing: restores your groups on a new phone.

If you’re comparing options, the no-account guide explains the differences plainly. If you’re about to start a group, the trip guide and the flatmates guide cover the method, with or without kisir.