How Spend-Circle works
Spend-Circle is different from other finance apps: your data lives in your Google Drive, not ours.
1. Sign in with Google
We use Google OAuth with the narrowest possible scopes: drive.file and spreadsheets. This means Spend-Circle can only access files it created — not your existing Drive files.
2. Your personal workbook
On first sign-in, Spend-Circle creates a Google Spreadsheet titled Spend-Circle Personal — [Your Name] in your Drive. This workbook has structured tabs for expenses, budgets, categories and sync logs. You can open it in Google Sheets at any time from the Settings page.
3. Group workbooks stay private
When you create a group (for flatmates, a trip, a household), Spend-Circle creates a separate group spreadsheet. Your personal expenses are never shared with group members. Only the group workbook is shared with invited collaborators.
4. Local-first, works offline
Expenses you add are saved to your device immediately — even without a network connection. A small sync indicator shows Pending, Syncing or Synced status. When you're back online, changes flow to your Google Sheet automatically.
5. Split bills, settle up
Add a group expense and choose how to split: equally, by exact amounts, by percentage, or by custom shares. Spend-Circle calculates the minimal number of payments needed to zero out all balances. Share the settlement summary via any app — WhatsApp, iMessage, email, or just copy-paste it.
6. Export and leave any time
Your data is already in Google Sheets — open it, copy it, export it as CSV, or simply stop using Spend-Circle. There's no export lock or deletion fee. The Settings page has a one-tap Open in Google Sheets button plus full data-delete instructions.