Cashinator

Frequently asked questions

Why is there always talk of a travel fund for friends? Can't I use Cashinator at home as well?

Of course! You can also use Cashinator at home, in your shared apartment, with your partner, at school, at university, or anywhere you like!

The idea behind the Cashinator app was originally that of a travel fund and was exclusively designed for that purpose. With the increasing demand from users, I decided to incorporate a switch within the app that allows changing the so-called genre: from travel to a universal group and vice versa. The differences are mainly found in the wording of the corresponding texts, so you will quickly find your way around. Cashinator can be used perfectly both at home and on vacation.

What is the best "Who pays what?" app?

Compared to other apps, Cashinator offers the best value for money and comes with a feature set that one can only dream of. Nevertheless, the app appears fantastically intuitive, and it's just fun to use!

How can I record fees for my credit card abroad?

Starting with version 6.3, you can set up payment methods in the settings. Give your payment method a title, such as 'Credit Card.' You then have the option to assign an icon to the credit card and set a percentage fee. Every time you select your credit card as a payment method for one of your expenses, an additional expense equal to the credit card fee will be automatically created. The distribution among participants will be maintained to ensure fairness — the person with the largest share of the expense will pay the most of the credit card fee.

The calculation of the compensation payments is not correct! Why?

I can calm you down. The result is correct, believe me! Cashinator calculates a mathematically optimal way for you to get the best results for settling the entire debt in one fell swoop with as few transactions as possible. Therefore, it is often assumed that Cashinator is wrong with its calculations. Also there is a high probability that you will become a a different result if you calculate the travel expenses manually. This is simply because there are countless solutions to keep your balance.

If person A has spent a lot of money on person B, B can, but must not pay back to person A everything. I beg your pardon? Too abstract? Okay, then we will illustrate this phenomenon with this simple case study for calculating the debt in the cashinator.

Why are my travel expenses higher than our actual expenses?

The most common mistake is that cash withdrawals are entered in the Cashinator and are defined as an expense in that way. If this money is used to pay later, the money is actually entered again. Therefore, it is necessarry that you define cash withdrawals as a pure money transfer entry. Cashinator will ask you automatically, if it detects such an expense.

How can I change the language of the Cashinator app?

Currently Cashinator uses the operating system language settings of your smartphone to initially select the app language. If you prefer another language, you can change the language in the settings of the Cashinator app. Note that currently only English and German are supported.

My friend invited me to a new Cashinator journey. But I can't join it. What can I do?

For security reasons, your friend's journey barcode will expire after two days. Your friend has to share his journey in the Cashinator app settings again. This will generate a new barcode that you can scan or type within 48 hours.

In order to join a or to release a journey, a functional Internet connection is required. The trip is encrypted and transmitted via the mobile network or the current Wifi connection.

I joined a journey, but I see a different currency and therefore a different balance than my friends! Why?

Since each device can be set with its own home currency, the balance sheet is displayed according to your personal currency. Change your home currency accordingly to get the same view.

Can I delete existing journeys?

Yes. Please go to the settings section of the Cashinator app. Now swipe with your finger over the journey you want to delete (right to left). Confirm the deletion of the trip afterwards by pressing the red button. Note, however, that you can only delete trips that are not currently active, otherwise you will receive an error message.

If you are using VoiceOver or TalkBack, swipe with your finger from left to right to access the hidden options "Delete" or "Archive". Confirm the option with the usual double-click.

Also note that you can only delete the trips on your device – if you have shared them with other people, they will of course remain on the other devices.

If you accidentally deleted a journey, ask a friend with whom you shared the trip if they can generate a new access code for you.

Can I delete participants from the journey?

Yes, you can remove participants. To do this, go to the Cashinator app's settings area. You will find the section participants. Go there. Now swipe over the participant you want to delete with your finger from right to left. Note that you can only delete participants who are not involved in any transaction. Of course, if you really need to, you can first delete the participant's transactions and then remove the participant afterwards.

If you are using VoiceOver or TalkBack, swipe with your finger from left to right to access the hidden options "Delete" or "Archive". Confirm the option with the usual double-click.

There's a penny left on our balance sheet, why?

This is the known problem of the lost cent. If, for example, three people share one euro, each of them would only get 33 cents (instead of 33⅓ cents), if one distributes fairly. A cent therefore remains with this calculation. This cent cannot be distributed correctly, since the smallest possible unit of money is one cent (depending on the selected currency). Look at this cent as a lucky penny, rejoice in it!

How does cashinator make money? Will my data be collected and sold?

No. Cashinator does not collect and sell any data. Cashinator was mainly developed make life easier. That was the only reason. I'm just happy that my app is used and sees many places in the world. The Cashinator App definitely does not focus on generating revenue, it focuses on sharing and spreading happiness all over the world. Additionally in my oppionion it is a no-go to display advertising within the app. Nobody is interested in that and the complete experience is destroyed.

However, since Cashinator causes server costs and development costs, a fair and equitable monetization model was designed: The first journey is complete free of charge. All features are 100% available. If you like the app and also want to use it for your next holiday, you have to pay only one euro (the correct value depends on the specific store). Compared to the costs that would otherwise be incurred during your vacation and the the stress that you're spared, it's only fair, in my opinion. Think only once, what kind of money you put in a parking machine at the airport.

If you want to travel the third, forth or forever with the Cashinator, it is even getting cheaper for you. Cashinator does not make any money with that, it just covers it's expensive server costs and high availability.

Is my data safe?

Yes. Cashinator does not use any email addresses, usernames or passwords to log into the App. For this reason, it is very difficult to relate the entries made in the Cashinator app to real people. In order to synchronize the travel costs between several devices, data such as transactions and partivipants need to be saved on the Cashinator server. The communication between the server and the app takes place exclusively via the SSL protocol (Secure Socket Layer) and is therefore already sufficiently protected. In addition, however, every transaction, every person and every journey can only be identified by a unique key consisting of 36 random characters. If a potential attacker finds out such a key e.g. from a transaction, he only sees this single transaction, but he has no possibility to match it to a person, a journey or a other transactions. The totality of all transactions and persons of your journeys can only be accessed via another key stored only in your device (and devices sharing the same journey).

Only at the time of joining a journey such a key is assigned to a barcode that allows other devices to read the entire journey. This assignment will be deleted after 48 hours for security reasons.

More information about you data privacy you can read in the data privacy statement .

How can I assign my expenses to a category?

You can determine in the settings of the Cashinator app if you would like to be asked for a category when creating a new transaction. By default, this option is enabled. If you now enter a new issue, you can assign a category to the issue in the last step (for example public transfer, accommodation, groceries). You also have the option to change the categories of your expenses at any time afterwards via the expense overview. You can also create your own categories.

What are the advantages of categorizing my expenses?

If you have categorized all expenses consistently, you have the opportunity to see, which part of the journey took how much money. In the statistics you will see how much money you have paid for accommodation, how much has gone into shopping or how much money your car has cost including other costs such as refueling. Cashinator sums up all the expenses of a category to give you that clear overview.

Is it possible to create own categories?

Yes! In the settings you have the option to add your own categories for your travel expenses. You can even choose your own icons for your category. Note, however, that you can only change your own cateogories, but not the standard categories. I you don't like the standard Cashinator categories, simply delete them and use your own.

Can I indicate which payment method was used to pay for which expense?

Yes! You could, for example, create a separate category for each form of payment and then specify the corresponding bank card, credit card or cash when entering the issue. At the end of the holiday you will then see how much money has been deducted from which account. Note, however, that only one category can be specified for each expense. So you need to decide before starting your journey whether you want to use categories for payment methods or for the original purpose.

Can I copy recurring expenses?

Yes! You can duplicate issues by swiping your finger from left to right over the expense. If you select "Duplicate" afterwards, the same expense will be created with the current time. All participants possibly added photos are copied.

How can I have a detailed travel expense?

Cashinator automatically creates a nice overview of all holiday costs (shared with friends) in the PDF format. Just click on the statistics icon in the top right corner of Cashinators home screen. Select the last tab in the upper right corner, which will take you to the PDF evaluation. Simply click on the big red button and the PDF file will appear in DIN A4 format, which you can print out or forward to your friends by e-mail.
A sample view of this PDF file can be found here: PDF travel cost evaluation.

How can I synchronize the trip or group with other devices?

Actually, you don't have to worry about it at all. Cashinator synchronizes the moment you create or change a transaction. The other participating devices check for news at regular intervals (to save data throughput on vacation, we're talking about 2-5 minutes). If that's not fast enough for you, you can swipe down on the main screen or the expenses tab. This is how you complete a new synchronization on your device.

If you have even activated push notifications, the changes will usually appear on your device in the same second.

How can I enter if I simply transfer money to a participant without actually having an expense?

Cashinator is intelligent and automatically notices when it could be a simple transfer of money. In such a case, the app asks whether it is a pure money transfer or a normal expense. This is the case, for example, if you only select one person as a recipient. If Cashinator can safely rule out a money transfer or transfer, you won't even be annoyed with this question. Just give it a try!

You can also go to the "Details" of an expense and change the type of money transfer manually.

Is there a time limit for a journey or group?

No, you can use Cashinator on your trip for as long as you like. Costs only apply when you create a new trip.

I have multiple devices, can I sync my trip via iCloud?

You don't have to, because your journeys and groups are in sync even without iCloud. As soon as you join a journey with another of your devices, a regular synchronization takes place between the devices. This even works if you have an Android tablet and an iOS iPhone.

How does the backup actually work?

It's a lot easier than you think. You don't have to worry about anything. If you have activated the backup function, a key pair (for data protection reasons not even your travel or group data) will be saved in your Google or iCloud account. If you lose your smartphone and/or switch to a new one, the newly installed Cashinator app will ask you if you want to restore the existing backup. Depending on your wishes, all your travel or group data is thus transmitted from the Cashinator server to your new smartphone.

Note, however, that if you switch from one ecosystem to another (from Apple to Android or vice versa), the backup function will not work. To do this, please first share your journey or group on your old device and join with the new one.

How does Cashinator handle exchange rates?

When you open Cashinator with a stable internet connection, the app will update all conversion rates in the background. This only happens every 12 hours at most, so that data is not transferred unnecessarily. In addition, the query is limited to the worldwide exchange rates that convert the amount into euros. As soon as you enter a new expense in a foreign currency, the last known rate is stored in the expense together with the amount. If you use a different home currency than the euro, an additional exchange rate will be saved, which allows the euro to be converted into your home currency in the next calculation step. Thus, the amounts of expenses are in sync with all other participants on all devices. Amounts also do not change along with another update of rates the next day.

Should another participant prefer a completely different home currency than that of the others, the last rate known to the device in that home currency will be used to calculate the result. That should be a very rare case but could lead to a slight inaccuracy when looking at the balance sheet on different days.

The advantage of this method is that instead of around 29,000 possible courses, only 170 have to be transferred. This reduces the amount of data so much that the app still performs very well abroad and there are no high mobile phone charges.

Can I archive journeys?

Yes, simply swipe your finger from left to right over a journey and move it to the archive. By the way, all data will be kept (also on the servers) and you can restore your journey from the archive or delete it permanently at any time. This way, the list of your journeys always remains clear.

What is the difference between a journey and a group?

The difference can currently only be seen in the wording of texts within the app. In a journey or trip, for example, the term 'travel costs' is used, whereas in a group the term 'total costs' is used more generally. The app is thus simply more pleasant to use on a trip due to the choice of words.

Furthermore, Cashinator offers functions that are exclusively intended for travel. Currently, this concerns e.g. the budget function and the entry of a travel time. These statistics only make sense for trips, whereas others only make sense for groups at home (e.g. in a shared flat). By the way, the budget function will soon be available for groups as well, but the budget will then not refer to a travel period, but to the current month (as of 26.03.2023).

How can I deposit money into a cash box?

If you have created a cash box (in the sense of a wallet, purse or community account), you can deposit money into it by clicking the small button right next to the name of your cash box on the main screen. In the following you will select who has deposited how much money. It doesn't matter if someone deposits more or less than the other - Cashinator automatically calculates this fact in the cash balance. So it always remains fair.

I can't select photos from my album or photo library. What can I do?

It is possible that the operating system disabled access to the media library. You can allow access later by searching for the Cashinator app in your smartphone's Settings app and explicitly allowing access to photos there again. Once you've done that, you'll be able to select photos from your photo archives. Note: Cashinator will not read photos from your albums without explicit permission. Only the photos you select will be added to your groups and trips. Cashinator does not transfer any other images to any servers. For more answers regarding data security, please read the privacy policy.

How can I enter refunds?

If you want to enter refunds or credits (such as pledge or deposit refunds) that benefit everyone in the group, you can easily do so from version 5.1 by pressing the ± button on the input screen after entering the amount. You will see a note about the corresponding credit and the total expenses of the selected participants will decrease accordingly.

If you own an older version of the app and don't want to update, visit the 'Handling of expeneses' page in the Cashinator settings. There you will find a switch for negative expenses or refunds. If you enable this, when you enter an amount by pressing the minus sign on the number field, the expense actually becomes a refund.

How can I finalize a trip?

When it's time to pay your debts at the end of the trip and thus finalize the vacation, simply tap on the statistics symbol at the top right of the start page. There you will find the tab 'Cash check'. Everything else will be self-explanatory. By the way, if you give Cashinator information about your travel period, Cashinator will automatically ask you to perform the cash check on the last day at the latest.

We are traveling with two families with different numbers of people. Is that possible?

Yes, that is possible! With Cashinator 5, you can easily travel with two families of different sizes. The app automatically takes into account the number of people in each household and calculates the optimal settlement payments at the end of the trip. This way, you can divide your expenses fairly and only need to make a single payment between the two households. Enjoy your vacation with multiple families and let Cashinator 5 handle the cost splitting in a fair and simple way!

Why doesn't the share link work?

Please note that share links will only work with version 5.0.2 or higher. Please wait until the version is available for you in the stores. This may take a few days. Until then, you can simply use the 8-digit code to manually join your friends' journey.

Can I add participants later?

Yes, you can always add people to the journey later. This has no negative impact on compensation payments or on the calculation between participants, since this person was not involved in any expense until the time of the addition. If you want to add the person to an expense, you can edit the expense in the transaction overview.

How can I change the amount of an expense?

Click on the expense in the transaction overview and click on the amount. You now have the option to enter a different amount, which will be divided among corresponding participating persons with the same percentage distribution.

I cannot print the PDF file with my printer, what can I do?

Under certain circumstances, it may happen that the PDF file displayed cannot be printed. Cashinator itself is unfortunately not responsible for the print functionality - this is taken over by the operating system. The fact that an error now appears when printing a PDF file is often due to the third-party software used, which may not have been supplied with the operating system. You can bypass the problem by opening the file with another standard software or by forwarding it to another device via the Share button, with which you can finally print the PDF.

What is the purpose of the participant's e-mail address field?

So far, it does not matter whether you enter email addresses or not. Cashinator neither sends advertising nor informs people about events within the trip / group.

You can only enter email addresses for your own interests in order to send these people a PDF of the travel expense report afterwards, for example. It is also conceivable that well-known payment service providers will be integrated in later versions, allowing compensation payments to be made directly to the email addresses provided.

The push notifications no longer work on Android 14. What can I do?

Since version 5.1.3, you can choose in the settings of your Android system whether Cashinator should send you notifications when there are changes to your spending. If you do not receive push notifications even though you have activated the function within the Cashinator settings, please check whether the switch for notifications is also activated in the Android settings.

What are you waiting for?

Try it yourself now! Go on vacation, take the Cashinator app with you and enter all your expenses, categorize them and keep an eye on all your costs with your friends! This app will make your life so much easier, I promise!