Dongi

Questions & answers

How Dongi does the maths — with the formulas, so you can check every number yourself.

How is each person's share of an expense worked out?

When you add an expense you choose who shared it and how to split it:

  • Equally: each person's share = amount ÷ number of people sharing.
  • By weight: each person has a weight (1 by default; for example 2 for someone who ate double). Share = amount × that person's weight ÷ sum of all weights.
  • Exact amounts: you type each person's amount yourself.
Equal share = Amount ÷ People
Weighted share = Amount × Weight ÷ Sum of weights
Why is it counted per person and not per team?

Teams (a family, a couple) are just a convenient way to group people who pay together. Every expense is split between people, then each team's share is the sum of its members' shares. So a team of 3 carries more of a shared cost than a team of 2.

Example: €60 of fuel shared by 7 people → €8.57 each. A team of 2 pays €17.14, a team of 3 pays €25.71.

If an expense wasn't shared by everyone (say only the people in the car), switch the others off when you add it.

How is a team's result (owes / gets back) calculated?

The card for each team in Settle up is a small receipt:

Result = Paid − Share + Given − Received
  • Paid: everything the team paid for shared expenses.
  • Share: the team's share of all expenses (see above).
  • Given: money the team handed to other teams or put into the kitty (recorded payments).
  • Received: money the team got from other teams or from the kitty.

Above zero → the team gets money back. Below zero → it owes. Zero → settled.

Example: paid €300, share €200, given €0, received €50 → 300 − 200 + 0 − 50 = +€50, the team still gets back €50.

All results together always add up to zero: whatever one team is owed, others owe.

How does “Who pays whom” work?

Dongi takes every team's result and repeatedly pairs the team that owes the most with the team that is owed the most. Each pair becomes one payment, for the smaller of the two amounts, and this goes on until everyone is at zero.

That keeps the list short — never more than the number of teams minus one (the kitty counts as a team when it's used). It's one valid way to settle; any set of payments that brings everyone to zero is equally fair.

Example: A gets back €100, B owes €70, C owes €30 → B pays A €70, C pays A €30.

When a payment really happens, tap Mark as paid. It's recorded under Payments and every balance updates.

How does the shared kitty work?

The kitty is shared cash that one person usually holds.

  • Money a team puts in counts as money that team gave.
  • Anything paid from the kitty is split between the people who shared it, exactly like any other expense.
  • Money taken back out counts as money the receiving team got.
Left in the kitty = Put in − Paid from it − Returned

Example: three teams (2, 2 and 3 people) each put in €50 = €150. €60 of fuel is paid from it for all 7 people. €90 is left. That €90 belongs to the group, but not equally: the team of 3 used more of the fuel. Their part of what's left is €50 − €25.71 = €24.29; each team of 2 has €50 − €17.14 = €32.86.

Why does it say the kitty should pay someone?

When money is left in the kitty, Dongi treats it like a team that owes that amount back to the group. Instead of returning it to every team and then settling all over again, it may suggest: “whoever holds the kitty cash, give it to the team that's owed the most.”

The final result for every team is exactly the same either way — it just takes fewer payments. If your group prefers, you can also hand the kitty money back to each team and record those payments; the balances will still come out right.

What happens with expenses in another currency?

You enter the amount in the currency you paid in and the exchange rate. Dongi converts it once and stores both:

Amount in trip currency = Amount × Rate

All balances are calculated in the trip currency. Changing a rate later only affects that expense if you edit it.

Why is something sometimes off by one cent?

Shares are calculated exactly (for example €100 ÷ 3 = €33.333…) and only rounded to cents when shown. So a few displayed numbers added by hand can differ by €0.01 from the total. The calculation itself is exact.

I recorded something wrong. How do I fix it?

Tap an expense to edit or delete it. Recorded payments are listed in the Payments tab, where you can delete a wrong one and record it again. Balances update instantly for everyone in the trip.

What does “End trip” do?

The person who created the trip can end it. After that nothing can be added or changed, so the final numbers stay as they are. The creator can reopen it at any time.

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