‹ Chilavu
A walkthrough with five demo people

Chilavu, start to settle-up

Every screen below comes from the live app at app.chilavubook.com, driven by five demo accounts. Follow the steps under each picture to try the same thing on your own phone.

The cast

RRadha
5405 0089 6508 6211Keeps her own book and four money sources. Uses a phone and a laptop. Lent Aaris money.
AAaris
7844 9175 5838 4871Borrowed from Radha and Madhav. Runs the Goa trip. Lives next door to Flat 4B.
MMadhav
2289 9786 9487 9169Lent Aaris ₹500. Started the Flat 4B pot.
AAdeel
2360 0179 9761 9808On the Goa trip. Shares Flat 4B.
AAsin
2868 6142 9030 7862On the Goa trip. Shares Flat 4B.

All names, amounts and notes are made up for this demo. Account numbers are not secret in Chilavu: they are how people find each other, the way a phone number is. The recovery phrase and the invite code are covered in the pictures, because those are the two things that should never be shared.

0

Getting started

No email and no password. The account is a number the server issues and twelve words that only you hold.

Make an account

  1. Open app.chilavubook.com, type your invite code, and tap Create an account.
  2. Write the twelve words on paper. Then type back the three words the app asks for.
  3. Choose a passcode for this device. It locks the words on this device and never leaves it.
  4. Note your account number, then tap Open my book. A book called Personal is ready.
Signup screen with an invite code field and a Create an account button
Invite code. Chilavu is invite-only for now.
The twelve recovery words, covered for this guide
The twelve words. Covered here. Anyone who has them has the account.
Your account number: 5405 0089 6508 6211
The account number. Share it freely. It opens nothing.
Radha's Personal book with a month of expenses
Personal. Radha's month so far, grouped by day.
1

More than one device

Radha adds her laptop with the twelve words. Everything she wrote on the phone is there, and what she writes on the laptop reaches the phone.

Add a laptop, then check the list

  1. On the new device, open the app and tap I have my recovery phrase.
  2. Enter the twelve words, your account number and a passcode for this device. Tap Add this device. No invite code is needed.
  3. Add an expense on the laptop. Open the app on the phone and it appears there.
  4. On either device, go to Account › Your devices to see both. Rename gives each a name you will recognise, and Revoke cuts one off.

If you have a device that is already signed in, Account › Another device brings the account across with a QR code, so you don't have to type the words.

Use an existing account form on a laptop
Laptop. The phrase, the number, and a passcode for this machine only.
The same Personal book on a wide laptop screen, with categories beside the list
Same book, wider layout. The tabs move to the side.
Phone showing Stationery, written on the laptop at the top
Back on the phone. The laptop's entry is at the top.
Your devices: Radha's phone and Radha's laptop
Your devices. Each one named, each one revocable.
2

Connecting with people

A connection is the private book between two people. It holds whatever the two of you share, and the balance between you.

Connect by number, accept, compare

  1. Radha: People › Connect by number. Type Aaris's account number and what to call him, then tap Connect.
  2. Aaris sees a badge on Account. Under Invitations there is a safety number. If it matches the one on Radha's screen, the keys are genuine. Tap Accept.
  3. Both now see each other under People. Statement, by book shows what makes up the balance.

After the dinner, loan and repayment in section 3, Radha sees Aaris owes you ₹1,420 and Aaris sees you owe ₹1,420. Both phones show the same figure from opposite sides. (The pictures were taken earlier, when the figure was ₹2,620.)

Invitation from Radha's number with a safety number and Accept button
Aaris's inbox. The safety number is his with Radha, to compare.
Radha's People with Aaris owing ₹2,620 and the statement open
Radha's side. The statement lists the loan, half the dinner, and money back.
Aaris's People: owes Madhav ₹500 and Radha ₹2,620
Aaris's side. He owes Radha, and Madhav for a borrow.
3

Spent, lent, borrowed, paid back

The + button opens one sheet that asks what happened first. Each answer shows only the fields it needs.

Spent, and split with someone

  1. Tap +. Spent is already chosen. Enter the amount, what it was for, a category, and which source paid.
  2. Tap Split it with someone and tick a person. The split is shown under the amount as you type.
  3. The expense stays in your own book. Aaris gets his share in the book between you, and never sees your category or which account you used.

Lent and borrowed

  1. Tap +, choose Lent or Borrowed, and start typing a name.
  2. Pick the person. Say where the money came from (Paid from) or where it went (Landed in) so your Money tab stays right.
  3. A loan isn't spending. It leaves your monthly total alone and shows up under Owed to you on the Money tab.

Paid back

  1. Tap +, choose Paid back, then They paid me or I paid them.
  2. Or on People, tap They paid me on the person's row. The balance is filled in for you.

Radha's story: dinner at Persian Terrace, ₹1,240 split with Aaris. She lent him ₹2,000 for a bike service and he handed back ₹1,200. Aaris borrowed ₹500 from Madhav for movie tickets.

Spent sheet with ₹860 lunch, Food, HDFC Savings, split with Aaris
Spent. Split equally with Aaris.
Lent sheet with Aar typed and Aaris suggested
Finding a person. Type part of a name. Someone not on Chilavu can be added right here.
Lent ₹1,500 to Aaris for the train tickets
Lent. Paid from one of your sources.
Borrowed ₹1,500, lent by Aaris
Borrowed. The same entry, read from the other end.
Paid back ₹500 from Aaris, landed in Cash in hand
Paid back. The money lands in a source you choose.
4

Money and statements

Sources are where your money is: cash, an account, a card, something you own. Balances are worked out from what you record, and nothing is typed in twice.

Add sources, move money, read a statement

  1. Money › Add a source. Radha has Cash in hand (₹3,500), HDFC Savings (₹42,000), an ICICI card (−₹8,250, since money owed on a card is negative) and gold bangles as an asset (₹1,20,000).
  2. Income puts money into a source: her ₹85,000 salary. Transfer moves it between two: ₹6,000 from savings to cash.
  3. Tap a source to open its statement. Each line shows the change and the balance after it.
  4. For an asset, Update its value sets a new worth. The gold went to ₹1,24,500.

The balance sheet counts what you hold (₹2,50,590), adds what people owe you (₹1,420), and takes off the card (₹10,530), for a net of ₹2,41,480. The savings statement runs from ₹42,000 to ₹1,16,770 over seven lines: the transfer, salary, kettle, loan, dinner, the money back, and stationery bought on the laptop.

Money tab with four sources and a balance sheet
Money. Four sources and the balance sheet.
Money in sheet: ₹12,000 into Cash in hand from freelance work
Income. Into a source, with where it came from.
HDFC Savings statement with seven flows and running balances
Savings statement. Scroll inside the picture for the balance sheet.
ICICI Credit Card statement: groceries took it to −₹10,530
Card. Spending on it makes the balance more negative.
Gold bangles statement: value set to ₹1,24,500
Asset. A new value, with a note.
5

More books: split groups and pots

A book is shared by everyone in it. When you make one you choose how it behaves. A group that splits keeps track of who owes whom, which suits a trip. A pot is one purse with no debts inside it, which suits a household.

Make a book and invite people

  1. Account › Books › New book. Name it and choose its kind.
  2. Open the book, go to Members, and invite by account number. Make an invite link gives a QR code instead.
  3. Each person accepts under Account › Invitations. Switch books with the round button at the top right.
New book form with Goa trip typed and A group that splits chosen
Two kinds. Aaris makes "Goa trip" as a group that splits.
Adeel's inbox with two invitations
Adeel's inbox. Invited to Goa trip and to Flat 4B.
Book switcher open showing Everything, Personal and Goa trip
Switching books. Everything shows them all at once.

Goa trip: a group that splits

  1. Each person adds what they paid. For lists everyone, so untick anyone it wasn't for.
  2. When two people paid one bill, tick more than one paid and enter each person's part.
  3. The Balances card suggests the fewest payments. Tap one to record it.

The stay (₹14,400, Aaris), the cab (₹1,600) and dinner (₹4,800, both Radha), and scooters (₹2,400, Adeel and Asin half each) were for all four. Parasailing (₹3,000, Asin) was for Asin and Adeel. So Aaris is owed ₹8,600, Radha ₹600, and Adeel owes ₹6,100. Asin owed ₹3,100, paid Aaris ₹2,500 by UPI, and now owes Radha ₹600.

Goa trip balances and three suggested payments
Balances. Three payments settle four people.
Scooter rental paid by Adeel ₹1,200 and Asin ₹1,200, for four
Two payers. Adeel and Asin, ₹1,200 each.
Parasailing ₹3,000 for Asin and Adeel only
For two of four. Radha and Aaris untouched.
Payment sheet: Asin pays Aaris ₹2,500
Settling. Filled in from the suggestion.
Goa trip after the payment: two suggestions left
After. Asin now owes only Radha.

Flat 4B: a pot

  1. Madhav makes Flat 4B as Mine, or one pot and invites Adeel and Asin.
  2. Whoever pays adds the expense. Nobody owes anybody inside a pot, so it has no Balances card.
  3. To share a cost with someone outside the pot, use Split it with someone as usual. The pot then keeps a balance with that person, separate from anyone's own.

Rent ₹36,000, groceries ₹3,150, gas ₹640 and internet ₹2,280 are the flat's. The ₹1,800 water-tank cleaning was split with Aaris next door, so Aaris owes the pot ₹900. Madhav sees that on Aaris's row as the pot's figure, apart from the ₹500 Aaris owes him personally.

Flat 4B: one pot, three members, five expenses
One pot. Three members, no balances inside.
Madhav's People: Aaris owes you ₹500, and Flat 4B is owed ₹900
Madhav's People. His ₹500, and the pot's ₹900, on separate lines.
Aaris's People listing Flat 4B as a pot he owes ₹900
From outside. To Aaris the pot is one connection.
Everything: Radha's Personal and Goa trip entries together
Everything. Radha's books in one list, each entry labelled with its book.