Settle up: who owes whom

Once the crew has been paying for things, Settle up turns a pile of shared expenses into the shortest possible list of paybacks: who pays whom, and how much. It reads who paid for what, factors in any settlements already recorded, and tells you exactly where you stand — without Limbo ever touching real money.

Everyone on the trip can open Settle up and read the whole ledger. member Who can press the Settle button on a given row is narrower — see Permissions.

Opening Settle up

On the trip's Budget tab, look for the Settle up card — a 🤝 icon, the title Settle up, and a subtitle showing your position. Tap it to open the Settle up sheet.

1. 1
   Open the trip and swipe to the Budget tab.
2. 2
   Tap the Settle up card.
3. 3
   The sheet opens with your position up top, then the "who owes whom" list.

The card only appears once the trip has cost-split totals to work with — if no one has split anything yet, there's nothing to settle.

Your position

The top line of the sheet (and the Budget card subtitle) tells you your net standing in one phrase:

When the whole trip is even, the sheet skips the list entirely and shows a green check, You're all square, and "Everyone's even — nothing to settle."

The "who owes whom" list

When there's money outstanding, the sheet shows the minimal set of paybacks — Limbo collapses a tangle of "Alex paid the hotel, Sam paid dinner" into the fewest transfers that make everyone even. A red count pill next to the Settle up title shows how many transactions are still open.

Each row reads left to right:

• The payer's avatar, then Alex → Sam with the amount in green, then the payee's avatar.
• A green Settle pill on the right — but only on rows you're allowed to settle.

Tapping Settle opens the Mark as settled sub-sheet, where you record that the payback happened. That flow has its own article: Record a settlement.

Why balances never drift

Limbo doesn't store a running balance anywhere. Every time you open Settle up, the numbers are derived on the spot from two things: the confirmed expenses with a recorded payer (see Record who paid for an expense) and the settlements people have recorded. Because nothing is cached, balances can't get out of sync — and by construction, everyone's net positions always add up to zero.

A few things that follow from that:

• Only confirmed expenses count. A plan still on the ballot (a voting proposal) stays out of the math until it's approved and confirmed — and rejected plans never enter it.
• An expense only counts once someone is recorded as paying for it. A confirmed cost with no "Paid by" set contributes nothing yet — and shows up in the no-payer nudge instead.
• If a crew member has left the trip, their share is kept in the math rather than silently dropped, so the books still balance.

Permissions

• Open Settle up and read the balances, who-paid-what, and history: every crew member on the trip. member
• Press Settle on a row: only that row's debtor (the payer), its creditor (the payee), or the trip owner. owner
• Set who paid on an expense: anyone who can edit that plan. organizer