Households and Members

A Household is what a budget and its Expenses are shared within. A Household can have several Members who share one budget and one set of Expenses, which suits couples and families managing money together.

This chapter explains how to invite and remove Members, who the Custodian is, and when a Household can be deleted. Members are managed on the "Members" page of the "Settings" tab at the bottom.

Members and the Custodian

The list on the "Members" page shows every Member of the Household; your own row is marked "you".

Each Household has one Custodian, marked "Custodian" in the list. Whoever creates the Household is its first Custodian. The Custodian looks after the Household's Backups: only the Custodian can download Backups. Other Members see the button disabled on the "Backup" page, with the note "Only the Custodian can download Backups." For downloading and restoring, see the "Backups" chapter.

The Custodian is also the only one who can change the Household's currency (see "Currency" in the "Getting started" chapter). Apart from these two things, the Custodian is just like any other Member: every Member can invite and remove Members, record Expenses and edit the budget.

A Member's name shows the part of their email before "@" by default; tap the name in the list to see the full email. Members can set a nickname in their account's "Settings"; other Members then see the nickname.

One person can be a Member of several Households. With more than one, tap the account button at the top right and choose "Switch Household".

Invite a new Member

1. On the "Members" page of the "Settings" tab, find "Invite a new Member (email)".
2. Enter their email and press "Send invitation".
3. The system emails them an invitation, and the page says "Invitation sent to …".

An invitation link is valid for 7 days. After that it stops working and you need to invite them again.

Seats

A Household can have up to 3 Members. An invitation that has been sent but not yet accepted also takes a seat, so the "Members" page shows a count like "Seats 2/3 (Members: 1, pending: 1)". Once every seat is taken, "Invite a new Member" is replaced by a note that all seats are taken; revoke a pending invitation or remove a Member to invite someone else. Expired invitations don't take a seat, and inviting the same email again replaces the earlier invitation instead of taking another seat.

When they don't receive the email

After you send an invitation, the page also shows the invitation link with the note "If they don't receive the email, you can send them this link:", so you can pass it on through a messaging app.

If the page says "The invitation was created, but the email couldn't be sent. Use the link below instead.", the email wasn't sent. Either something went wrong or the system has no email set up; give them the link directly or invite them again.

To get the link again later, open the menu on the right of the invitation in "Pending invitations" and choose "Show invitation link".

How they join

When they open the invitation link, they see "You're invited to join “Household name”". Then, depending on their situation:

• Already logged in with the invited email: press "Join “Household name”".
• The email already has a User but isn't logged in: press "Log in"; after logging in, the invitation is accepted right away.
• The email doesn't have a User yet: press "Sign up and join"; the invitation is accepted automatically once they sign up.
• Logged in as someone else: only the invited email can accept. Log out, log in with the invited email, and open the link again.

Revoke an invitation

Until an invitation is accepted, you can revoke it: open the menu on the right of the invitation in "Pending invitations", choose "Revoke invitation" and confirm. The link stops working.

Removing Members and leaving

• Remove a Member: open the menu on the right of that Member and choose "Remove". After you confirm, they can no longer see any of the Household's data. Any Member can remove other Members, but the Custodian can't be removed by another Member.
• Leave the Household: choose "Leave" in the menu on your own row. After leaving, you can no longer see any of the Household's data.

When a Member is removed or leaves, the Expenses they recorded stay in the Household, so past figures don't change. The same person can be invited back later.

Hand over the Custodian role

The Custodian can hand the role to another Member:

1. On the "Members" page, open the menu on the right of that Member and choose "Make Custodian".
2. After you confirm, they become the new Custodian. You're no longer the Custodian and can't download Backups anymore.

The role can only go to an existing Member.

If the Custodian leaves the Household, the role passes automatically to the longest-standing remaining Member.

Delete a Household

A Household can only be deleted when one Member is left. While there are other Members, the button on the "Delete" page of the "Settings" tab is disabled, with the note "To delete this Household, remove the other Members first."

To delete it:

1. Remove every other Member first.
2. Open the "Delete" page of the "Settings" tab and press "Delete".
3. The page reminds you: "You're the only Member, so leaving permanently deletes this Household and all of its records." Type the Household's name as instructed and press "Delete permanently".

Afterwards, all of the Household's data, including Income Sources, Fixed Outgoings, Categories, Budget Lines and Expenses, is gone permanently and can't be recovered. We recommend that the Custodian downloads a Backup first.

The last Member has no "Leave" option; they can only delete the Household.