Split A Bill

One snap. Zero stress. Better friendships. A full-stack mobile application that makes group bill splitting fast, fair, and conflict-free.

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Inspiration

Last fall, during a conversation with a friend, she mentioned that she was paying for a bill-splitting service just to manage group restaurant expenses. After hearing what she needed, I told her I would build an app so she wouldn’t have to pay for that membership anymore.

What started as a small favor quickly turned into something bigger.

I realized how common and awkward money conversations can be — especially after dinners, trips, or group outings. Splitting a bill shouldn’t create tension, confusion, or unnecessary stress between friends.

Split A Bill combines AI, mobile development, and backend engineering to solve a real social problem: splitting shared expenses quickly, fairly, and transparently.

It’s designed to reduce conflict, stress, save time, and protect relationships.

What it does

With a snap of a photo receipt, the app handles the math behind each bill. It is designed to:

  • Eliminate manual calculation
  • Quickly calculate shared expenses
  • Split tax and tip fairly
  • Handle custom item assignments (optional future feature)
  • Provide a clean and intuitive UI

How we built it

  1. Front-end: React Native + Expo
  2. Backend: Express.js, Node.js, MongoDB
  3. Authentication: JWT
  4. AI Integration: Google Gemini API
    • used for receipt image processing and structured item extraction

Challenges we ran into

  • Integrating AI receipt parsing: Connecting Google Gemini and correctly extracting structured data from receipts required careful handling of different receipt formats.
  • Synchronizing frontend and backend: It was my first time using React Native to build a full-stack project. Putting all the tech stacks together was a bit challenging.
  • Time constraints: Building a full-stack, AI-powered MVP in just 16 hours was intense, requiring fast iteration and prioritization of core features.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Built a full-stack, AI-powered mobile app in only 16 hours.
  • Successfully integrated Google Gemini to automatically parse receipts and extract itemized data.
  • Designed a clean and intuitive UI that lets users snap, assign, and calculate bills in seconds

What we learned

  • How to integrate AI APIs (Google Gemini) into a real-world mobile workflow.
  • Strategies for building MVPs: prioritize core functionality first, plan extra features for later.

What's next for Split A Bill

  • Dark Mode + User Customization
  • Group management
  • Payment integrations (Venmo/Zelle links)
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