Split is a web application that can track expenses between you and your friends for anything. You can see the amount you owe other people through the application and complete payments by having someone friended with our payment system Checkbook. Alongside keeping track of these payments, you can easily add transactions for different events that will facilitate values owed organized by friends. Through this application, you eliminate the need to take out a calculator at the end of a meal with others and send payments using different platforms like Zelle and Venmo. Using Split you can record these events and also not go through the hassle of finding a standard payment method by using the built-in payment system of Checkbook. Don't dig through different payment apps, or bank statements to remember who you paid back, instead use Split to keep track and make all your payments in one location.
About the project Be sure to write what inspired you, what you learned, how you built your project, and the challenges you faced. Format your story in Markdown.
Inspiration
Our inspiration came from the annoying amount of times we have had to take out a calculator after a meal with friends and figure out how much to pay each other, make sure we have a common payment method (Venmo, Zelle), and remember if we paid each other back or not a week later. So to answer this question we came up with a Split that can easily divide our expenses for us, and organize the amount we owe a friend, and payments without having a common platform at all in one.
What it does
This application allows someone to put in a value that someone owes them or they owe someone and organize it. During this implementation of a due to someone, you can also split an entire amount with multiple individuals which will be reflected in the amount owed to each person. Additionally, you are able to clear your debts and make payments through the built-in Checkbook service that allows you to pay just given their name, phone number, and value amount.
How we built it
We built this project using html, css, python, and SQL implemented with Flask. Alongside using these different languages we utilized the Checkbook API to streamline the payment process.
Challenges we ran into Some challenges we ran into were, not knowing how to implement new parts of web development. We had difficulty implementing the API we used, “Checkbook” , using python into the backend of our website. We had no experience with APIs and so implementing this was a challenge that took some time to resolve.
Another challenge that we ran into was coming up with different ideas that were more complex than we could design. During the brainstorming phase we had many ideas of what would be impactful projects but were left with the issue of not knowing how to put that into code, so brainstorming, planning, and getting an attainable solution down was another challenge. Accomplishments that we're proud of
We were able to create a fully functioning, ready to use product with no prior experience with software engineering and very limited exposure to web dev.
What we learned Some things we learned from this project were first that communication was the most important thing in the starting phase of this project. While brainstorming, we had different ideas that we would agree on, start, and then consider other ideas which led to a loss of time.
After completing this project we found that communicating what we could do and committing to that idea would have been the most productive decision toward making a great project. To complement that, we also learned to play to our strengths in the building of this project.
In addition, we learned about how to best structure databases in SQL to achieve our intended goals and we learned how to implement APIs.
What's next for Split
The next step for Split would be to move into a mobile application scene. Doing this would allow users to use this convenient application in the application instead of a browser.
Right now the app is fully supported for a mobile phone screen and thus users on iPhone could also use the “save to HomeScreen” feature to utilize this effectively as an app while we create a dedicated app.
Another feature that can be added to this application is bill scanning using a mobile camera to quickly split and organize payments. In addition, the app could be reframed as a social media with a messenger and friend system.