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TabSplit — A Splitwise Alternative

Feb 2026 Web App Frontend ↗ Live site

TabSplit is a web app I built as a direct alternative to Splitwise. I had always found standard bill-splitting apps plagued by confusing UIs and unintuitive setup processes. I wanted to create a tool that made group ordering and settling up genuinely frictionless.

This was one of my first projects to be actively deployed in the real world. It forced me to design not just for screens, but for environments—handling poor network conditions, users without smartphones, and the chaotic reality of group dinners.
Status
Live Web App
Stack
Cosmos, Lovable, Claude
Role
Frontend Developer, Tester
Date
Feb 2026

The Reality of Field Use

Building an app in a controlled environment is easy; deploying it to a table of ten hungry people trying to split a restaurant bill is hard. Once TabSplit hit real-world usage, multiple edge cases immediately surfaced.

The Problem
The Solution

The "No-Phone" Dilemma

During initial field testing, a glaring issue emerged: what happens when a friend at the table doesn't have their phone, or their network drops inside the restaurant? Standard apps assume a perfectly connected, multi-device ecosystem, halting the entire process if someone is offline.

Insight: In group dynamics, the speed of the group is determined by the slowest digital connection. If one person can't log in, the app fails the table.

Manual Overrides

I redesigned the interface to accommodate manual overrides. The "initiator" (the person setting up the tab) can now manually add people to the bill who aren't actively using the mobile app, assigning their items locally on one device.

Insight: Designing for resilience means designing for analog fallbacks. The UI must degrade gracefully when perfect digital connectivity fails.

Continuous Iteration

Testing the app in the wild brought in a continuous stream of feedback, particularly around how information was presented and manipulated. I had to rapidly iterate on the UI to solve friction points:

Mental Models
Frictionless Entry
Tactile Splitting

"My Tab" vs "Center Table"

Users were confused about the shared space. I had to visually clarify the distinction between the "Center Table" (shared items like appetizers) and "My Tab" (personal orders), and ensure the navigation between the two was seamless.

Accelerating Data Entry

Users kept getting bogged down in multiple field inputs. I added distinct input fields for item name and price, made the entire box clickable to add items, and introduced a quick checkmark feature to send items straight to the Center Table.

Physical Interactions

Implemented drag-and-drop cards to make shifting items between people feel physical and intuitive. Added a manual splitting option with a list of checkboxes, giving users absolute control over exactly who was splitting which specific item.

Reflection

I learned a massive amount from this project. It proved that UI problems cannot be fully solved in a vacuum—they have to be tested against the impatience of hungry people trying to figure out who ordered the extra fries. By embracing multiple rounds of field feedback, TabSplit successfully streamlined group ordering and optimized an inherently messy social interaction.

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