We think it's important that everyone in a Splitwise group can log in and see their balance. When you invite friends using their email address or phone number, they can view expenses, fix mistakes, and add their own, which helps avoid disagreements down the road.
If you invite friends with their email or phone number, you can start adding expenses with them right away, even before they accept the invite. You can keep adding expenses with them indefinitely even if they never claim it — we'll send one invite, one reminder, and then leave them alone.
That said, we know that sometimes you just want to get started before you have everyone's contact details. If you'd rather add someone by name only, you can add a placeholder friend (someone tracked by name, without contact info) from our web app at www.splitwise.com. You can always add their email or phone number later to give them access to your group or friendship.
We recommend against adding a friend using a fake or placeholder email address, as it may belong to a real person or an existing Splitwise account.
