Starting your budgeting journey with Halfway is simple. You don't need to categorize months of old data. Here's exactly what happens:

When you first connect your bank

We import up to 6 months of transaction history to give you a complete picture, but you only need to focus on this month:

• THIS MONTH's transactions go to your Review Queue where you can mark them as Shared or Personal.
• OLDER transactions (from previous months) are automatically marked as "Personal."
• Older transactions are saved for reference only. They do NOT affect budgets or settlements.
• You can always go back and update old transactions later if you want.

Each partner reviews their own transactions

Transaction review is personal and independent:

• You only review transactions from YOUR bank accounts.
• Your partner reviews transactions from THEIR bank accounts.
• You never need to review each other's transactions.

Shared expenses are visible to both partners immediately

Once you mark something as shared, the magic happens:

• When you mark a transaction as "Shared," your partner can see it right away on the dashboard.
• Shared transactions affect the "who owes whom" balance for both of you.
• This works even if your partner hasn't connected their bank yet.

Example scenario

Let's see how this works in practice:

1. User A connects bank on March 15th: They review March transactions. All older months (Jan, Feb) are automatically marked as personal.
2. User A marks groceries and rent as "Shared": These appear on the shared dashboard immediately.
3. User B joins on April 15th: They immediately see User A's shared expenses (groceries, rent) on the dashboard.
4. User B reviews their OWN April transactions: They review transactions from their own bank accounts.
5. Settlement balance reflects ALL shared transactions: The "who owes whom" calculation includes all shared expenses from both partners.

Your budgeting journey starts today. You don't need to categorize months of old data. Focus on this month's expenses and let the shared dashboard bring you both together.

Inviting your partner is the first step to shared financial clarity. Here's how to do it:

1. Go to Settings in the main menu.
2. Select the Members section.
3. Click the Invite Partner button.
4. Enter your partner's email address and send the invitation.

Your partner will receive an email with a link to join your household. Once they accept, you'll both have access to the shared dashboard.

Your dashboard is your financial command center.

The three views

At the top you'll find a switch with three options. It changes every number on the page:

• My Spending: your own personal spending plus your share of everything shared. This is your side of the household.
• Shared: only the expenses you and your partner share.
• Personal: only your own private spending.

The card at the top

Swipe it to move between three summaries:

• At a Glance: your totals for the period and the current balance between you. If it says "You owe," your partner has paid for more of the shared costs than their share.
• Upcoming Bills: what's due next.
• Net Worth: what you own minus what you owe.

Everything below

Budget vs Actual, cash flow, spending comparison, upcoming bills and goals, and Pulse. You can reorder these or switch off the ones you don't use. See Customizing your dashboard.

You can put the sections you care about at the top and hide the rest.

1. Scroll to the bottom of your dashboard and tap Customize dashboard. (It's also in Settings > Display.)
2. Drag the handle on the right of any row to move it.
3. Tap the eye icon to switch a section off. It stays in the list, greyed out, so you can switch it back on later and it returns to the same place.
4. Tap Save changes. Nothing is saved until you do.

Things worth knowing

• Phone and computer are saved separately. You're editing the layout for the device you're on, so you can have a short list on your phone and a fuller one on your computer.
• At a Glance always stays first, and Budget & Accounts can be moved but not switched off.
• It's yours alone. Your layout doesn't change anything for your partner.
• Reset to default puts everything back the way it started.

If you hide a card using its own "Hide this" link on the dashboard, it shows as switched off here too. The two controls are the same setting.

Pulse looks at your spending and surfaces things worth noticing: a category creeping up, a streak you're on, a bill that changed, how this month compares with the last.

It appears as a card near the bottom of your dashboard showing the latest find. Tap it to open the full feed.

• It follows your view. Insights reflect whether you're looking at My Spending, Shared or Personal.
• It needs a little history. Some patterns only appear once there's a month or two of transactions to compare against, so a new account will see fewer at first.
• You can switch it off. Hide the Pulse section from Customize dashboard if you'd rather not see it.

Halfway is fully available in English, Spanish (Latin American), and French. The entire app adapts to your chosen language: dashboard, transactions, budgets, reports, settlements, goals, and even Penny, our AI assistant.

How to change your language

1. Go to Settings → Display.
2. Under Language, select your preferred language.
3. The app will update immediately, with no restart needed.

What changes when you switch to Spanish or French?

• All app text: navigation, buttons, labels, tooltips, and info bubbles.
• Penny AI: ask Penny questions in Spanish or French and she'll respond in that language with proper financial terminology.
• Emails: weekly summaries, monthly reports, and notification emails are sent in your chosen language.
• Push notifications: alert titles are localized.
• Dates and numbers: formatted according to your language preference.

What stays the same?

• Your transaction descriptions: these come from your bank and stay as-is.
• Custom category and tag names: names you create stay as you typed them.
• Help Center: article titles are translated; detailed content is currently in English.
• Partner's language: each partner can choose their own language independently.

We're always working on improving translations. If you'd like to help, reach out to us at hello@meethalfway.app.

Penny is Halfway's built-in AI assistant. You can ask Penny questions about your spending, budgets, and financial habits in plain language.

How to access Penny

Tap the Penny icon in the bottom navigation (mobile) or the sidebar (desktop). This opens a chat interface where you can type or speak your questions.

What you can ask

• "How much did we spend on dining out last month?"
• "What are our top 5 expenses this month?"
• "Are we on track with our grocery budget?"
• "How does our spending this month compare to last month?"
• "What subscriptions are coming up this week?"

How it works

Penny analyzes your actual transaction data, budgets, and goals to provide personalized answers. She does not make up numbers. All responses are based on your real financial data within Halfway.

Language support

Penny responds in the language you have selected in Settings. You can ask questions in English, Spanish, or French.

Privacy

Penny only has access to data within your Halfway household. Your conversations with Penny are private and not shared with your partner.

If you have been using Splitwise to track shared expenses with your partner, here is how to transition to Halfway.

Step 1: Settle up in Splitwise

Before switching, settle any outstanding balances in Splitwise so you start fresh in Halfway. Record the final payment in Splitwise and confirm both partners agree the balance is zero.

Step 2: Create your Halfway household

1. Sign up at meethalfway.app/signup.
2. Invite your partner from Settings > Members.
3. Both partners should enter their monthly incomes in Settings > Household.

Step 3: Bring your history across, or start fresh

You have two options, and neither is wrong.

Start fresh. Log shared expenses from today onwards. If you connect your bank (Premium), transactions sync automatically and there is nothing to import.

Or bring your history with you, free:

1. In Splitwise, export your group as a spreadsheet (CSV).
2. In Halfway, go to Settings > Your Data > Import from Splitwise.
3. Upload the file and confirm which person is you.

Your shared expenses and current balance come across. The import supports two-person exports, which is what a couple's group will be.

Key differences from Splitwise

• Income-based splitting: Halfway splits by income ratio (for example 60/40) instead of just 50/50.
• Bank syncing: No more manual entry for every coffee. Transactions sync from your bank and you just mark them as shared.
• Budgets and goals: Halfway includes shared budgets and savings goals, features Splitwise does not offer.
• Privacy: Personal transactions are invisible to your partner, unlike group expenses in Splitwise.

Most banks let you download your transactions as a CSV file. Halfway reads it and adds them to the account you choose. Included with Plus and Premium, on the web and in the app.

1. Go to Settings > Your Data > Import from a bank file.
2. Pick the account the transactions belong to.
3. Drop in the CSV and check the columns, dates and amounts in the preview.
4. Choose personal or shared, then import.

Good to know

• It covers the last 12 months, up to 5,000 imported transactions per household.
• Anything already in Halfway is skipped, so importing an overlapping file is safe.
• Imports are personal unless you choose shared. Shared transactions older than 30 days arrive already settled, so your settle-up balance stays put. The last 30 days wait in review.
• For a bank-synced account, only transactions older than your first synced one come in.
• Changed your mind? Every import has Undo this import on its result screen.
• Your file stays on your device. Only the transactions you import are saved.

Penny can do more than answer questions. You can ask her to take action on your behalf:

• Log transactions: Say something like "Log $45 for groceries, split shared" and Penny will prepare the transaction for you.
• Create budgets: Try "Create a groceries budget for $600" and Penny will set it up.
• Set savings goals: Ask "Create a vacation fund goal for $3,000" and she'll handle it.
• Add recurring bills: Say "Add a monthly Netflix subscription for $15.99, split shared" to track it.
• Track assets and liabilities: Tell Penny "Add my car worth $25,000 as an asset" for net worth tracking.

You are always in control. When Penny prepares an action, she shows you a confirmation card with all the details. Nothing happens until you tap Confirm. You can also edit the details before confirming.

Privacy stays intact. Transactions created by Penny follow the same privacy rules as everything else. Personal transactions stay private. Shared transactions are visible to both partners.