Scan a receipt to split a bill: how it works

How does a receipt scan split a bill?

EvenOut Pro reads the photo, lists the items, and shares each item among the people you choose. Here is one scan from photo to saved expense, using a Thai dinner for three. Say Maya, Leo and Sam get this receipt:

• Pad Thai, $16.00 (Maya)
• Green curry, $18.00 (Leo)
• Fried rice, $14.00 (Sam)
• Spring rolls, $9.00 (all three)
• Thai iced tea, 2 at $6.00, $12.00 (Leo and Sam)
• Mango sticky rice, $14.00 (Maya and Sam)

The subtotal is $83.00. Tax is $6.64, which is 8%, and the tip is $16.60, which is 20% of $83.00. The total is $106.24.

What does the scan read?

It reads the store, the date, the currency, every line item, the subtotal, the tax, the tip and the total, and it suggests a category. You do not type any of that.

What are the steps from photo to saved expense?

1. Open the scan. Use “Scan a receipt” under Account, the “Scan” button on Add expense, or Quick add, which opens when you long-press “Add expense”. On a free account these open the “EvenOut Pro” page instead.
2. Take or choose the photo. Tap “Take photo” or “Choose from library”. The screen reads “Reading your receipt…”.
3. Say who had what. Every item starts split equally among the people on the expense. Tap an item to split it “Equally”, “Exact”, “Percent” or “Shares” among the people who shared it.
4. Review. The review shows Items, Tax, Tip and Total.
5. Save. Tap “Save itemized expense”. “Scan another” is there for the next receipt.

What does each person pay?

Left alone, every item splits equally, so the $106.24 total is $35.41 each, with one person covering the extra cent. After you tap each item, the totals move to match who ate what.

Person	Items	Tax and tip	Total
Maya	$26.00	$7.28	$33.28
Leo	$27.00	$7.56	$34.56
Sam	$30.00	$8.40	$38.40
Together	$83.00	$23.24	$106.24

Each person’s items are the sum of their own dishes plus their share of the shared ones. Maya has $16.00 + $3.00 + $7.00 = $26.00. Leo has $18.00 + $3.00 + $6.00 = $27.00. Sam has $14.00 + $3.00 + $6.00 + $7.00 = $30.00.

Tax and tip follow the items in proportion. Here tax and tip together are 28% of the subtotal, so each person pays 28% on top of their own items: $26.00 × 0.28 is $7.28, and so on. Sam pays $38.40, about $3 more than the default, because he had the most.

What can’t you change after the scan?

Scanned items cannot be edited, and the receipt image is not kept. You can change who shares an item, but not its name or price. The photo goes through EvenOut’s server to Google’s Gemini to be read, after its location metadata is stripped. Scanning needs a connection.

Receipt scanning is one of EvenOut’s two paid features, along with the assistant, at $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year. The server answers “EvenOut Pro required” to a free account. Scans and the assistant draw on the same usage allowance.

What should you check before you tap Save?

Because items cannot be edited, check the review against the paper first. Five things can go wrong on any scanner:

1. The total. The review total should equal the printed total, $106.24 here.
2. The tax line. It should equal the printed tax, $6.64. A tax line misread as a dish would be split like a dish.
3. The tip. Count it once. If the paper already prints a gratuity or service charge, the Tip on the review should be what you actually paid, not that plus a second tip.
4. The quantities. A line for two iced teas should show what both cost together, $12.00, which is $6.00 for each drinker. A line that counts $12.00 per drink would double it.
5. The discounts. A coupon or a comped dish lowers the amount charged, so the review total has to match what hit your card.

If any of the five is off, do not save. Scan again, or enter the expense by hand.

Is there a free way to split by item?

Yes, with “By item”, which is free but typed by hand. Pick “By item” in the “How to split” sheet and add a line per dish, with the price and chips for who had it. Each line splits evenly among the chosen people. The items must add up to the expense total, so tax and tip go in as items too. A single tax line shared by everyone splits equally instead of in proportion. EvenOut does not show each person’s total while you build it, so work the numbers out first, as in the table above.

As of October 2026, Splitwise lists receipt scanning and itemization among its Splitwise Pro features.

What should you do next?

Try one real receipt next time the group eats out. How to split a receipt by item covers the manual way with tax and tip, and the unequal split calculator checks your arithmetic. To see how the options compare, receipt splitter apps lists them side by side.