What's Inside
- Getting started — sign up & log in
- Your home screen at a glance
- Creating your first event
- Event detail — four tabs explained
- Tracking expenses
- Managing people & attendees
- The split summary
- Inviting others to view your event
- Linked events — combined budget view
- Exporting your attendee list
- Marking an event complete
- Beta feedback & support
- Coming soon — what's next
New in this build: Spreadsheet import for bulk attendee add, organizer-only default when creating expenses, remove-from-split with auto-recalculation, Split tab on the home screen, My Split view & savings plan for invited guests, and payment-due notifications.
Revel Tally is a mobile app for iOS that helps you plan events, track every dollar, and split costs among your group — without the spreadsheet chaos.
Creating your account
Download the app
Install Revel Tally from the App Store.
Tap "Create Account"
Enter your full name, email address, and a password (8 characters minimum).
You're in
You'll land on your home screen, ready to create your first event.
Already have an account? Tap Log In and enter your email and password. Your events and data are stored securely in the cloud.
2
🏠
Your Home Screen at a Glance
The home screen is your command center — everything you've planned lives here.
Three tabs
The home screen has three tabs just below the header:
| Tab | What you see |
|---|
| My Events | Events you created. Includes the budget banner, category filter chips, your active events list, and a collapsible Completed section. |
| Invited | Events you've been given access to by someone else. Read-only — you can view budgets, expenses, people, and your personal split share. Tap Leave Event below any card to remove it from your list. |
| Split | A unified view of every event you're financially involved in — both events you own and events you've been invited to. Shows a total banner (Total / Paid / Unpaid across all events) and a card per event with split amounts. Tap any card to go directly to that event. |
Each tab shows a count badge when it has items.
💰
Budget Banner
Shows Total Budget, Total Spent, Total Paid, and Remaining across all your active events (filtered by the selected category). My Events tab only.
🏷️
Filter Chips
Displayed in two rows: Wedding, Bachelorette, Bachelor, Bridal Shower on the first; Trips, Birthday, Corporate, Other on the second. Tap any chip to focus the list on one event type. My Events tab only.
✅
Completed Section
Past events move to a collapsible "Completed" section at the bottom so your active list stays clean.
🎟️
Redeem an Invite
Got an 8-character code from a friend? Tap the ticket icon to enter it and gain read-only access to their event. Available on both tabs.
Header buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|
| ＋ (pink circle) | Create a new event. Only shown on the My Events tab. If a filter is active, that event type is pre-selected. |
| 🎟️ ticket | Open the "Redeem Invite" dialog to enter a shared access code. Available on both tabs. |
| 🚪 door | Sign out of your account. |
My Events tab
Invited tab
Split tab
🔔 Notification bell (floating button)
A floating bell button sits in the bottom-right corner of the home screen and stays visible as you scroll. Tap it to open your notification inbox.
- A rose badge with a count appears when you have unread notifications.
- Tap a notification to act on it:
- Event invite — accepts and navigates to the shared event.
- Link request received — opens your Linked Events screen so you can approve or deny.
- Link request approved / declined — opens your Linked Events screen to see the updated status.
- Tap Mark all read in the notifications screen to dismiss all at once.
Notifications refresh automatically every 30 seconds while the app is open.
3
✨
Creating Your First Event
Tap the pink ＋ button on the home screen to open the New Event form.
Fields to fill in
| Field | Required? | Tips |
|---|
| Event Name | Required | e.g. "Emily's Bachelorette Weekend" |
| Location | Optional | City, venue, or destination |
| Start / End Date | Optional | Use the date picker — tap the field |
| Total Budget | Optional | Enter a dollar amount; shown in the budget banner |
| Number of People | Required | Headcount used for per-person estimates (default: 2) |
| Currency | Optional | Default is USD; change for international trips |
| Description | Optional | Notes, itinerary highlights, etc. |
New Event form
🎨 Appearance customisation
Each event type comes with a default emoji and color theme. Scroll to the Appearance section at the bottom of the form to personalise it:
| Option | Details |
|---|
| Emoji | Pick from 30+ emojis to represent your event in the header and home screen card. |
| Gradient colors | Select up to 3 colors from the palette. Two or more colors render as a gradient header. One color is a solid fill. |
| Cover photo | Tap Pick from Library to use a photo as the event banner background. The gradient is hidden when a photo is active. |
You can also update appearance any time from the event's ⋯ → 🎨 Edit Appearance menu.
Switch to the Expenses tab and tap ＋ Add Expense to log a cost.
Expense fields
| Field | Details |
|---|
| Name | Short label, e.g. "Airbnb — 3 nights" |
| Amount | Total cost; formatted automatically |
| Category | Choose from 20+ categories (venue, flights, hair, cake, etc.) |
| Split method | Equal · Custom percentages · By attendance |
| Vendor | Optional — who you're paying (florist, venue, airline, etc.) |
| Vendor website | Optional — link to the vendor's website, opens in your browser |
| Payment schedule | Choose No dates, a Single due date, or Installments — see below |
| Notes | Any extra details or booking references |
Add Expense form
Category & split selection
📅 Payment schedules — single date vs. installments
Many vendors (venues, caterers, photographers) require a series of payments rather than one lump sum. When adding or editing an expense, select one of three options:
| Option | Use when… |
|---|
| No dates | No due date needed — e.g. a one-off purchase already made |
| Single date | The full amount is due on one specific date |
| Installments | The cost is split across multiple payments — deposit, progress payment, final payment, etc. |
When you choose Installments, you can add as many payment milestones as you need. Each one has its own label (e.g. "Deposit"), amount, and due date.
On the expense detail page, each installment appears in a Payment Schedule card. Tap the circle next to a milestone to mark it paid — it turns green with a checkmark and the amount shows how much of the total has been settled.
Multiple payment installments
⚖️
Equal split
Divide the total evenly among everyone marked as "splitting costs." Best for most shared expenses.
🎛️
Custom split
Assign a specific percentage to each person — useful when the bride or groom pays a different share.
🙋
By attendance
Only attendees assigned to this expense are charged. Great for optional add-ons like spa treatments.
💳
Payment statuses
Each expense (and each share) shows one of three states: Unpaid (nothing received), ◑ Partial (some amount recorded), or Paid (fully settled). Statuses update automatically as you record payments.
📷
Expense photos
Open any expense and scroll to the Photos section. Tap ＋ Add to attach photos of receipts, venues, or anything related. Tap a thumbnail to preview full-screen; tap ✕ to remove.
🔗
Vendor website
Add a website link to any expense (e.g. the florist's booking page, the venue's site, a restaurant menu). Tap 🔗 Visit website on the expense detail page to open it in your browser.
Recording payments
Open an expense and scroll to the Split card. Tap any person's row to expand the payment entry panel:
- Full button — appears when nothing has been paid yet. One tap records the full amount.
- Remaining button — appears once a partial payment exists. Records the outstanding balance.
- Custom amount field — enter any dollar value and tap Record to set the running total paid.
- Mark all as paid — settles every share in the expense at once.
Owner only: Marking milestones paid, recording payments, and editing expenses is restricted to the event owner.
Who is pre-selected when you create an expense
Only organizers are checked by default when you open the Add Expense form. Tap the attendee chips to add others before saving. This prevents accidentally splitting every expense across the entire guest list.
Removing someone from a split
Need to take someone off a specific expense? Tap their row in the Split card to expand it, then tap Remove from split. Their share is deleted, and — if the expense uses an equal split — the remaining amounts are recalculated automatically.
Remove from split
Quick math check: The Overview tab shows a per-person estimate that updates instantly as you add expenses. Use it to sense-check your splits before asking anyone for money.
6
👥
Managing People & Attendees
Go to the People tab and tap ＋ Add (top right) or navigate to People → ＋ Add from within the People tab to open the quick-add form.
Quick-add form
| Field | Notes |
|---|
| Full name | Required. |
| Email | Required if no phone |
| Phone | Required if no email |
| Role | Bride, Groom, Bridesmaid, Groomsman (row 1) · Guest, Vendor (row 2) |
| Splitting costs? | Toggle on/off. Determines whether this person is included in cost splits. |
At least one of Email or Phone is required — the Add button stays disabled until one is filled in.
Add Person form
Duplicate contact detection
When you tap Add, Revel Tally checks whether the email or phone you entered already exists in your contacts. If it finds a match, you'll see a prompt:
We found "[Name]" with this contact info. Is this the same person?
| Choice | What happens |
|---|
| Yes, same person | Reuses the existing contact record — address updates carry across events automatically. |
| No, different person | Creates a brand-new contact with the same email or phone. |
Duplicate contact prompt
📥 Importing attendees from a spreadsheet
Have your guest list in Excel or Google Sheets already? Tap the ↑ Import button (top-right of the People screen) to bulk-add up to 1,000 attendees at once from a .xlsx, .xls, or .csv file.
Tap Show column guide first to see which column names are accepted:
| Column | Aliases accepted | Required? |
|---|
| Name | Full Name, Attendee, Guest Name | Required |
| Email | Email Address, E-Mail | At least one |
| Phone | Mobile, Cell, Telephone, Tel | At least one |
| Role | Type, Attendee Type | Optional |
| Address / City / State / Zip | Street Address, Town, Province, Postal Code… | Optional |
Imported attendees are added with splitting costs turned off by default — go to each person's card on the People tab to opt them in. After import you'll see a summary — how many were added, skipped (already in the event), or failed (missing required info). Skipped rows are never duplicated.
Security: All cell values are sanitized on the server. Formula-injection characters (= + - @) are stripped from the start of any cell, and no macros or embedded scripts are ever executed.
Import column guide
Person detail screen
Tap any attendee card to open their full profile. Here you can view and edit:
- Name, email, phone number
- Full mailing address (Address 1 & 2, City, State, ZIP)
- Role and splitting preference
- Payment status and amount paid
- Per-expense breakdown of what they owe
The Split tab gives you a clean payment dashboard for the whole group. The screen is divided into two tabs: Splitting and Not Splitting.
📊
Collection progress
A progress bar shows how much of the total has been collected so far. Color turns green as people pay.
👤
Per-person cards
Each card shows the person's name, total owed, total paid, and current balance (positive = still owes).
✅
Mark Paid
Tap "Mark Paid" on someone's card to record their full payment in one tap. Their balance goes to $0.
◑
Partial payments
Open the expense → tap the person's share row → enter the amount received. The status updates to ◑ Partial automatically. The badge turns fully green only when the complete amount is collected.
Two tabs — Splitting & Not Splitting
| Tab | Who appears here | What you see |
|---|
| Splitting |
Attendees marked as splitting costs |
Full totals banner, per-person owed/paid/balance cards, Mark Paid button, collection progress bar |
| Not Splitting |
Attendees not included in the cost split (guests, vendors, observers) |
Name, role, email or phone contact — no financial figures. Useful for keeping track of who is attending without expecting payment. |
Each tab shows a count badge so you can see at a glance how many people fall into each group. To move someone between groups, go to the People tab, tap their name, and toggle Splitting costs on or off.
8
✉️
Inviting Others to View Your Event
Share read-only access to your event with anyone — bridesmaids, family, co-planners — without giving them edit permissions.
Sending invites (organizer)
Open the ⋯ menu on your event
Tap "✉️ Invite Attendees". Tap ✕ in the top-right to close this screen at any time.
Choose a delivery method — ✉️ Email SMS coming soon
Email invites are available now. SMS inviting is coming soon.
Add each invitee and tap "Add"
- Email — enter an email address and an optional name.
Tap "Send Invitations"
How the invite is delivered depends on whether the person already has a Revel Tally account:
- Existing account — they receive an in-app notification instead of an email or text. No spam, instant delivery.
- New to the app (email) — they receive an email with their unique 8-character access code.
- New to the app (SMS) — they receive a text message with their access code.
All sent invites are listed at the bottom of the screen with their delivery method and status (Pending / Redeemed).
Invite Attendees screen
Redeeming an invite (guest)
If you already have an account — check your notifications
Tap the 🔔 floating bell on the home screen. The invite notification will be waiting — tap it to accept and open the shared event directly.
If you're new — download the app and sign in (or create an account)
Tap the 🎟️ ticket icon on the home screen
Enter the 8-character code from your email or text message (e.g. AB3X7QNP). Tap Redeem.
The event appears under the Invited tab
You can view the budget overview, expenses, and people list — but cannot make changes. To remove the event from your list later, tap Leave Event below the card on the Invited tab.
Redeeming an invite code
Lost your code? Ask the organizer to check the Invite Attendees screen — all codes are listed there and can be shared again manually.
9
🔗
Linked Events — Combined Budget View
Planning both a bachelorette weekend and the wedding? Link them to see a combined financial picture in one place.
How to link events
Open your primary event → ⋯ menu → 🔗 Linked Events
Tap "Link an Event"
Search for another event you own, or request a link to a public event owned by a different user.
View the combined summary
The Overview tab now shows a "Combined" card below the primary budget — total budget, total spent, and remaining across all linked events.
Combined budget view
Cross-user links: If the other event belongs to a different user, they'll receive a link request notification and must approve it before the events are connected.
Link request notifications
All three link request events trigger in-app notifications:
| Notification | Who receives it | What to do |
|---|
| New link request | Target event's owner | Tap to open Linked Events and approve or deny |
| Link request approved | Requester | Tap to open Linked Events and see the new connection |
| Link request declined | Requester | Tap to open Linked Events |
Incoming link request
Outgoing request pending
Canceling an outgoing link request
Changed your mind before the other organizer responds? In the Linked Events screen, scroll to the Pending Approvals section and tap Cancel Request on the relevant row. A confirmation prompt will appear before the request is withdrawn.
11
✅
Marking an Event as Complete
Once the event is over and all payments are settled, archive it to keep your home screen tidy.
How to archive
Open the event → ⋯ menu → ✅ Mark as Completed
A green "Completed" badge appears on the event card.
The event moves to the "Completed" section on your home screen
Tap the "Completed (n)" header to expand and revisit past events any time.
Changed your mind?
Reopen the event → ⋯ menu → 🔄 Mark as Active to restore it.
Nothing is deleted — completed events and all their data are preserved. You can always view history, re-export the attendee list, or reference past budgets.
These features are in the current build and rolling out to testers now. Screenshots will be added as they stabilise.
💸 Split tab — home screen
A new Split tab sits next to My Events and Invited on the home screen. It gives you a single view of every event you're financially tied to:
- Summary banner — Total, Paid, and Unpaid summed across every event you own or are invited to.
- Organizer cards — your own events show total expenses, collected, and outstanding amounts, plus how many people are splitting.
- Invited cards — events you were invited to show your personal share, how much you've paid, and what remains.
- Tap any card to jump straight into that event.
Split tab
👤 My Split tab — invited events
When you open an event you've been invited to, a new My Split tab (4th tab) shows only your personal share:
- Your Split card — total owed, amount paid, and remaining balance with a progress bar.
- Your Expenses — only the expenses you're splitting, with due dates and payment status.
- Savings Plan — if the event is more than two months away, set up a personal monthly payment plan. Choose how many months to spread payments over and pick a start month. The plan shows a full month-by-month schedule.
- Monthly reminders toggle — when creating or editing a savings plan, turn on Monthly reminders to receive an in-app notification each month showing the exact amount to set aside that month.
My Split tab
Savings plan setup
Monthly reminders toggle
🔔 Payment-due notifications
Get reminded before any expense or payment milestone is due. Two levels of opt-in:
- Global reminders (Notifications screen → ⚙️ gear icon → Enable Reminders) — covers all your expenses at once, or a specific selection you choose.
- Per-expense reminders — two entry points depending on how the expense is set up:
- Payment schedule expenses — tap the 🔔 bell icon in the Payment Schedule card header.
- Single due-date expenses — a 🔔 bell appears inline next to the due date. Press and hold to preview the current reminder status (e.g. "3d before due" or "No reminder set"), then tap to configure.
- Choose how many days in advance to be notified (1–30 days).
- Each payment schedule milestone generates its own reminder.
Reminder settings
Per-expense bell
Single due-date bell
Bell tooltip
💬 Native SMS invitations
After sending invitations, an Open SMS button appears for any phone-number invites. Tapping it launches your phone's native messaging app with the invite message and access code pre-filled — ready to send in one tap.
- No third-party messaging service required — the invite goes out as a regular text from your own number.
- Works on both iOS (Messages) and Android (Messages / default SMS app).
- The access code and event name are already typed for you; just hit Send.
Open SMS button
📊 Your share — organizer Split tab
Organizers now see their own cost breakdown directly on the event's Split tab — the same view invited members already have:
- Your Share card — total owed, amount paid, and remaining balance with a progress bar.
- Per-expense rows — every expense you're personally splitting, with due date and payment status badge.
- Appears as a second stats row on organizer cards in the home screen Split tab when you have an outstanding balance.
Your Share card
Home screen split row
You're one of our first testers — your feedback directly shapes what we build next. Here's how to help:
🐛
Report a bug
Note what you were doing, what you expected, and what actually happened. Screenshots are gold.
💡
Suggest a feature
Tell us what's missing from your planning workflow. No idea is too small.
📸
Screenshot it
A screenshot or screen recording with a note saves us hours of debugging.
⭐
Tell your friends
Know someone planning a wedding or group trip? Share your invite code with them!
Error messages: If something goes wrong — a save fails, a network request times out, or required info is missing — the app will show a popup with a description of what happened. If you see an error you don't understand, screenshot it and send it to us.
Get in touch
Email us directly at martine@revel-tally.com with feedback, bugs, or questions. We read every message and typically respond within 24 hours.
Quick-reference cheat sheet
| I want to… | Where to go |
|---|
| Create an event | Home → ＋ (pink button) |
| Add an expense | Event → Expenses tab → ＋ Add Expense |
| Add a person | Event → People tab → ＋ Add (name + email or phone required) |
| Import attendees from a spreadsheet | Event → People tab → ↑ Import (top-right) |
| Remove someone from an expense split | Event → Expenses → tap expense → tap person's share row → Remove from split |
| See who owes what | Event → Split tab |
| Mark someone as paid | Event → Split tab → Mark Paid |
| Invite a friend to view | Event → ⋯ → ✉️ Invite Attendees (choose Email or SMS) |
| Redeem an invite code | Home → 🎟️ ticket icon (or tap the in-app notification if you have an account) |
| Leave an invited event | Home → Invited tab → Leave Event (below the card) |
| View my notifications | Home → 🔔 floating bell button (bottom-right) |
| See who is not splitting costs | Event → Split tab → Not Splitting tab |
| Set a single due date on an expense | Add/Edit Expense → Payment Schedule → Single date |
| Set up installments on an expense | Add/Edit Expense → Payment Schedule → Installments → add milestones |
| Mark an installment as paid | Event → Expenses → tap expense → Payment Schedule card → tap the circle next to the milestone |
| Export the guest list | Event → ⋯ → 📋 Export Attendee List |
| Archive a finished event | Event → ⋯ → ✅ Mark as Completed |
| Link two events together | Event → ⋯ → 🔗 Linked Events |
| Cancel a pending link request | Event → ⋯ → 🔗 Linked Events → Pending Approvals → Cancel Request |
| Edit event details | Event → ⋯ → ✏️ Edit Event |
| Customise event appearance | Event → ⋯ → 🎨 Edit Appearance |
| Add photos to an expense | Event → Expenses → tap expense → scroll to 📷 Photos |
| Link to a vendor's website | Event → Expenses → tap expense → ✏️ Edit → Vendor Website field |
| Record a partial payment | Event → Expenses → tap expense → tap person's share row |
| Sign out | Home → 🚪 door icon |
| See split summary across all my events | Home → Split tab |
| View my personal share on an invited event | Home → Invited tab → tap event → My Split tab |
| Set up a savings plan for my share | Invited event → My Split tab → Set Up Payment Plan (event must be 2+ months away) |
| Enable payment reminders for all expenses | Home → 🔔 → ⚙️ gear → Enable Reminders → All expenses |
| Enable payment reminder for one expense | Event → Expenses → tap expense → 🔔 bell in Payment Schedule header |
