Household & Shared Finances

Mistos lets you open a calm, read-only window into your finances for the people you trust — a partner, a parent, or the whole family — while every number stays yours to change.

How-To Guides

How to invite someone to your household

Sharing gives a partner or family member a clear, read-only window into your finances — without them being able to change a thing.

1. Open the Household page.
2. Find the Invite a member card. It shows how many slots you have left.
3. Type their email address in the box.
4. Choose a role from the dropdown (Viewer is perfect for most people).
5. Click Invite. You'll see "Invite created — share the link below."
6. Your invitation now appears under Pending invites.
7. Click Copy link — the button flashes "Copied" — and send it to them however you like.

✨ Good to know: Anyone you invite can only look, never touch. Your data stays yours.

How to cancel a pending invite

Changed your mind before someone accepts? You can pull an invitation back at any time.

1. Open the Household page.
2. Go to your Pending invites list.
3. Find the invitation you'd like to withdraw.
4. Click the X on that row. You'll see "Invite canceled."

💡 Tip: The link stops working the moment you cancel, so there's no rush and no risk.

How to change a member's role

Every person you share with starts as a viewer. Bump them to Contributor when you'd like their help keeping transactions organized.

1. Open the Household page.
2. Find the person in your Members list.
3. Open the role dropdown next to their name.
4. Choose Viewer or Contributor · Premium. You'll see "Role updated."

✨ Good to know: A Viewer sees everything and changes nothing. A Contributor (Premium) can also add collaborative tags and notes to your transactions — labels that sit alongside your data and never overwrite your own categories, amounts, or anything else.

How a contributor tags and annotates transactions

If someone makes you a Contributor in their household, you can help keep their transactions tidy without changing their numbers.

1. On the Household page, click View on their household.
2. Open Transactions — you'll see their ledger, and the top banner reads · contributor.
3. Click the tag icon at the end of any transaction row.
4. Add one or more tags, write a note, then click Save.

✨ Good to know: Your tags and notes are additive — they show for the whole household and land in the owner's activity feed, but they never change the owner's categories, amounts, or anything else. Viewers can see tags and notes but can't add them.

How to accept an invite someone sent you

Someone shared their household with you? Joining takes just a moment.

1. Open the link they sent you. It brings up a You're invited page.
2. Read the What you'll see panel so you know exactly what's being shared.
3. If you're already signed in, click Accept invite. You'll see "Joined the household."
4. If you're signed out, click Sign in to accept (or create an account first). You'll land right back here to finish.

✨ Good to know: The invite page reminds you plainly: "Read-only — you can't edit anything." You're a guest, not an editor.

How to view a household that's been shared with you

Once you've joined, you can switch into someone else's household to take a look around.

1. Open the Household page.
2. Find their household under Shared with you.
3. Click the gold View button.
4. Your app now shows their numbers. The row updates to "Active" with an eye icon.

⚠️ Heads up: You can view one shared household at a time. Switching to another simply swaps which one you're looking at.

How to remove a member from your household

If someone no longer needs access, you can revoke it in a couple of clicks.

1. Open the Household page.
2. Find the person in your Members list.
3. Click the trash icon on their row.
4. Confirm when you're asked "Remove this member from your household?" You'll see "Member removed."

How to leave a household you've been sharing

If you no longer need to see someone else's finances, you can step away whenever you like.

1. Open the Household page.
2. Find their household under Shared with you.
3. Click the X on that row.
4. Confirm when you're asked "Leave this household? You will lose read access to their data." You'll see "Left household."

✨ Good to know: If you were actively viewing that household, leaving stops the view for you automatically.

How to see who owes whom

When you split bills with your household, Mistos keeps a running tally so nobody has to do the math.

1. Open the Household page.
2. Scroll to the Household Bill Splitting card and its Standing Balances list.
3. Read each person's line: "All settled up!", "You owe [Name]", or "[Name] owes you."
4. For the details behind those totals, look at the Unsettled Splits list — each entry shows the description, date, the total, and your share.

✨ Good to know: A green "+" means someone owes you; a soft terracotta "−" means you owe them. If no one's linked yet, you'll simply see "No household members linked yet…"

How to record a settlement (Premium)

When a balance has been paid or received in real life, this clears it out in one step.

1. Open the Household page and go to Standing Balances.
2. Find the person with an open balance.
3. Click Record Settlement on their row.
4. Read the confirmation, which shows the amount you paid or received.
5. Click Clear Balance. You'll see "Settlement recorded! Standing balance with [Name] cleared."

✨ Good to know: Recording settlements is a Premium feature. If it's not available yet, you'll see "Settling up is part of Misto's Premium" — head to the Upgrade screen whenever you're ready.

How to review your household's recent activity

Mistos keeps a gentle, plain-language log of what's happened, so nothing feels like a surprise.

1. Open the Household page.
2. Scroll to the recent activity list.
3. Read through the events — invites sent, people joining, role changes, and removals — each with a friendly timestamp like "2 hours ago."

💡 Tip: This list only appears once there's something to show, so a blank space simply means all's quiet.

Frequently Asked Questions

"Can the people I invite change my data?"

Mostly no. Everyone you share with gets read-only access to your accounts, budgets, goals, and tax vault — they can't edit, add, or delete your transactions. The one exception is a Contributor (Premium): they can attach collaborative tags and notes to your transactions, which are additive labels that never change your own categories, amounts, or balances. Viewers can't even do that. Your data stays yours.

"Why can't I invite more people?"

On a free account, you can share with one partner for read-only access. Once that seat is taken, you'll see a gold banner and the message "Free households hold one partner. Upgrade to invite up to six." Premium raises your household to six members and unlocks contributor roles and settle-up. You can make the switch anytime from the Upgrade screen.

"Why is Contributor greyed out when I try to choose it?"

The Contributor · Premium role is reserved for Premium households, so it's disabled until you upgrade. A contributor can tag your transactions and add notes — collaborative labels that never change your own categories — while a viewer simply looks. To grant that, visit the Upgrade screen.

"My invite link expired — now what?"

No worries — links don't last forever, and that's a safety feature. If a link has expired or been canceled, opening it shows "Invite unavailable" with "Invite not found or expired." Just ask the person who invited you to send a fresh link from their Household page, and you'll be able to join.

"I tried to record a settlement and it wouldn't go through — why?"

The most common reason is that settling up is a Premium feature; if so, you'll see "Settling up is part of Misto's Premium," and the Upgrade screen has you covered. If you're already on Premium and see "Failed to record settlement," don't worry — nothing was changed. Give it another try in a moment.