Cino

Cino is a shared virtual card built for couples, roommates, and groups who want to split expenses without the back-and-forth of settling up later. Instead of one person covering the full bill and waiting for reimbursement, Cino charges each participant their share immediately when the payment happens. It's a Mastercard debit card issued by the payment partner Checkout SAS and works anywhere you can use Apple Pay or Google Pay.

The fundamental difference from apps like Splitwise is the timing of settlement. Splitwise records who paid what and then calculates who owes whom, leaving a to-do list of money transfers to sort out later. Cino settles the split at the point of purchase: you use the card, it automatically deducts each person's share from their own linked bank account, and the transaction is complete. You never front the cost for others or chase payments afterward.

To start, each participant links their debit or credit card to Cino through Apple Pay or Google Pay. Cino connects to your existing bank account and draws funds directly when you use it, so there's no need to pre-load money onto the card and no account balance to manage. Once your cards are linked, you create a group with whoever you're splitting with: a partner, roommates, friends, or family. Within the group, you set the split ratio, which can be 50/50, 60/40, or any percentage that matches your arrangement. Everyone's split stays consistent until someone changes it, so the ratio is remembered for every transaction.

When someone in the group uses the shared Cino card to pay, the payment is automatically split according to the chosen ratio. If your group has a 50/50 ratio and the bill is £40, your bank account is charged £20 and your partner's is charged £20, all instantly. The app tracks every split transaction automatically, so you have a complete history of who paid, how much, and how it was divided without manually entering anything. This automatic tracking is where Cino differs sharply from Splitwise: you don't add expenses manually, and you don't review and approve transactions. Payment = automatic split = automatic tracking. The service has processed over 5 million bills split across more than 30 countries with more than 300,000 downloads, suggesting significant adoption among European couples, groups, and travelers.

The card exists only in digital wallets and for online purchases, so it's completely virtual. Each group member gets their own virtual card linked to the shared group, and you can use any card in the group to make a purchase. If you're out to dinner with your partner and you pay with your shared card, the split happens immediately. If your partner pays instead, the split still happens the same way based on your group's ratio. No phone calls, no messages back and forth, no mental math of who paid how much for what.

Cino supports flexible split ratios. You can split bills by percentage (50/50, 40/60, three-way splits) or by a fixed amount if that fits your situation better. The ratio can be adjusted before or after a payment, so if you usually split 50/50 but one person is covering a higher share for a particular expense, you can change it temporarily. Each member decides their own ratio and can modify it anytime without waiting for agreement from the group.

For travel, Cino eliminates currency conversion fees. The card uses 0% currency conversion abroad, meaning if you're traveling in Europe or splitting costs across multiple countries, foreign exchange costs won't be deducted from each transaction. This is a genuine money-saver for groups traveling together where someone always ends up handling payments in a foreign currency.

Spending limits are fully configurable. You can set a per-transaction limit, a monthly cap, or both, giving you control over how much the shared card can be charged per purchase. This addresses the concern of shared cards: if one person goes off-budget, the limit prevents the charge from going through unexpectedly.

The app includes a QuickSplit feature for splitting bills with friends or family who don't have Cino. You generate a QuickSplit link in the app and share it with someone outside the group; they add themselves to the bill through Apple Pay or Google Pay, and when you pay, everyone's share is deducted from their own cards. This is particularly useful when splitting a group dinner or splitting one expense with someone you don't share regular costs with.

Pricing is simple and transparent with no subscription. Cino is free for your first 10,000 "Cinos" (transactions or splits), and after that you pay per transaction. The rate is 20 pence per payment, capped at 5 pounds per month in the UK and 5 euros per month elsewhere. If you use the tracking feature for expenses that don't go through the card (cash payments, things paid separately, expenses you want to split after the fact), that tracking is completely free with no limits. So actual card splits are the only paid feature.

Security is a core focus. Cino is fully PCI DSS compliant, meaning it meets the highest payment card industry security standards. Card details are encrypted so neither Cino nor any other party can see or share your card information. Because Cino doesn't hold funds, you're never at risk of a service failure leaving money stuck in an account. Your money stays in your bank account and is only deducted at the point of a transaction. Cino is a bill-splitting tool, not a bank. Each participant maintains complete privacy: no group member can see another member's bank account balance, only their own card balance and spending through the shared card.

Geographically, Cino is available throughout Europe: the UK, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. Residents need UK or EU-issued debit or credit cards to participate. The service is actively working on expanding beyond Europe.

The app is available on iOS and Android and works on mobile, tablet, and desktop browsers. Reviews highlight the automation: couples report no longer needing to send money back and forth after shared purchases, and groups find the instant tracking removes the friction of tallying who paid for what. Because the payment itself completes the split, there's no settlement step, no outstanding balance, and no follow-up required. For couples managing joint expenses, roommates sharing household costs, or groups traveling together, the instant automatic split is a meaningful difference from traditional split-later expense trackers.