Money you share, with room for what's yours

What it does

Most households run on shared money: a joint account, a family card, bills that everyone depends on. Yet many money apps are built for one person, so couples end up sharing a password or keeping two apps that never agree.

In Kemback, the household is the starting point. Everything you add (accounts, categories, budget, bills, rules) belongs to a household, and each person in it has their own sign-in and a role. It suits couples, families with teenagers, roommates splitting the bills, and anyone helping a relative with their money.

How it works in Kemback

When you sign up, Kemback creates a household with you as its owner. From Members, an owner invites someone by email and chooses their role. The invitation is a single-use link that expires after seven days, and only the email address it was sent to can accept it, so a forwarded link won’t let anyone else in. Open invitations are listed, and an owner can revoke one.

Every member sees the household’s shared accounts. When anyone adds an account, they can tick Private: only I can see this account. Other members then see neither the account nor its transactions. The budget is shared, but each person’s activity comes from the transactions they can see, so a private card’s spending counts in its owner’s view of the budget and nobody else’s.

Alerts and the weekly summary are personal too: each member chooses their own.

Roles

• Owner: everything, including inviting people, changing roles and removing members. A household always keeps at least one owner; the last owner can’t be demoted or leave.
• Editor: adds and changes accounts, transactions, budgets, bills and rules.
• Viewer: can look, but not change anything.
• Advisor: can look, but not change anything; meant for an accountant or financial planner.

A role change takes effect straight away. A teenager who has been a viewer can become an editor; an advisor can be removed when tax season is over and invited again next year.

When someone leaves

A member can leave, and an owner can remove a member, who then loses access immediately. Kemback asks first and says what will happen: the person’s private accounts move with them into a new household they own. Private data is never left behind or shown to the people who stay. Shared accounts remain with the household, and anyone who needs a copy of the shared history can export it before they go.

Who changed what

Shared money raises a fair question: who changed this? The Activity page lists the household’s membership and account changes (invitations sent and revoked, members joining, leaving or being removed, roles changed, accounts added or moved), each with its date and time and the member who made it.

The log is tamper-evident. Each entry is chained to the one before it with a hash, so editing or deleting an old entry would break the chain, and the page shows whether the history verifies.

Kept apart from everyone else

Your household’s data is isolated from every other household twice: by the application, and again by the database itself, so a mistake in one layer still can’t show one household’s data to another. To anyone outside it, a household that isn’t theirs looks exactly like one that doesn’t exist. More on how Kemback protects your data.

Where it runs

Households work in any browser at kemback.com and in the iPhone app, which is in beta, so each member can check the shared accounts from their phone. The Free plan includes a household of two; larger households are planned for the Plus plan. See pricing.

For a step-by-step setup, read share finances with your household. For couples deciding what to combine, joint, separate or both talks through the options.

Questions

Can my partner and I share one budget for free?

Yes. The Free plan includes a household of two, with shared and private accounts and roles. Larger households are planned for the Plus plan.

Can I keep an account private from my partner?

Yes. Tick Private when you add the account. Other members see neither the account nor its transactions, and its spending counts only in your own view of the budget.

Can I give my accountant read-only access?

Yes. Invite them as an advisor (or a viewer). They can read the household's shared data but can't change anything, and an owner can remove them at any time.

What happens if someone leaves the household?

They lose access immediately, and their private accounts move with them into a new household of their own. Shared accounts stay with the household.

Can I belong to more than one household?

Yes. You might have your own and a parent's whose bills you help with. Each has its own accounts, budget, members and roles, and you switch between them from the Household menu.