How it works

A guide for the person who keeps the book.

The idea

It is the same book, kept better

You already keep a book. Names down the side, months across the top, who paid and who did not. Incwadi is that book — except it adds itself up, and every member can see their own page.

The money never comes near us. Contributions stay where they always were: your group’s bank account, or the tin. We keep the record, not the cash.

Every month

Three things, a few minutes

Collect

Open Collect. Tap a name when they pay. That is it — one tap records the full amount.

Someone paid part of it? Tap the amount on the right instead and type what they gave. Someone paid for two months? Type the whole amount and it spreads across the months by itself.

Send statements

Go to People and tap Copy all statement links. Paste that once into your group chat.

Everyone taps their own name and sees their own record. They do not need to sign up or download anything.

Pay out

Open Payouts. The person whose turn it is sits at the top, marked next. Pay them the way your group always pays, then tap Paid out.

They then get a button on their own statement to confirm they received it. Until they tap it, your screen says awaiting confirmation.

The rotation

Set once, runs to the end

The order is set one time at the start. Twelve members means twelve turns — one each, month after month, until everyone has had theirs. It does not reset each month.

Two people want to swap turns? Tap the name, then Move up or Move down. Someone behind on their contributions? Move to the back of the queue pushes their turn to the end.

Any change asks you why, and that reason is shown to the whole group. Nothing about the order can be changed quietly.

Mistakes

Nothing is ever deleted

Marked the wrong person? Tap them again and it is undone. But the undo is written as its own line, next to the original. Both stay in the book forever.

This is deliberate. If entries could disappear, the book would only be worth as much as your word. Because they cannot, the book speaks for itself — and that protects you more than anyone.

Disagreements

Settled in the open

If a member thinks a line is wrong, they tap Flag it on their statement and say what they think happened.

You see it as a red bar at the top of your screen. Everyone else in the group sees it on their own statement. You write how it was settled, and that answer stays visible too.

An argument in the group chat scrolls away by tomorrow. A query here sits in front of everyone until it is answered — and the answer stays there afterwards.

Your privacy

What we can and cannot see

We can see how many groups are using Incwadi, how many entries were recorded, and how many members opened a statement.

We cannot see names, amounts, or anything written in a query. Your book belongs to your group.

Ready

Setting up takes about five minutes. You need your members’ names and their phone numbers.

Start the book