Filed under: WWDC, iPhone, iPod touch
WWDC Demo: two tip calculators
What do Calcutipr and Gratuitous have in common? They are both tip calculators. Yet what seems like a simple thing shows amazing diversity on the App Store, with well over 3 dozen tip calculators available. What makes these two different from the rest? I have no idea, not having tested the dozens of other options available.
But I can tell you choosing a tip calculator has now become largely one of personal preference. Calcutipr (iTunes link), for example, has a sleek and functional interface with lots of options. You can hit a button to round up, for example. Gratuitous (iTunes link), on the other hand, is more "designed" and streamlines functions like splitting a bill. Both do the same thing, but in different ways and with different options. Tip calcs are like shoes: they all do essentially the same thing, so your decision boils down to what you like and what you'll pay. Calcutipr is free and Gratuitous is $1.99, which may make the decision a simple one for some. Both work on iPhone and iPod touch.
I don't know if you'll like either one of these, but they do the job. If you don't like them, you have plenty of other options (iTunes link).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
LD said 2:07PM on 7-10-2009
Has our education system failed so pathetically that people can't calculate a simple tip in their head?
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Matt said 2:09PM on 7-10-2009
No need for a calculator. Just be a good tipper and tip 20% and the math is easy.
$40 meal
40x2 = 80
Move the decimal over one place = $8 tip.
Unless my server is a complete waste of space they get 20%. Serving is not easy, as I learned in my college days.
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sodapop said 8:34PM on 7-10-2009
Dude, I totally a agree. Tip Calculators are for the brain dead. It takes way more time to dig out the phone, find the app, etc than your method or my method.
And those "how much does everyone owe" calculators are for cheapskates.
iomatic said 2:19PM on 7-10-2009
As reiterated, this is really not hard to do this in your head; and doing so is a mite quicker than:
1) getting out your iPhone/iPod Touch,
2) turning it on,
3) and finding a tip calculator,
4) entering numbers.
Really.
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stephen said 2:22PM on 7-10-2009
Whoa with your 20% there Rockefeller - down here in the great state of TX I use 15% as a base. If you suck then it does down from there and if you're great it goes up.
But yeah hehe these tip calc apps crack me up. Can't ....do....math....!
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sodapop said 8:40PM on 7-10-2009
For 15% take 10% of the total, dived by 2 then multiply by 3.
And since we are being cheap, that's 10% of the subtotal, total minus the tax. No point in tipping them for government conscription.
scw said 2:28PM on 7-10-2009
I wrote my (Windows Mobile) one to compute tax - and not tip on it. Not as easy in the head, plus we live in two different tax zones for "prepared food".
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jobbogamer said 2:34PM on 7-10-2009
If you can't be bothered to do it in your head, there's a great, free tip calculator for the iPhone - it's called Calculator, and it shipped with the iPhone! Who would spend money on a tip calc app when you can type $65 * 0.15 into the calculator and have it tell the the *exact* same thing??
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MILE said 2:42PM on 7-10-2009
Can someone please explain to me why Americans seem to be so obsessed with "correct tipping" that we need almost 40 such apps in the Ap Store which break the bill and tips down to the last measly cent…?! I don't get it…
Of course good service deserves a good tip but do you really need to make it exactly 18% of the total then…?!
And how hard is it to to break down a bill when you want to split it with three people and what's the big deal if you round it up a little anyway…?! I just never understood what all that is about…
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ktulaman said 2:47PM on 7-10-2009
Trust me. I hate this 15-20% tipping thing as much as you do. Why not just include the tip in the bill instead of making me figure out what it is. That is why i enjoy eating at Elemental (Seattle) so much because they actually do not accept tip. I like how it works in Europe (at least in Austria and Germany) where tipping is basically rounding up. For example, if my meal costs me $28, i would round that up to $30.
NeilM said 3:12PM on 7-10-2009
"Tip calcs are like shoes"
Wrong — we need shoes.
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BeyondtheTech said 2:58PM on 7-10-2009
I never tip below 15% unless the waiter is a complete jerk. 18% is my norm.
As a developer of one of the 150 tipping calculators on the App Store, I can tell you there's a lot of variety and range of these tip calculators. Mine as well as others includes charts and guides for tipping at various situations and for certain services.
Happy ending? .5 LOL
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Rick Terrill said 2:59PM on 7-10-2009
Thanks to TUAW for featuring Gratuitous! We've lowered the price to $0.99 in celebration :) http://bit.ly/4GnaVx
In response to "just calculate it in your head": if you want to do a simple 10% or 20% calculation, that is easy for a lot of people. When you want to divide it among a party of 7, though, it gets a little harder. We also included an "expense report" feature that emails a copy of the details in response to real business users' needs and feedback.
When you're in a party setting (and especially in a professional setting), our users agree that it's definitely worth a couple of bucks to have a slick looking app that ensures you aren't rounding wrong.
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Rick Terrill said 8:26AM on 7-12-2009
A quick side note: you can see a demo vid of Gratuitous at the Uproar homepage: http://weareuproar.com/gratuitous/
mikehild said 2:59PM on 7-10-2009
Yeah, along the lines of everyone else's "Can't you do math?" comments, I never get why we need a standalone app when the built-in calculator will do the job just as good.
And I agree with ktulaman... if you're EXPECTED to tip, shouldn't that be included in the price of the food to begin with?
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stephen said 3:02PM on 7-10-2009
Frankly, and on a totally unrelated note, I am getting tired of having to give 20% to someone who puts my food on my plate and refills my drink once or twice. I love the Pei Wei counter service style of dining where I place and order and they bring it out to me and I fill my own dam water glass. Sure on some occasions I take the fam to a nice sit down dinner at a very nice place where the waiters swoop and serve with flair and deserve far more than 20%.
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Victor said 4:21PM on 7-10-2009
omg nobody needs damn tip calculator. unless you're ridiculously obsessed with getting exactly a 12% tip. Even tipping 15% is incredibly easy to find. $25. to find 15% just take ten percent of 25=2.50 then divide 2.50 by 2 and add it to the 2.50. 3.25. That's your tip. My mom pulls out her stupid tip card all the time while I proceed to do it in my head in half the time.
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Dave said 1:08AM on 7-11-2009
Exactly. It's not rocket science.
Aaron Berk said 3:32PM on 7-10-2009
I agree with most of the comments, which is why I made Separate Checks (shameless plug, I know). It's purpose is to split a check accurately as oppoed to tip calculation, so you pay for only your portion. Oh, and it can also calculate tip, based on only your portion.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=292998177&mt=8
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don said 5:23PM on 7-10-2009
You people need to get out more.
Here's a good example:
You go social with some people at a bar, the total bill is say $133, with tax.
Your portion comes to $37 before tax.
To get 15% ..
$3.70 + 1/2 of $3.7 = your tip.
Now add your portion of the sales tax, which could be what, 3%? 7%? 14%?
Now do that after a few.
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