The 7 Best Apps for
Tipping on the Go

Exploring other cultures and customs is one of the richest rewards of traveling, but sometimes we need a little help to make sure we’re doing the right thing.

The good news: You no longer need to agonize over how much to tip! The days of fretting about being a cheapskate under-tipper, or a cluelessly extravagant tourist, are over. There’s an app for that!

Both the Google Play store and the iPhone App store offer dozens of options for tipping apps. Some emphasize international travel, and each sports a variety of bells and whistles including texting totals to dining companions, allowing for discount coupons, and offering extensive info on local customs.

Now you can tip in Europe and beyond, with confidence! We’ve rounded up seven popular tip calculators for the traveler. After a little research, download a couple of calculators to try out before you embark on your next trip. Your best calculator app choice may depend on your destinations as well as your travel and dining style. These tip calculator apps can make dining in groups, at home as well as abroad, a much more pleasant experience by making per-person-totals easy to calculate.

Keep These Tipping Tips in Mind When You’re on the Road:

• Ask your guide for advice on local customs     
• Check the bill to see if service is included
• Tipping in cash is always preferred
• Tip in local currency

Tipping in Europe

Best Free Apps for Android Phones and iPhones

Gratitude Tipping

Android and iPhone (Available for Ipad)
By Enjay Training Ltd.
Free

With its attractive aesthetic featuring wood grain and a vintage typewriter font, you won’t be embarrassed to use this with kids or grandkids in tow. Location services identify what country you’re in to access corresponding local tipping customs, and the app also works offline. A mini travel guide for each country offers a must-try dish and a few other travel tips along with translations of the basic niceties like please and thank you. Food, drink, taxi and porter services are included.

Tip N Split Tip Calculator

Android and iPhone
By Handy Apps
Free with paid upgrade

If you dine where sales tax is added to the bill, the Pro version of the Tip N Split Tip Calculator makes it easy to tip on the pre-tax total. Other features include quick real-time rounding up and down on any value. Tipping guides for a few countries are included, including the US, Australia, The Bahamas, Canada, China and more. Frustrated reviewers say the free version is bogged down by ads.

Gratuity

iPhone and Android
By MrEngineer13
Free

Gratuity expands beyond the standard dining, drinking, and porter to include barber, bellhop, concierge, casino and more. Users can rate service from poor to awesome, which automatically changes the percentage according to user’s pre-sets. Dining totals and tips can be split among any number of diners. Users can change the default to round totals or tips.

Best Free Apps for Android Phones

Tip Me

Android
By nilknarf
Free

Tip Me lets users split the bill according to what each person ordered. Users can enter the names of their dining companions for easier tracking. Got a coupon? Tip Me can calculate the correct pre-coupon tip. Custom fonts and an analog look recalling an old-fashioned order pad contribute to a fun aesthetic. Optional easy reset is available by simply shaking the phone. This ad-free app requires no permissions.

Restaurant Tip & Split Calculator

Android
By Starflower Solutions
Free with paid upgrade

Restaurant Tip & Split Calculator is a straightforward answer to the dilemma of how to calculate tips. A one-touch switch to turn on the flashlight makes it easy to read menus and bills in dark restaurants. Send text messages to dining companions noting their share of the bill, including the specific tip percentage added. Slider bars allow easy adjustment of tip percentage and number of people you are sharing with. The app can be moved to the SD card to maximize phone memory.

Best Free Apps for iPhones

GlobeTips-Travel Tips

By levgenii Lebid
iPhone
Free with paid upgrade

This thorough tipping app includes written tipping guides to 249 countries. The upgraded version converts local currency into your currency of choice and accesses full tipping guides for each country. A bill recognition function allows your camera to read the total, and simple sliders enable users to adjust tip percentages and share among up to 16 diners. Clean, uncluttered interface and large lettering make this a simple tip calculator that’s easy to use.

Tipster

By Fueled
iPhone
Free

This app doesn’t calculate tips, but catalogs tipping customs in over 206 countries and territories, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Customary percentages are listed for each of six service roles: hotel bellhop, waiter, bartender, barista, taxi driver, and tour guide. Local currency names and symbols help visitors get acclimated. Users who accept push notifications get the local tipping guide when they arrive in a new country.