Our Verdict
Withnearly 20 iPhone apps for figuring out tips and burst restaurant hitch , you ’d think iPhone owner were high-risk at maths . And perhaps some are . But there are metre when such apps can number in handy for even the math - loving among us — I’m often postulate to figure out how to burst a complex vizor , fairly , between a large radical of people .
A few week back , my colleague Dan Moren review Tipulator ( ) , which lets you enter a confidential information percentage and the number of people in your political party , cater you with a dewy-eyed per - person contribution . I recently took a look atiHarwood.com’s$1Meal Splitter v2 ( v2.1 ) , which takes a similarly - simple approach , but with a few extra selection .
Like Tipulator , Meal Splitter does n’t attempt to figure out precisely how much each person ’s food and drink monetary value , instead using a variation of the “ water parting by the phone number of mass ” approach . This is plainly less accurate , but it ’s often good enough when din out with a grouping of friend or kinsfolk . To apply Meal Splitter , you just enter the total food broadside , the number of people eat , the local tax charge per unit , and the hope tip per centum . But Meal Splitter includes a bang-up feature that will appeal to non - alcohol - drinkers , who often end up subsidize the libations of their fellow diners : extra field of study for the total drink bill and the number of hoi polloi salute . The app then provides separate per - person amounts for drinkers and non - drinkers .
( you could also use the Drink field for other items ; for example , if only half of your group consumed appetiser , you could enter the cost of the appetizers and the number of people who feed them . )
you may employ Meal Splitter as a simple pourboire reckoner by inputting just the full flier and the wind percentage ; however , if you ’re paying the tip one by one from the banknote , you ’ll need to manually subtract the food and wassail amount from Meal Splitter ’s entire bill field . ( A field displaying the tip amount would be useful . ) On the other paw , Meal Splitter see out the tip pre - tax , the fashion it ’s supposed to be calculated ; several similar iPhone apps fuck this up .
Meal Splitter ’s interface looks positively go out liken to most iPhone apps , and its number - entry system feels awkward at first . You use Previous and Next buttons to cycle through the various discipline , tap the onscreen issue digs to enter the appropriate digits in each . I often found myself pink on a field to choose it , which ensue in , well , nothing . Yet I ’m not conk to criticise Meal Splitter for this non - received ( for the iPhone ) approach , because in this instance , it crop well . For an app like Meal Splitter , all you ’re doing is introduce number — no letters or other characters — into sequential fields . In such a linguistic context , the now - familiar “ iPhone way ” of entering content — dab on a athletic field , then choose the character(s ) to enter , then wiretap Done , then tap on the next field of operations , and so on — is awkward . ( As Dan Moren pointed out in his review of Tipulator , get to “ reel ” onscreen dial is even spoiled . ) My only beef here is that I bid the buttons were labeled with up and down pointer rather thanPrevandNext .
In other words , do n’t allow Meal Splitter ’s show fright you away . The graphics wo n’t win any awards , and the red number used for the final total can be unmanageable to take , but the turn - entry organisation is very efficient once you remember to stop beg in field .
Meal Splitter permit you determine nonremittal economic value for the number of drinkers , the number of non - drinker , the tax rate , and the crest percentage . One restriction here is that the number lodgings that appear when entering the default revenue enhancement share does n’t include a decimal button , preventing you from entering a fractional taxation rate — for example , the sales - tax charge per unit is 8.25 pct here in the San Francisco Bay Area . ( The developer tell me this will be fixed in a future update . ) In increase , in what is becoming an unfortunate drift ( thanks to easy - misunderstood developer guidelines from Apple ) , these options are n’t located within the app itself ; instead they ’re line up in the iPhone ’s options app .
Features I ’d wish to see in a future version of Meal Splitter include an choice for a bulge - up calculator for the Food and Drink W. C. Fields so you could add up individual items when necessary . ( This would also make it easier to use the Drinks field for other items not ingest by everyone . ) Also useful would be a button to illuminate all field ; you presently need to manually delete field contents or , or else , quit the app and relaunch it . at long last , I find that when Meal Splitter rive the tax and tip between people , it does n’t take into account the conflict in contributions between drinkers and non - drinker ; it splits them equally between the total phone number of citizenry . This may make sense for the tip , but it results in inaccurate per - person tax contributions .
Meal Splitter is a practical bill - splitting and crown - calculating app that should appeal to people who regain the usual approaches to divvying up a group ’s restaurant bill — dividing it evenly , or figuring out down to the cent how much each person owe — too extreme . It ’s particularly utile for non - drinker , as it gives them an well-off ( and non - controversial ) style to avoid subsidizing the group ’s grog . Meal Splitter ’s user interface is n’t pretty , but its simple approach path to number launching works well . On the other hired man , the app has a few minor shortcomings , and there are a few feature I ’d like to see in a future update . Still , at just a sawbuck , it ’s flashy than paying for part of a piña colada you did n’t even drink .
Meal Splitter is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.0 software update .
[ Senior editor in chief Dan Frakes covers low - price software system in the Mac Gems blog . ]
