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Summary
You could calculate tips and split bills manually, or you could use your iPhone or Apple Watch to do it for you. Here’s how.
Ask Siri to Calculate Your Tip
Let’s start with the easiest way: by asking Siri. Since Apple’s assistant is available on both devices (and your Mac, Apple Watch, HomePod, and so on), this is easy. Just trigger Siri by either saying “Hey Siri” or pressing the Side button (on an iPhone) or holding the Digital Crown (on a Watch) and saying “$45.70 plus 20%.”
verify what you say matches this perfectly, for example " forty-five dollars seventy cents plus twenty percent" and Siri will understand and (hopefully) tell you $54.84. You can follow this up with “divide by three” or however many people are splitting the bill ($18.28 each).
Calculate Tips and Split Bills Using an Apple Watch
watchOS has a built-in feature that lets you calculate tips and split bills in no time. It’s available in the Calculator app and is pretty easy to use.
Start by opening the Calculator app on your Apple Watch. Then, enter the amount of bill you want to calculate the tip on and split. Now, tap the “Tip” button—it’s the one to the left of the divide button.
Next, with the Tip field highlighted in green, turn the Digital Crown up or down to change the tip percentage.
Finally, tap “People.” Then, use the Digital Crown to change the number of people splitting the bill, and you’ll see the split for each person at the bottom of the screen.
Using an iPhone to Calculate Tips and Split Bills
Unlike the watchOS Calculator app, the iOS Calculator app doesn’t have a built-in tip and split feature. As such, you need to use the Calculate Tip & Split shortcut to calculate tips and split bills on your iPhone. For this, first, add theCalculate Tip & Split shortcutto the Shortcuts app library (via theShortcutsGallery website).
Now, open the Shortcuts app. Locate and tap the “Calculate Tip & Split” shortcut to run it. If you don’t see the shortcut, verify “All Shortcuts” is selected in the “Shortcuts” tab.
When you see a prompt asking for the total bill, enter the amount of bill you want to calculate the tip on and split and hit “Done.”
Next, choose the percentage of the bill you’d like to tip.
You’ll now see the tip and the total amount. Hit “OK.”
When prompted with the “Are You Splitting the Bill?” message, tap “Yes.”
Then, enter the number of people you’re splitting the bill with and hit “Done.”
You’ll now get the tip and each person’s share.
By default, the lowest tip percentage you can calculate using the Calculate Tip & Split shortcut is 10%. But if you want, you can edit the shortcut to add 5% or your preferred percentage. To do this, tap the three dots in the top-right corner of the shortcut to open it.
Then, hit “Add New Item” on the “Choose From Menu With” card and type 5% (or your preferred percentage.) Drag it to the top of the list.
After this, hit the search field, search for “Number,” and tap it to add it to the shortcut. It’ll be added to the bottom, so scroll down and drag it below the “Choose From Menu With” card under the 5% action. Tap the field and enter 0.05 (or the equivalent number for your preferred percentage tip.)
Hit “Done” to save the shortcut. You should now see the new tip percentage when you run the shortcut.
While you can run the Tip & Split shortcut from the Shortcuts app, you want it to be more easily accessible, especially if you think you’ll need to use it frequently. There are several ways to do this.
For instance, you couldset double-tap or triple-tap Back Tap gestures on your iPhone to run the shortcut. Orassign the shortcut to the Action Buttonif your iPhone has one. Alternatively, you canput the shortcut on a Shortcuts widget on your iPhone Home Screen.
If you go out to eat regularly with friends or colleagues, knowing how to calculate tips and split bills efficiently can make your life easier. While both methods work well, the ability to do it on the Apple Watch is really impressive since you can get the total split right from your wrist without having to pull out your iPhone every time you want to calculate a tip and split the bill.
