Keep Track Of Who Owes What On Your Next Get Together With Billr
Billr: Bill Splitting at the Table ($0.99) by Billr makes it fast and easy to split up a tab between a group at a restaurant or bar.
We all have that moment – we go out with a group of friends or family, have a bunch to eat and drink, and then the bill comes. What do you do? Back in the old days, you’d probably have someone (probably good at math) figure out how much each person owes manually. This can be tedious, especially in larger groups (not to mention they are human and can make a mistake). Well, no more! Billr is a beautiful new app that makes it extremely easy to calculate how much each individual owes.
The app itself is simple and extremely easy to use. The first step involves inputting how many people are in your group – you can use the + and - buttons to go from a party size of two all the way up to 16. It’s fun to watch the number of rainbow-colored silhouettes of people go up, and the typography is excellent.
The second step is Item Entry. Here, you will have multiple columns (depending on how many people you entered) labeled with a letter. Designate a letter to each person, and start inputting the price of their items using the keypad. The nice thing about this is that you don’t need to worry about inputting item names; if you had to do that, then it would be extremely painful. Just get the price, jot it down in the app, and move on to the next item or person.
Once all of the costs have been entered, the tax and tip are calculated. The tax and tip can be adjusted with the + and - buttons, or you can tap on them to enter manual amounts. I didn’t like the fact that tax is only increased every half percent (e.g., 10 to 10.5 and then 11 percent) – I think changing it to every quarter of a percent is better (e.g., 10 to 10.25 to 10.5 to 10.75). With the tips, though, you don’t have to worry – it only uses whole digits, which makes sense.
The final step will show you results, which will reveal the total for each person (item costs, taxes, and tips). The results can then be sent to your group by SMS or email, if they care for a record of it. Then clear the bill and start over the next time.
I found the experience to be quite delightful while testing the app. It’s quick and easy, elegant, and best of all, gorgeous (I absolutely love beautiful apps). I just hope that the developers can change the tax percent increment to a quarter system.
If you find yourself frequently having to figure out how much each person owes on a bill, then make sure to give Billr a try. It’s launching with the limited time price of $0.99, so grab it before it goes up!
