Tip Jar tells you what to tip, in the country you are standing in. If something is not working the way you expect, the answers below cover the questions we are asked most. If yours is not here, email us — a real person reads it.
Contact us
To get a useful answer on the first reply, please include:
- Your app version — open Settings (the gear icon) and read the line at the very bottom, e.g.
Tip Jar · v1.1.2 (6) - Your device and OS version, e.g. “Pixel 8 Pro, Android 16”
- The country and service you had selected when the problem happened
Using the app
Tip Jar has the wrong country
Tap the location box at the top left and choose the right country from the list. Your choice sticks until you change it or ask for a fresh GPS reading.
If you would rather it detect your location again, open the same box and tap Use my location instead.
Why does it say a city I am not in?
When Tip Jar cannot get a GPS fix, it falls back to a representative city for your selected country and labels the reading manual rather than GPS. It is telling you it is guessing from the country, not from your position. Tapping Use my location instead will try again.
Does Tip Jar track or store my location?
No. Tip Jar has no account and keeps no history of where you have been.
When you allow location access, your coordinates are sent once to a third-party reverse-geocoding service (BigDataCloud) purely to turn them into a country name. We do not receive, store, or retain your location, and it is not used for anything else. You can decline location access entirely and pick your country by hand — every feature still works.
The full detail is in the Terms & Privacy page.
Why does the flashlight need camera permission?
On both Android and iOS the torch is part of the camera hardware, so the system requires camera permission to switch it on. Tip Jar never opens the camera, and takes no photos or video. If you would rather not grant it, decline — the rest of the app is unaffected.
Can I see the feature tour again?
Yes. Settings → Show feature tour walks through the main features again from the beginning.
How do I change my home currency?
Settings → Home currency. This is the currency used for the approximate equivalent shown next to local amounts. It does not change the tip.
How do I split a bill?
Tap Split below the total, then set the number of people. Tap Share to send the breakdown to a group chat — it shows the bill, the tip, the total, and what each person owes.
About the numbers
Where do the tipping percentages come from?
From a reference dataset covering 73 countries across 14 service categories, compiled and checked against published sources. Tap Info on any screen to see the local custom behind the number, including whether a service charge is usually added already.
Tipping is a custom, not a rule. Norms vary by city, by venue, and by circumstance, and they change over time. Treat the suggestion as informed guidance and use your own judgement.
The converted amount does not match my bank
It will not, and it is not meant to. The equivalent shown in your home currency is an indicative estimate for orientation only. It uses a daily reference rate and takes no account of your card issuer’s spread, ATM fees, or the merchant’s own conversion.
It also never affects the tip. The tip is always calculated in the local currency of the bill.
Does the app work without a data connection?
Yes, and it is designed to. All tipping guidance is built into the app. With no connection you pick your country by hand and Tip Jar uses the last exchange rates it downloaded, telling you in Settings how old they are.
Ads and cost
Is Tip Jar free?
Yes, entirely free, and supported by a single banner ad at the bottom of the screen. There is no paid tier, no subscription, and no in-app purchase, so there is currently no way to remove the ad.
The banner is advertising another app
That is us. When no ad is available to show, the slot displays a cross-promo for another Diothas Systems app rather than sitting empty.
Something is wrong
The app crashed, or a number looks wrong
Please email tipjar@diothassystems.com with the details listed at the top of this page. If a tipping figure looks wrong for a country you know well, say so and tell us what you would expect — corrections from people on the ground are genuinely useful, and the dataset gets updated.
Requesting a country or service we do not cover
Email us. Tell us the country and the kinds of service you would want covered.