The Handy iPhone Trick To Use Next Time You Go Out To Eat

These days, it's a given that when you leave your home, you'll want to have your mobile phone in your possession. It's a highly important tool that can help you do important tasks like provide you driving or public transit directions and even maybe help you find a parking spot (and remember its location). It lets you instantly touch base with the people you'll be meeting and document your meetups via photo or video, which you can then share on social media later on.

Are you on your way to a restaurant to eat? You may even be able to pay for your meal with your phone as long as you have a digital wallet set up and the establishment accepts digital payments. If you happen to own an iPhone, on top of having access to Apple Pay, you'll also have the ability to perform other incredibly useful money-related tasks. Once you're done dining out and are getting ready to pay, you can use your iPhone to figure out how much to include as a tip.

If the restaurant you visit provides you a receipt that already includes a range of gratuity percentage suggestions at the bottom, then tipping shouldn't be super hard to do. However, if sample tip amounts are absent from your bill, you'll have to either rely on your ability to accomplish fast mental math calculations or fiddle with your phone's calculator app. On an iPhone, however, you have an added option of using Siri to tell you exactly how much to reward your server. Here's what you do, provided that you've already set Apple's virtual assistant up on your device:

1. Wake up Siri by saying "Hey, Siri!" or long-pressing the side button on the right side of the iPhone.
2. When Siri's bubble appears onscreen, say, "What's the tip?"
3. Give Siri the total check amount when it asks, "How much is the bill?"

Once you give Siri your total amount, a Calculator app card should show up onscreen with a recommended tip up top, followed by the new total amount. By default, Siri will suggest an 18% tip, but if you want to give a different amount, a list below detailing totals for 15%, 18%, and 20% tip amounts will be provided as a guide.

Alternatively, if you already had a tip percentage in mind, you can simply ask Siri something like, "What's 30% of 78.45?" The virtual assistant will give you the resulting tip, but you'll have to add it to the bill's current total, either through mental math, adding on the receipt, using the Calculator app, or by asking Siri again.

Siri's tip-calculating feature also works on select foreign currencies, in case you want to use the shortcut while traveling abroad. However, if you're not sure what to call the money used where you're visiting, just say " dollars" — tip suggestions should still be the same regardless of where you are eating. Do note that it is highly recommended to look up a country's tipping culture prior to traveling. Some countries may have mandatory tips in the form of an already included service charge — in which case, additional tipping will no longer be necessary — while others discourage the practice completely as restaurant owners may already compensate employees for exceptional service.

If you often eat out, consider creating an iPhone shortcut via the Shortcuts app that'll calculate the tip for your given bill amount. By default, the shortcut is set to suggest 12%, 15%, 18%, or 20% tips, but you can edit the Calculate Tips shortcut to add in your own preferred percentage.