# Making Cents — Calculate purchases easily!

> Simplified money and purchase calculator with life skills applications for learning about money. (iPhone/iPad app by Michael Patini.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/making-cents/id1661972911 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Michael Patini](https://appshunter.io/developer/1661850603)
- Category: Education, Finance
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.78/5 from 9 App Store ratings · 3 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16.1 · 1 MB
- Languages: English
- Released: 2023-01-04
- Data updated: 2026-06-11
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/making-cents/id1661972911/reviews.md

## What is Making Cents?

Making Cents is a simplified money/purchase calculator with life skills applications. It was designed for students with special needs in mind, but it is also good for kids learning about money and sales tax. Input how much money you have, add together the prices of what you're purchasing, apply tax, and view the result! Lets you see if you have enough money for a purchase when tax is added to what you want to buy. It has large visual buttons: Start Over, Erase (separately erases the Have or Buy), Have, Buy, Tax, +, -, and =.
Simply Enter 
    * How much money you have
    * Cost of what you want to buy
    * Press Tax 
    * Get your results — Can you afford the purchase or not?
Visual, audio, kinesthetic, and tactile features
    * Visual — Vibrant colors, green thumbs-up & red thumbs-down
    * Audio — When tapped, talking buttons tells you how much money you have, how much you want to buy, green thumbs-up says “you have enough money” and red thumbs-down says “you don’t have enough money.”
    * Kinesthetic & Tactile — Touch screen activated, touch buttons or words.
Settings 
    * Easily set or change the tax rate for your city or county 
    * Turn on/off voice (defaults to on)
    * Remembers last settings 
    * Can reset tax to default 8%

## Key features

- Purchase cost calculation with tax
- Visual feedback (thumbs-up/down)
- Auditory feedback for buttons and results
- Customizable tax rate
- Large, easy-to-tap buttons
- Supports iPhone and iPad

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Tip a Burrito | $12.00 | one-time |
| Tip a Coffee | $5.00 | one-time |
| Tip a Chocolate | $2.00 | one-time |


## Recent user reviews (3 of 3)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/making-cents/id1661972911/reviews.md

### 3/5 — healthiest longest living family established water lake side established breakfast sandwich ever inv

*2025-05-03*

I I’m birthday couples

### 5/5 — Makes things simple and easy :)

*2023-01-11*

I love how convenient this app is, saves me the trouble of adding things up myself and it’s really easy for me to see if I have enough money for my purchase!

### 5/5 — Super convenient way to verify your purchase!

*2023-01-06*

Easy to use, and helps me teach my son how to add taxes to purchase! Love it

## Frequently asked questions about Making Cents

### What is Making Cents used for?

Making Cents is a simplified money and purchase calculator designed to help users, especially students, understand how much money they have, the cost of items, and if they can afford a purchase after sales tax is applied. It provides visual and audio feedback to aid learning.

### Is Making Cents suitable for children?

Yes, Making Cents is rated for ages 4+ and is designed to help kids learn about money and sales tax. Its large visual buttons and auditory feedback make it user-friendly for younger learners.

### Can I customize the tax rate in Making Cents?

Yes, you can easily set or change the tax rate within the app's settings to match your city or county's tax rate. The app also allows you to reset the tax to a default of 8%.

### Does Making Cents have ads?

No, Making Cents does not contain advertisements. It is a free app with optional in-app purchases.

### What devices does Making Cents support?

Making Cents is available for both iPhone and iPad devices, offering a consistent experience across Apple's mobile platforms.

### How does Making Cents track progress?

Making Cents focuses on immediate calculation feedback rather than long-term progress tracking. It provides instant visual and audio cues to confirm if a purchase is affordable.

### What makes Making Cents good for special needs students?

The app incorporates visual, audio, kinesthetic, and tactile features, such as vibrant colors, talking buttons, and touch-activated elements, to cater to diverse learning styles and needs.

### When was Making Cents last updated?

Making Cents was last updated on July 24, 2023, with version 1.2. It was initially released on January 4, 2023.

## Version history (last 3 releases)

### 1.2 — 2023-07-24

We've added a tip jar and a rate-this-app popup.

### 1.1 — 2023-01-05

Bug fixes

1. Calculator would interpret buy and have numbers with commas (1,000 and higher) incorrectly.

2. Decimal point would sometimes persist when it should have disappeared, sometimes resulting in a number like "3." or sometimes like "3.01." instead of "3" and "3.01"

### 1.0 — 2023-01-04

No release notes.

## More apps by Michael Patini

- [Stillness +](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stillness-plus/id6445855375)

All apps by Michael Patini: https://appshunter.io/developer/1661850603

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-11.*