GlobeTips vs ExploreIRL
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
GlobeTips
This app provides tipping advice for over 200 countries, offering precise guidance for various situations. Features include bill scanning for automatic calculation, check splitting, and tax exclusion, making it easy to tip appropriately worldwide.
- Tipping guide for 240+ countries
- Bill scanning for automatic calculation
- Check splitting
- Tax exclusion
- Automatic country detection
- Service-based tipping
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"...and you don't have to be a math genius, which we love..." - NBC's Today Show "...this app’s tipping advice for more than 200 countries, from Afghanistan to Zambia, which make it the most comprehensive of the global tip calculators..." - Travel+Leisure Magazine It's always best to tip appropriately in each and every situation. GlobeTips will give you precise advice on how to tip adequately in a specific situation in 240+ countries. GlobeTips includes a lot of features such as bill scanning that simply calculates everything for you and automatically applies geo-location based advice, handy check-splitting, results up rounding, tax excluding, full tipping guide for all countries, etc. •••••• SUMMARY LIST OF FEATURES: • Bill/Check recognition for automatic tip calculation • Tip guide for 240+ countries and regions • Automatic country detection • Possibility to divide tips among number of people • Service-based tipping • Tip calculation excluding sales tax • Automatic currency detection • Possibility to observe split bill and tip amount per person • Tip rounding to whole number • You can also remind, copy and share a bill. Give it try!
ExploreIRL
Turn your city into a deck of adventure cards with real-world challenges. Complete tasks, earn miles, and collect moments with photos. Play solo or with friends, with no account required.
- Real-world challenge cards
- Trivia and multi-step adventures
- Collect completed cards and photos
- Earn miles and level up
- Play solo or with a crew
- No account required for basic play
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ExploreIRL turns a city into a deck of cards. Open a pack for where you are — or for your own town — and it deals you a hand of real-world challenges. Go do them. Complete a card and it is yours to keep, filed in your collection with the Miles you earned and, if you want, a photo of the moment. WHAT'S IN A PACK CHALLENGES — go and do something specific in the real world. Some carry a bonus objective worth doing properly. TRIVIARUSH — test what you actually know about where you are, and find out what you didn't. Answer straight on the card. DUBDAREZ — the big ones. Bolder, multi-step adventures for Explorers who came to actually do something. HOW IT WORKS Finish a card and another is dealt, so the deck lasts as long as the trip does. Nothing expires. A pack you own is yours permanently, and closing out a trip never locks it — every card, Mile and Moment stays exactly where it is. Not going to happen? Some cards genuinely aren't — the place is closed, the weather turned, it isn't safe. Use an 86 to veto it and get a replacement dealt straight away. You get three free on every adventure. KEEP THE MOMENTS Attach a photo to any card you complete and it becomes a Moment, filed with that card and that destination. Your Passport tracks your Miles, your Level and everything you've collected. PLAY YOUR WAY — TOGETHER Solo, or with the people you're actually with. Add your Crew, split into two teams, name them and build a badge. Every card credits whoever earned it, the standings move as you play, and a lead change gets called the moment it happens. Call it when you're done and the winner gets the ceremony. Your Passport Miles are always your own — the team score never touches them. There is no timer, no streak to maintain, and nothing to lose by putting it down for a month. NO ACCOUNT REQUIRED Play the whole game without signing in. Your cards, Moments and progress stay on your device unless you choose to create an account, and the only reason to create one is so a lost phone doesn't mean a lost adventure. We use limited analytics to understand how ExploreIRL is being used and improve the experience. Analytics may include interactions such as destinations and cards played, and which challenges are started and completed, so we can provide a better UX, but we do not send names, emails, photos or precise location through our analytics. ExploreIRL does not use an advertising SDK, IDFA or cross-app tracking. PLAY SMART, STAY SAFE, FOLLOW LOCAL LAWS.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: ExploreIRL at none against GlobeTips's shown. ExploreIRL also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 4 months) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). GlobeTips's advantage is ratings volume (664 vs 2) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.4). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. GlobeTips sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and ExploreIRL sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
ExploreIRL holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: GlobeTips has 664 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of GlobeTips's written reviews are positive against 100% of ExploreIRL's.
GlobeTips ships an update every 4 months, ExploreIRL every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | GlobeTips | ExploreIRL |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (664 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 664 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 1.0 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Ievgenii Lebid | David Wieland |
Customer experience
GlobeTips
ExploreIRL
Bugs and requests
GlobeTips
Reported bugs
4 issues- Video ad trial unlock not functioning
- Full version purchase not unlocking content
- Missing hotel staff tipping information across countries
- Inconsistent data availability for some countries
Requested features
8 requests- Update US tipping recommendations to reflect current standards (18-20%)
- Allow flexible tipping percentages (16%, 17%, 18%, 19%, 21%, etc.)
- Subtract state tax from bill before calculating tip
- Add rounding feature for tip and total amounts
- Include hotel staff tipping recommendations
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- Rename favorite countries feature
- Reduce pricing for country-specific unlocks
- Fix video ad trial unlock system
ExploreIRL
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
GlobeTips
- Unlock Tips Content$14.99
ExploreIRL
- BOSTON$4.99
- DALLAS$4.99
- ROME$4.99
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- SEATTLE$4.99
- PHILADELPHIA$4.99
- ATHENS$4.99
- PRAGUE$4.99
- ATLANTA$4.99
- CAIRO$4.99
- ExploreIRL All Access$99.99
Questions
Is GlobeTips free?
Is ExploreIRL free?
Which has better reviews, GlobeTips or ExploreIRL?
Do GlobeTips or ExploreIRL have ads?
Which is updated more often, GlobeTips or ExploreIRL?
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