Tip Calculator‰ vs SaferCar
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tip Calculator‰
Easily calculate accurate tips while dining out or on the go. This straightforward tool focuses on reliable calculations, cutting out unnecessary features for a quick and user-friendly experience.
- Accurate tip calculations
- User-friendly interface
- Quick calculations
- Basic reliable calculations
- No frills design
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This tip calculator is simple and user-friendly. It's perfect for calculating accurate tips while dining out and great for quick calculations while in a hurry. This App does away with the frills of other tip calculator apps and provides basic reliable calculations that satisfy customer and server alike.
SaferCar
Stay informed about automotive safety recalls directly from the official source. Enter your vehicle's VIN or details about tires and car seats to receive background notifications for any safety recalls affecting your owned equipment. Access NHTSA's 5-Star Safety Ratings and car seat tools.
- Vehicle recall notifications
- VIN entry for multiple vehicles
- Recall alerts for tires and car seats
- NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings
- Car seat installation tools
- Background operation for alerts
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SaferCar is your connection to automotive safety recall information directly from the official source—the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Every year, NHTSA manages millions of recalls affecting vehicles, tires, car seats and related equipment. SaferCar will notify you about any safety recalls affecting your vehicle or equipment as long as you leave it running in the background. With the SaferCar app, you can: • Enter a vehicle identification number (VIN) for as many vehicles as you own. Your virtual garage will accept VINs for cars, trucks, vans, SUVs, motorcycles and more. • Enter any related automotive products you own that could be subject to safety recalls, like tires, car seats and trailers. • Opt-in to receive notifications on your mobile device for each of the vehicles and products you’ve entered. • Know you’ll be better informed should any recall impact your vehicle or related equipment. • Check out NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings, and our online car seat tools that help you find the right seat, understand ease-of-use and check to make sure it’s installed correctly. • Know that NHTSA will never store or share your user data. To protect your privacy, NHTSA doesn’t store your device or VIN information on a server in order to send you a notification when a new recall is issued. This means SaferCar needs to run in the background so it can check for recall updates periodically from your device. If you force quit SaferCar, immediately reopen the app. From Apple: You should force an app to close only if it’s unresponsive.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Tip Calculator‰ at 71% against SaferCar's 21%. Tip Calculator‰ also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.8) and ratings volume (9.1K vs 117). SaferCar's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 15 months). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Tip Calculator‰ holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tip Calculator‰ has 9.1K ratings behind it against 117, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Tip Calculator‰'s written reviews are positive against 21% of SaferCar's.
Tip Calculator‰ ships an update every 15 months, SaferCar every 6 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Tip Calculator‰ | SaferCar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (9.1K ratings) — better | 2.8 (117 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 70.7% of reviews — better | 20.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 9.1K — better | 117 |
| Update frequency | Every 15 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #198 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 34 MB | 71 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tim O's Studios, LLC | NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION |
Customer experience
Tip Calculator‰
SaferCar
User reviews
Tip Calculator‰
From 9.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🚀 Quick and accurate calculations
- 💡 Customizable tip percentages
- 🚀 Saves time compared to manual calculations
- 👍 Helpful for those not good at math
Room to improve
- 🐛 Ads interfere with usability
- 🐛 Ads cover the entire screen, making the app unusable
- 🐛 Defaults to 20% tip, should have option to change default
- 🐛 Slider to adjust tip percentage not working on some devices
- 🐛 Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
SaferCar
From 117 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✅ App recognizes valid VINs
- ✅ Recall information is useful
- ✅ Barcode scanning works sometimes
- ✅ App updates quickly
- ✅ Good for tracking recalls
Room to improve
- ❌ VIN lookup errors
- ❌ Vehicle selection limited
- ❌ App crashes frequently
- ❌ Requires app to be open
- ❌ Poor user interface
Bugs and requests
Tip Calculator‰
Reported bugs
3 issues- Defaults to 10% tip and won't let user change it
- Switches to Japanese ads that can't be closed
- Full-screen ads that can't be dismissed
Requested features
3 requests- Split bill functionality
- Rounding up/down option for tip
- Paid ad-free version
SaferCar
Reported bugs
58 issues- VIN Lookup Error
- App crashes on opening
- App freezes after prompts
- App won't open with iOS 14
- App flickers and disappears
Show 53 moreShow fewer
- Initial load stuck on 'what's new' pop-up
- App crashes repeatedly
- App won't launch
- App instantly closes
- VIN entry fail is persistent
- Cannot scan VIN
- Too many characters in VIN message
- VIN already in use error
- Recall details not accessible by tapping
- App shows incorrect vehicle year
- Search tool broken, fixed list only
- Cannot add second car
- VIN not recognized
- Models not available
- Cannot find VIN entry option
- App doesn't work after iOS 14 update
- App crashes when trying to launch
- App stops working with iOS 14
- App crashes upon launch
- Database not up to date
- VIN not recognized for motorcycle
- Cannot add vehicles or devices
- Home icon doesn't direct to home page
- App doesn't take VINs
- VIN lookup fails every time
- Backend problem prevents VIN submission
- Cannot add older vehicles
- VIN entry fails
- App doesn't find truck
- App can't find any vehicles from VIN search
- App cannot find camper van VIN
- App crashes on opening
- App doesn't work
- App crashes repeatedly
- App won't open
- App crashes when trying to launch
- App crashes
- App doesn't work after iOS 14 update
- App crashes when trying to launch
- App stops working with iOS 14
- App crashes upon launch
- Database not up to date
- VIN not recognized for motorcycle
- Cannot add vehicles or devices
- Home icon doesn't direct to home page
- App doesn't take VINs
- VIN lookup fails every time
- Backend problem prevents VIN submission
- Cannot add older vehicles
- VIN entry fails
- App doesn't find truck
- App can't find any vehicles from VIN search
- App cannot find camper van VIN
Requested features
12 requests- Allow searching for any vehicle recalls, not just owned ones
- Remove vehicle tracking limit
- Allow users to write notes for vehicles
- Adjust notification times
- Improve VIN barcode auto-identification
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Allow VIN identification from cropped photos
- Improve contrast and placement of 'add vehicle' button
- Add a 'My Garage' section that doesn't replace the home screen
- Allow adding more than one vehicle
- Enable VIN pasting
- Server-side recall checking for privacy
- Allow users to search for any vehicle recalls, not just owned ones
In-app purchases
Tip Calculator‰
No in-app purchases
SaferCar
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Tip Calculator‰ free?
Is SaferCar free?
Which has better reviews, Tip Calculator‰ or SaferCar?
Do Tip Calculator‰ or SaferCar have ads?
Which is updated more often, Tip Calculator‰ or SaferCar?
Other comparisons
