Privacy Policy - TippingUSA App

Last updated: August 1, 2026 · Operator: Dean / TippingUSA ( https://tippingusa.net)

This policy covers the TippingUSA mobile application for iOS and Android (the “App”). The App is a tipping calculator. It is separate from the tippingusa.net website, which has its own website privacy policy. Where this policy refers to “we” or “us,” it means the app’s author - Dean / TippingUSA.

Summary

• Your bill amounts, tip choices, and calculator settings stay on your device.
• We do not create an account for you, and we do not run our own servers that receive your tip calculations.
• If you leave Fetch exchange rates enabled, the App may contact a third-party rate service (Frankfurter) to obtain a conversion rate for the currency you select. That request does not include your bill or tip amounts.
• The App is free and is supported by ads through Google AdMob (banner, inline, and interstitial formats). The ad SDK runs in the App and may collect an advertising identifier, your IP address, and other device data for ad delivery. You can remove ads with a one-time in-app purchase. See Advertising below.

Information stored on your device

The App stores your preferences and recent calculator inputs locally using the operating system’s on-device storage (UserDefaults on iOS, SharedPreferences or DataStore on Android). This typically includes:

• Calculator state - selected tipping category, bill amount, tip amount or percentage, tax mode, tax-location choices, split and quantity settings.
• Currency settings - display currency, any manual conversion rate you enter, and cached exchange rates.
• Rate-fetching settings - whether fetching is enabled and how often it refreshes.
• A “last calculation” summary, used so the App can restore your previous inputs when reopened.
• Your remove-ads purchase state - a record that you’ve unlocked the ad-free upgrade. The purchase itself is handled by Apple’s App Store or Google Play (see In-app purchase); the App only stores whether the upgrade is active.

This information exists only to operate the App on your device. Deleting the App removes this local data, subject to how the operating system manages app data. You can also clear the on-device exchange-rate cache from the App’s Settings.

We do not receive or store your bill amounts or tip calculations on TippingUSA servers.

Network requests

Exchange rates (optional)

When Fetch exchange rates is enabled and you select a non-USD display currency (or refresh rates), the App may request a rate from the Frankfurter API:

• Endpoint host: api.frankfurter.dev
• Purpose: obtain a USD-to-selected-currency reference rate for display conversion
• What is requested: the currency codes needed to compute the rate - not your bill, tip, category, or any other calculator input
• Storage: the returned rate and its timestamp are cached on your device only

You can turn fetching off in Settings and enter a rate manually, or read current rates on the website’s currency rates page. If a request fails (no network, service unavailable, and so on), the App keeps using a previously cached rate or your manual rate.

Frankfurter is operated by a third party. Its public documentation states the API itself does not collect personal data; the public service may run behind infrastructure (such as Cloudflare) that processes standard technical request data - like IP address, date and time, and the request URL - as part of delivering the response. See Frankfurter’s documentation and privacy information at https://frankfurter.dev/.

Advertising (Google AdMob)

The App is free and is supported by ads through Google AdMob (the Google Mobile Ads SDK). Ad formats include banner and inline placements, plus interstitials - full-screen ads shown on transitions such as moving between the main screen and Settings, pressing Reset, or opening the Share sheet. Interstitials are rate-limited with a cooldown of at least two minutes between showings. When ads are shown, the ad SDK runs inside the App and communicates with Google to request and display ads. This data exchange is handled by the SDK and Google’s infrastructure - the app author does not receive it. The SDK automatically collects and transmits certain device data for ad delivery, advertising analytics, and fraud prevention, which may include:

• An advertising identifier - the Android advertising ID or iOS IDFA - used to deliver and measure ads, and to perform cross-app advertising where applicable.
• Your IP address, which can be used to estimate the device’s approximate location.
• Device and account identifiers (for example, app set ID) and other technical details about your device.
• Crash and diagnostics information about the App and the SDK, such as launch time and hang frequency.
• Product interaction related to ads, such as app launches, taps, and video views.

This data is transmitted to Google over an encrypted connection and is used for advertising purposes. It does not include your bill amounts, tip choices, or other calculator inputs - those never leave your device. Google handles this data under its own policies; see Google’s Privacy Policy, its advertising privacy practices, and the Mobile Ads SDK data disclosure.

On iOS, accessing the advertising identifier (IDFA) triggers Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt, which asks for your permission before the advertising ID is used for tracking. If you grant permission, ads can be more relevant and may be part of cross-app advertising; if you decline, ads may still appear but in a less personalized form, and the advertising ID is not available for tracking. On Android, the advertising ID can be reset or deleted in your device’s system Settings.

Consent in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland. In those regions the App uses Google’s User Messaging Platform (UMP) to show a consent request before serving personalized ads. If you decline that consent, the App can still show non-personalized ads (or no ads, depending on your choice in the consent form); it does not then use the advertising ID for personalized advertising. You can change your consent choice later from the App’s Settings.

You can remove ads entirely with a one-time in-app purchase (see In-app purchase), which stops the ad SDK from serving ads.

In-app purchase (Pro)

The optional Pro upgrade is a one-time in-app purchase that removes ads. The transaction is processed entirely by the platform’s store - Apple StoreKit / App Store on iOS, Google Play Billing on Android - and the app author never sees or stores your card number or other payment details (the App Store and Google Play disclose payment info under their own policies, not this one). The store gives the App only an entitlement confirmation that the purchase is valid, which the App stores locally to hide ads and to restore purchases (via StoreKit on iOS, Google Play Billing on Android) after a reinstall or on a new device. Because payment is handled by Apple’s and Google’s systems, no payment information is transmitted to the app author.

Links to tippingusa.net

The App may open pages on https://tippingusa.net (for example the full tipping guide or the currency rates page) using the system browser - in-app Safari (SFSafariViewController) on iOS or Android Custom Tabs. Those visits are governed by the website privacy policy and the site’s ordinary server logs - not by this App’s on-device calculator storage.

Sharing

If you use the system Share sheet, you choose where the content goes (Messages, Mail, Reminders on iOS, or SMS, email, and other targets on Android). The App prepares the share text on your device; the destination apps and services have their own privacy practices.

Third-party SDKs and services in the App

The table below lists the components in the App that can transmit data off your device, and the role each plays. The only off-device transmission by the App itself is to these services; the app author does not run a separate analytics or crash-reporting SDK.

The App does not ship a separate analytics or crash-reporting SDK (such as Firebase) that reports back to the app author. The only SDK that transmits off-device data is Google’s ad SDK, and that data goes to Google, not to the app author.

What we do not do in the App

• No user accounts or sign-in.
• No app-author-run analytics or crash-reporting SDKs that report back to us. The full list of components that can transmit data off your device is in the SDK table - and of those, the ad-related data goes to Google, not to us.
• We do not sell your personal information. Note that, when personalized advertising is enabled, the AdMob SDK does share advertising identifiers for cross-context advertising, which some privacy laws treat as a “share” or “sale” even though we receive no payment for the data itself.
• Your bill amounts, tip choices, and calculator inputs are never transmitted off the device by us - not in the ad request, not in the rate request, nowhere.

Children

The App is a general-audience utility and is not directed to children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children through the App. AdMob advertising is configured for a general audience, not the “child-directed” treatment that COPPA (which applies to children under 13) and Google’s TFCD setting define. If a child in your care uses the App, you can remove ads with the in-app purchase or use your device’s parental controls to restrict ad personalization.

Data retention

Local App data remains on your device until you clear it (where the App provides a control), change it, or delete the App. Cached exchange rates remain until cleared, overwritten by a newer fetch, or removed with the App.

Your choices

• Disable Fetch exchange rates and use a manual rate.
• Clear the rates cache in Settings.
• Reset calculator inputs in the App.
• Delete the App to remove its on-device data.
• Restrict the App’s network access in your device’s system Settings if you prefer it never reach the internet.

Choices that affect advertising:

• Remove ads with the one-time in-app purchase - this stops the ad SDK from serving ads.
• On iOS, decline the App Tracking Transparency prompt (or reset it in Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking) to withhold the advertising identifier.
• On Android, reset or delete the advertising ID in Settings (Privacy → Ads), or opt out of ad personalization.
• Manage ad personalization across Google services in your Google Ad Settings, including opting out of personalized ads entirely.
• In the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, change your advertising-consent choice from the App’s Settings, or reset ATT in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

International users

When you use rate fetching, the App contacts Frankfurter’s servers; when ads are shown it contacts Google/AdMob; and when you open site links it contacts tippingusa.net - all of which may be hosted in countries other than your own. Standard internet routing and hosting locations apply to those requests. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, the App asks for your advertising consent through Google’s User Messaging Platform before serving personalized ads (see Advertising).

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the App after an update means you acknowledge the revised policy.

Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy or the App can be sent to privacy@tippingusa.net. Website: https://tippingusa.net.