Upgrades

An upgrade adds four things to a bill, for whoever runs it: receipts read past the free reads each month, texts sent by TabApp, reminders that send themselves, and receipt photos kept for good. Nothing anyone needs to take part is ever upgraded: joining, claiming, seeing what you owe, paying and confirming, every split, every currency, tabs and exports are the same on every bill. Upgrades are sold only where TabApp offers them. Where it does not, there is nothing to buy, no offer is shown, and every bill has all four.

What an upgrade costs, and who pays it

An upgrade goes on the bill as one line, TabApp upgrade, shared evenly by everyone on the bill. It comes after the service, tax, tip and discount, so none of them is worked out on it. The person who bought it paid for it by card, so it is owed to them like the rest of the bill. Everyone on the bill, a guest included, sees the line, who bought it and their own part of it before they pay.

• The price. Every offer on a bill or a tab says, before you press it, what it is each and for how many people. For one bill it grows with the people on it, and is fixed once it is bought: someone who joins later shares the same line.
• Who may buy. The organiser, or someone owed money on the bill. A guest, or someone who only owes, is never offered one. TabApp installed from an app store shows no offers.
• On a bill that is Ready for payment. Everyone's share grows by their part. Someone who had already paid up owes their part, shown as its own row under what they owe.
• A settled bill, or a closed tab. Cannot be upgraded. Whoever paid a settled bill may be offered a 5-pack for the bills to come.

Packs and passes

• One bill. Bought from the bill it upgrades, and used on it at once.
• 5-pack. Five credits that do not expire. Each upgrades one bill and puts a smaller line on it than one bill costs. Spend one from any offer with Use a 5-pack credit, or switch on Use a credit on every bill I start under Upgrades.
• Weekend pass. Three days from when you buy it: every bill you start or upgrade in them is upgraded. Bought for a tab, it covers every bill added to that tab in its three days, by anyone.
• Tab pass. Bought for a tab by whoever runs it: every bill in the tab is upgraded for good, including bills added or moved in later, and the tab's own Reminders that send themselves, in its settings, can run. Its price is one line on the tab, shared by the people on it and listed in the tab's Bills with a star. The bills in it carry no line of their own.

A bill that was upgraded stays upgraded, whatever happens to the credit or the pass afterwards.

Where upgrades are offered

• Scan a receipt. Past the free reads, once the photo is framed, Read this receipt for you? offers to upgrade the bill, or to use a credit or a pass you hold, and Type the items instead, which keeps the photo on the bill. See Scan a receipt.
• Text someone, and Remind. For someone with a phone number, Send from your phone is free and first; Text from TabApp offers the upgrade beneath it where the bill needs one. See Reminders, and forgiving an amount.
• The Pay step. Reminders that send themselves, under Ready for payment, says what it costs each person.
• A bill's settings. Above the photos, how long they are kept once the bill is settled, with Keep them for good until then. See The gallery.
• A tab. Upgrade this tab in the tab's settings, and the same offer opening by itself when the third bill is added, and once more at the seventh.
• Start something. Starting a second bill within a day offers a 5-pack, unless you already hold a credit or a weekend pass.
• A settled bill. Whoever paid it is offered the next five bills, at most once a week.
• Settings. Upgrades, under More.

Home, the Bills and Tabs lists, Search, invite links and the sheet you pay someone from never show an offer.

How to buy an upgrade

1. Press the offer's button, such as Upgrade this bill. It names the price, and the offer says what that is each.
2. Pay on the checkout page that opens. The price includes VAT, and nothing is added to it. Terms of sale is under every offer.
3. You come back to where you were. An upgrade for a bill or a tab puts its line there, and on Scan the receipt is read as soon as the payment reaches the bill. A 5-pack or weekend pass bought from Start something, a settled bill or Settings is held on your account, under Upgrades.

How to undo an upgrade

1. Open the bill's Pay step, where the TabApp upgrade row is. For a tab's pass, open the tab's settings instead.
2. Press Undo on the row. Only the person who bought it sees it.
3. The line comes off, and your card is refunded in full.

Undo is there until the upgrade is first used on the bill or tab: a receipt read past the free reads, a text sent, or a reminder sent by itself. After that it stays. Where pressing the offer uses the upgrade at once, as on Scan, there is no Undo, and the offer says Starts now. Deleting a bill does not refund it. A pack or pass you have not used is refunded in full if you ask through Contact, at the foot of Settings, as the terms of sale say.

Upgrades in Settings

Open Settings, then Upgrades, the first row under More. It shows:

• What you hold: your credits left, each pass in use and until when, and Use a credit on every bill I start, which upgrades each bill you start with your weekend pass while it runs, or else a credit.
• Buy ahead: the 5-pack and the weekend pass, at their whole price, since there is no bill yet to share them.
• Upgraded bills: each bill you upgraded, what it put on the bill, and what it was upgraded with, such as "£0.60, a 5-pack credit".

Worked example: Maya upgrades Luigi's

Maya has Tom, Priya and Alex on Luigi's Trattoria, and has used this month's three free receipt reads. She presses Scan a receipt from Add to this bill and frames the photo. The offer opens: Read this receipt for you?, "£0.25 each", with "£1.00 for the bill, shared by 4" beneath. She presses Upgrade this bill for £1.00, pays, and the receipt is read.

On the Pay step the bill's total is 78.66, and the TabApp upgrade row reads "Even among all 4, paid by Maya", 1.00. Maya now owes 18.95, Tom 28.74, Priya 19.50 and Alex 11.47, each 0.25 more than before. In what her 19.50 is made of, Priya sees her part of the upgrade, "1 of 4", with "Maya upgraded this bill for £1.00: receipt reading, texts and reminders" beneath it. Maya paid 77.66 at the restaurant and 1.00 for the upgrade, so she gets back 59.71.

A week later, Maya is paid in full. On the settled bill she sees Everyone is paid up. Your next 5 bills for £3.00.

Priya runs the Lisbon weekend tab, with Maya, Tom and Sam on it. Upgrade this tab, in its settings, opens Upgrade Lisbon weekend, which lists the 5-pack, the weekend pass and the tab pass, the one that costs least now first. The tab pass is €10.00 for the four of them, "Every bill in this tab, for good".

If something stops you

• There is no offer, and no Upgrades in Settings. Upgrades are not offered here, and every bill has all four.
• There is no offer, but Upgrades is in Settings. TabApp came from an app store, which sells nothing. Upgrades still shows what you hold.
• "Maya can upgrade this bill to read it." Only the organiser or someone owed money on the bill can buy. Type the items instead, or ask them.
• There is no Undo. The upgrade has been used, someone else bought it, the bill is upgraded by its tab's pass, or the bill is in the trash.
• The checkout did not open. Buying needs a connection. Try again once you are back online.