I'm sure it's happened to you more than once: dinner with friends ends and that awkward moment arrives when one person has to pay the bill and everyone else starts calculating how much each person owes. Apple seems to have taken note of this little everyday drama and, according to the latest leaks, is preparing a native solution for iPhone which promises to manage these money distributions without the need for external applications or calculators.
The Cupertino company is reportedly planning to unveil this tool during WWDC, its major developer event, integrating it as one of the most practical new features of iOS 27. The idea is simplify your day-to-day finances allowing the phone itself to take care of the most tedious part of social gatherings, automatically calculating taxes and tips so that no one is left wondering whether they have overpaid or underpaid.
Intelligent ticket scanning and item delivery
The operation described in the Bloomberg reports is quite intuitive and takes advantage of the camera's potential. The user would only have to photograph the physical receipt The system uses optical character recognition to identify each item on the bill from the restaurant or event. From there, specific dishes or drinks can be assigned to specific people in the group, allowing for a much fairer distribution than the classic "divide among everyone."
Once the system clearly identifies who has consumed what, the tool is able to generate instant payment requestsThis would be done through the Wallet app or directly in Messages, even allowing Apple Watch users to authorize the transaction from their wrist. It's an important step for the iPhone to move beyond being just a communication device and establish itself as a personal financial hub.
Although the technology is impeccable, the system relies heavily on Apple Cash, the brand's peer-to-peer payment service. This implies a strategic advantage over competitors , the Manage shared expenses with Splitwise Or Venmo, since being integrated into the very heart of the operating system, the user does not have to download anything new or configure third-party accounts, as long as they move within the Apple ecosystem.
It's important to note that this move is not an isolated incident, as Apple has been doing this for some time. expanding its fintech services with products like the Apple Card or savings accounts. Although some previous experiments, such as installment payment systems, didn't quite take off in all markets, the division of accounts seems to respond to a real and widespread need among younger users, who hardly use cash anymore.
What will happen to this feature in Spain?
This is where those of us who live in this country need to be realistic. The biggest obstacle preventing us from enjoying this progress is that Apple Cash is not yet operational in SpainAlthough the function of scanning the ticket and calculating the amounts could work in isolation, the actual sending of the "money" requires a payment infrastructure that the company has not yet officially deployed in our country.
In Spain, we're big fans of Bizum, and it's true that this platform has become the absolute standard for sending money quickly. Apple's proposal would have to compete with the simplicity of Bizum Or with the advanced features of apps like Revolut, which already allow you to create shared invoices and split expenses in a very similar way. Furthermore, there's the barrier of Android users, since if someone in your group of friends doesn't have an iPhone, the native payment chain would break down.
However, the arrival of iOS 27 could be the perfect excuse for Apple to finally make a bold move and bring its financial services to more European countries. For now, we have to wait for official confirmation to find out if this tool will be global or if it will initially remain exclusive to the US market, where the iPhone's market share is much more dominant than in our region.
Despite concerns about its geographic reach, it's clear that receipt recognition technology will greatly simplify life for those who prefer to keep meticulous track of their finances. The integration of artificial intelligence to automatically detect taxes and tips demonstrates that the future of mobile phones lies in eliminating any minor friction from our daily routines, transforming a stressful moment at the dinner table into a simple matter requiring only a couple of clicks.