Support & FAQ - Roamabout

Frequently Asked Questions

✈️ Does Roamabout work offline while roaming?

Yes! Roamabout is built with an offline-first architecture using SwiftData. You can add expenses, scan receipts, and calculate debt settlements on airplanes or in remote areas with zero cell signal. Once you reconnect to WiFi or cellular data, your changes automatically sync to your group in the background.

📷 How does the Dual-Engine Receipt Scanner & Foreign Translation work?

Roamabout features a powerful dual-engine scanning architecture:

• Unlimited On-Device OCR: Powered by Apple VisionKit and the Apple Neural Engine, receipts are scanned 100% offline and privately on your iPhone in under a second with zero typing required.

• Cloud AI & Foreign Bill Translation: Dining abroad in Japan, Bali, Thailand, France, or Italy? Toggle on Cloud AI to read complex or non-Latin scripts (Kanji, Thai, Cyrillic, Bahasa, French). Roamabout extracts itemised line items and automatically translates dish and drink names directly into your device's language right alongside the original names. Your travel crew can see exactly who ordered what and split items with 1 tap, while keeping the original foreign names for easy cross-checking with restaurant staff!

🛂 What is Destination & Travel Health Intelligence?

Roamabout equips you with essential travel intelligence tailored to your home citizenship and destination: bilateral visa entry requirements, official WHO and CDC vaccine guidelines, safe tap water drinkability status, local emergency service dispatch numbers, and power plug pinouts/voltage charts so you always pack the right adapter.

🧮 How does Smart Debt Simplification work?

Instead of everyone paying everyone else in an endless web of transactions, Roamabout's settlement engine uses an optimal graph simplification algorithm. It calculates the minimum number of payments required to square away all balances across your group—converting debts in 160+ world currencies at live exchange rates.

💳 How does Joint Card splitting work for couples?

When you and your partner share an account or credit card, choose "Joint Card" as the payment method and select both partner names. Roamabout credits your combined share without creating false internal debts between the two of you, while fairly splitting the remainder across your travel companions.

🤝 How do I settle debts with friends?

In the Balances tab, tap "Settle Up" on any friend to trigger native 1-tap handoffs: Apple Cash via iMessage with amount pre-filled, Australian PayID / Osko with auto-expiring clipboard copying, or direct deep links to PayPal.me and Revolut.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 How do Family Headcount splits work during big gatherings?

During large multi-family vacations and family reunions, not everyone wants or needs to download an app (e.g. kids, teenagers, grandparents). Roamabout lets one designated person act and pay on behalf of their entire household. By setting a headcount weight (e.g. 4 people), big shared expenses like holiday houses, catering, and transport are calculated proportionally, and the family rep settles on behalf of their whole family in a single payment.

💸 How do I edit or delete a past settlement payment?

Go to your trip's Balances tab and tap History to view past payments. You can swipe left on any payment to reveal Edit (blue) and Delete (red) buttons, tap the Edit button in the top-right toolbar, or long-press any payment row to open the context menu.

🗑️ Can I recover a trip if I deleted it by accident?

Yes! When you delete a trip, it is safely moved to the Recently Deleted folder at the bottom of your trip list. You have a 7-day grace period to restore the trip, its receipts, and all split balances with a single tap before it is permanently removed.

🧳 Are packing lists and itineraries shared across devices?

Yes! Activities in the Itinerary and items in the Packing Checklist synchronise automatically across all invited trip members in real time. You can assign packing items to specific travellers or leave them as shared essentials.

📑 Can I sync my itinerary with Apple Calendar and export expenses?

Yes! You can export your trip itinerary into Apple Calendar or any calendar app using standard .ics files so your vacation schedule stays synced with your personal calendar. For finances, you can generate clean PDF summary reports complete with split balances for trip records or expense reimbursements, or export raw CSV data directly into Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.

🌐 Can Android friends view or join our trip?

Yes! Every shared trip includes a web link with a 6-character code. Android or desktop users can open the link in any modern web browser to view real-time balances, itemised expenses, and debt settlement options.

👑 How does the "Only Host Pays" VIP Pass subscription work?

Only the trip creator needs a Roamabout VIP Pass subscription ($2.99/month or $19.99/year with a 7-day free trial). All invited friends, family members, and travel companions can join, scan receipts, and log expenses 100% free without ever hitting a paywall.

🔒 How does the Travel Vault protect my passports and visas?

Travel Vault uses AES-256 local encryption on your device and requires biometric authentication (Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode) to view stored document images and PDFs. Documents are stored safely offline for access during flights and international transit.

✨ What is Trip Wrapped and is it private to share?

Trip Wrapped turns your vacation stats into a viral 9:16 story card with fun group superlatives (like The Foodie, The ATM, or Coffee Addict). Before exporting to Instagram Stories, TikTok, or WhatsApp, you can toggle Name Privacy Mode to display initials or first names so you can celebrate your trip without exposing sensitive personal details.

🔄 How do I restore my purchase on a new device?

Open the app, navigate to Settings > VIP Pass, and tap "Restore Purchases". StoreKit 2 will automatically communicate with Apple's App Store and restore your active subscription.

Customer Support & FAQ