Everything you need to know about TapGain.
TapGain is a free app that helps you compare the listed rates of the cards you carry before you pay. Add your cards, and TapGain compares their listed rates for your current spending category or nearby store, making it easy to spot your Top Card.
TapGain compares the listed rates of all the cards in your wallet for a given spending category (like dining, gas, or groceries). It then sorts your cards by posted rate — whether that's cash back or points — so you can see them side by side.
TapGain compares the listed rates of your saved cards for the selected spending category. The card shown at the top is generally the saved card with the highest eligible listed rate for that spending category, based on TapGain's comparison criteria.
TapGain is currently free to download and use. There are no subscriptions, hidden fees, or in-app purchases.
No. TapGain is an informational comparison tool and does not provide financial, legal, or tax advice. All card comparisons are based solely on publicly listed card rates and the cards you enter. Always verify current rates and terms directly with your card issuer before making purchase decisions.
No. TapGain is not affiliated with or endorsed by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Citi, Chase, or any issuing bank. Logos and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Card names and trademarks are used solely for informational identification purposes.
Absolutely not. TapGain only needs to know which cards you carry — not your card numbers, expiration dates, or any sensitive details. You simply select your cards from our database or add a custom card with its spending categories.
TapGain includes a pre-built database of 100+ popular U.S. cards from major banks including Chase, American Express, Capital One, Citi, Discover, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and U.S. Bank. If your card isn't listed, you can add it as a custom card with your own spending categories.
Card rates are based on publicly listed issuer information and simplified into spending categories for comparison. However, card issuers may change their rate structures at any time. Some rates may apply only through specific booking portals, at select merchants, or with particular payment methods. Please verify current rates directly with your card issuer. TapGain is an informational comparison tool and does not provide financial, legal, or tax advice.
TapGain focuses on standard, location-based listed rates that can be recommended when you are at a store or spending category. Rates that require a specific issuer portal, activation, enrollment, rotating promotions, merchant-specific offers, limited-time bonuses, or other special conditions may not be included in recommendations, alerts, or rankings. Examples include: • Chase Travel℠ portal • Capital One Travel portal • Citi Travel portal • American Express Travel • Quarterly rotating bonus categories • Merchant-specific promotional offers • Limited-time or targeted card offers TapGain does not track, verify, or manage issuer portals, rotating bonus activations, enrollments, or promotional campaigns. Please refer to your card issuer for the most current card terms, listed rates, and eligibility requirements.
Some cards offer elevated rewards on a specific category that changes periodically. Quarterly rotating cards (like Discover it Cash Back and Chase Freedom Flex) change their bonus category each quarter (Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1). Billing-cycle cards (like Citi Custom Cash) automatically apply bonus rewards on your top eligible spend category each billing cycle. TapGain lets you select which bonus category is currently active for these cards so your selection stays current. You can update your selection anytime from the card's detail screen. Rotating bonus categories and activation requirements are determined by your card issuer. TapGain uses the category you select to display comparisons only. Always confirm the currently active category and activation status directly with your card issuer.
If you have a billing-cycle card (like Citi Custom Cash), open the card's detail screen and select the billing cycle start date. Select the day of the month your billing cycle begins. TapGain uses this date to show an in-app reminder banner when a new billing cycle begins, so you can review your active top spend category. The date is stored locally on your device and is never shared. Billing cycle calculations and top spend category determinations are controlled by your card issuer. TapGain uses the date you enter only to determine when to show that in-app reminder banner. It does not schedule an iOS local notification. Always confirm your current billing cycle and spending category details directly with your card issuer.
Yes. Use the "Add Card" feature to create a custom card. You can set the card name, bank, card type (Cash Back or Points), and define rates for each spending category.
When you enable location access, TapGain uses your location to check for nearby spending categories (such as dining, gas, or groceries) and display your cards sorted by their listed rate for comparison. TapGain uses two zones: a wider zone shows a banner when the app is open (parking lot or nearby), and a tighter zone is used for local notifications (only when you are very close to or inside a store). You can also pull down the screen at any time to manually check for nearby spending categories. Before any location data leaves your device, your coordinates are rounded to approximately 11-meter precision. This rounded position is transmitted temporarily to our server to check for nearby spending categories and is not stored in TapGain's application database or linked to your identity. Standard infrastructure access logs may temporarily retain the request URL — which includes your rounded coordinates — for up to 7 days before being deleted or anonymized, as disclosed in our Privacy Policy §3. Limited location-related state may be stored locally on your device to support Smart Alerts, movement detection, and notification deduplication. This local data is removed when you reset app data.
Yes. Location is completely optional. You can manually select any spending category from the home screen to compare your cards by category. When location is enabled, TapGain checks for nearby spending categories so you can see your cards sorted by listed rate without selecting a category manually.
With location enabled, simply pull down (swipe down) on the home screen to check for nearby spending categories. TapGain uses OpenStreetMap data to check for nearby spending categories. If a match is found, a banner will appear showing your Top Card. If no match is found, no banner will appear — just select any category to compare cards manually.
If you have location and notifications enabled, TapGain may send a one-time smart alert when you are near a store. The notification shows the store name, your Top Card from your saved cards, and the spending category — for example: "Nearby [Store] / Use [Your Top Card] / Groceries". If a venue inside the store offers a better rate with a different card, additional lines are included — one for the inner venue name, one for the card to use, and one for the spending category. For example: "Inside [Venue] / Use [Your Best Dining Card] / Dining". If no specific store is identified but you are in a commercial area, a general "Nearby Store" notification may appear. Selecting it opens the Recommend screen so you can choose a category manually. TapGain is designed to send only one notification per store visit. Notifications are paused while you are moving quickly, such as while driving. This is for informational purposes only — not a guarantee of rewards, savings, or transaction outcomes.
When Smart Alerts are explicitly enabled in TapGain and the required notification authorization and Always location permission are available, TapGain checks whether you are near a store and may send a local notification based on your saved cards and card type preference (Cash Back or Points). Native permissions alone do not enable Smart Alerts. Each notification has three parts: the store name, your Top Card from your saved cards, and the spending category and its listed rate. If a venue inside the store offers a better earning with a different card, additional lines are added — the inner venue name, the card to use, and the spending category for that venue. If no specific store is identified but you are in a commercial area, a "Nearby Store" notification may appear. Selecting it opens the Recommend screen so you can choose a category manually. TapGain is designed to send only one notification per store visit and pauses notifications when you are moving quickly, such as while driving. You can control these features anytime in Settings: • Location Alerts — store alerts while the app is open • Smart Alerts — shows nearby-store local notifications while TapGain is in the background and requires notification authorization plus Always location permission The two controls are separate and optional. Smart Alerts do not run after you force-quit TapGain; open TapGain again to resume background activity. You can also toggle Smart Alerts on or off quickly using the bell icon on the Recommend screen.
No. Turning off Smart Alerts stops all background location activity immediately — no GPS wakeups, no background checks, and the location indicator no longer appears in your status bar. Background location activity for Smart Alerts stops immediately, and battery impact from this feature is effectively eliminated. However, your iOS location permission ("Always") stays as it is in iOS Settings. iOS does not allow any app to remove or downgrade your location permission on your behalf — that is intentionally controlled by you. This is the same behavior as every major location app. When you turn off a feature, the permission stays intact so that turning it back on resumes immediately without prompting you again. If you want to fully remove the permission from iOS Settings: go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → TapGain → select "While Using" or "Never". With Smart Alerts off inside TapGain, the "Always" label in iOS Settings reflects a capability you have granted — not that the app is actively using it.
TapGain uses your device's motion sensor for two purposes. First, it tells whether you are walking or driving. This helps avoid sending store notifications while you are moving quickly. Second, it checks whether you are stationary — for example, at home or overnight. When the app senses you are not moving and you are in a non-commercial area, it skips waking the GPS hardware entirely. This is one of the largest contributors to battery savings, covering sleep time and home time when no nearby stores would be found anyway. Motion data is used only to support app functionality, processed entirely on-device, and is not retained or shared.
TapGain only sends an alert when it is confident about the store you are near. If the match is unclear — for example, if you are between stores or the signal is ambiguous — TapGain stays silent rather than guess. This is by design: an inaccurate recommendation is worse than no recommendation. You can always pull down on the Recommend screen to check for nearby spending categories manually.
TapGain Offers displays Partner Offers alongside your Top Card and spending categories so you can view both before making a purchase decision. Some partners may pay to display promotional offers. Partner participation does not affect how TapGain compares or sorts your cards. Offer availability varies by location and partners in your area. TapGain does not process payments, purchases, or redemptions.
When location is enabled, TapGain may use nearby spending categories to help surface relevant offers. For example, dining offers may be shown when a nearby dining category is found. Category information is stored only on your device and expires automatically. Your selected state may also be used to display local and state-level offers.
TapGain displays Partner Offers alongside your Top Card so you can view both together before deciding which card to use. Some partners may pay to display promotional offers. Partner participation does not affect how TapGain compares or sorts your cards. Always confirm current offer details directly with the business and verify card rewards, eligibility, and terms with your card issuer.
Offer availability depends on partners in your area. Some locations may not have active Partner Offers yet. Check back periodically as new partners join TapGain.
Businesses interested in featuring Partner Offers on TapGain can contact us at partners@tapgain.app. We'll review your business and discuss partnership opportunities. All Partner Offers are reviewed before they appear in the app.
During onboarding, TapGain asks you to choose your card type. This preference filters your Top Card and Smart Alerts so you see only the card type relevant to you. You can change it at any time using the Cash Back / Points toggle on the Recommend screen.
On the Recommend screen, long-press any category tile to enter edit mode. You can then select tiles in the order you prefer and confirm to save. On the Offers screen, the same long-press approach lets you reorder the offer tabs. Your custom order is saved locally.
Yes. Go to Settings and look for the Appearance section. You can choose Light, Dark, or System (which follows your device's display setting).
TapGain is designed for minimal battery impact across three layers. First, after a few consecutive non-commercial results, the app enters slow mode — automatically reducing how often it checks your location from its normal interval to a longer one. Late at night and overnight, when you are unlikely to be near a store, this interval extends further still. It speeds back up the moment you approach a store or commercial area. Second, in slow mode, TapGain first checks whether you are stationary using your device's motion sensor (no GPS, no radio). If you are not moving — for example, at home, asleep, or parked — the GPS hardware is skipped entirely. This covers the longest stretches of dormant time and is one of the largest contributors to battery savings. Third, when you are moving at highway or arterial speeds, the app reads a cached speed value from the OS (no hardware wakeup required) and skips checking until you slow down. Notifications are also paused above a lower speed threshold. In the background, TapGain skips location checks entirely if you have not moved meaningfully from an area already confirmed as non-commercial. The location indicator in your status bar appears only when the app actively needs a GPS fix. Actual usage will vary depending on your device and movement patterns.
Yes, for store detection. TapGain requires an internet connection to check for nearby spending categories. Your saved cards and preferences are stored locally on your device and are always available offline. Partner Offers are fetched from TapGain's servers and cached on your device. If you lose connectivity, the last downloaded offers remain visible with a brief notice that you are viewing a saved copy.
Your saved cards and preferences are stored locally on your device. We do not collect your name, email, card numbers, or account details. When location is enabled, requests to our servers include your rounded coordinates and standard network information, as described in our Privacy Policy.
TapGain does not share your location with advertisers, card issuers, businesses, analytics providers, or tracking networks. When you use nearby-category features, rounded coordinates are sent to TapGain infrastructure and third-party mapping-data services needed to perform the lookup. Limited request metadata may be retained temporarily in infrastructure logs as described in the Privacy Policy.
No. TapGain does not know what you purchase, how much you spend, or your transaction history.
No. TapGain never connects to your bank account or credit card account.
No. TapGain does not sell your personal information or location data.
Go to Settings and scroll down to the Data section. Select "Reset All Data" to clear your saved cards, preferences, and cached app state. This cannot be undone. Your saved cards, preferences, and other app state are stored locally on your device and are not backed up to a TapGain account. Network and infrastructure logs are handled separately as described in the Privacy Policy.
TapGain is currently available for download in the United States and Canada. The built-in card database focuses on U.S.-issued credit cards. Users may also add custom cards, but reward rates and categories should be verified directly with the card issuer.
For questions, feedback, or support requests, please email us at support@tapgain.app. We strive to respond within 24–48 hours.