TaxBird reviews: what the app tracks, and how Geostay compares

Which one to install if you split the year between New York and Florida

TaxBird has been around since 2017 and suits people who need day counts for Canadian provinces or who use an Android phone.

If you use an iPhone, Geostay shows how many New York days you have left, warns you before you reach the limit, and keeps a day-by-day record you can give your accountant.

We make Geostay.

How TaxBird works and how it is rated

TaxBird is a residency tracker from ware2now. It uses your phone's background location to record where you are each day, then shows how many days you have spent in each place and how many remain before you reach a residency threshold.

It counts at four levels: countries worldwide, US states, Canadian provinces and New York City. It alerts you as you approach a threshold, lets you enter planned travel to see projected counts, and at the end of the year produces a report you can share with your accountant. It also lets you request the yearly summary as a CSV.

TaxBird has been on the App Store since October 2017 and was last updated on November 11, 2026. On the US store, its 244 ratings average 3.9 out of 5. Its listing pitches it at snowbirds, remote workers and frequent travelers. It is also on Google Play.

What New York's 183-day rule means

New York can tax you as a resident even when your domicile is in Florida. If you maintain a permanent place of abode in New York for substantially all of the year and spend 184 days or more in the state, you are a statutory resident. The rule gets its name from the other side of that line: with a home in New York, 183 days is the most you can spend there in a year.

A permanent place of abode is a home suitable for year-round use that you maintain, whether or not you own it, and it counts even if you only stay there occasionally. Any part of a day in New York is a day, and you do not need to be at that home for it to count. New York City applies the same test to days in the city.

If you keep a New York home and file as a nonresident, the burden is on you to show fewer than 184 days, with records of where you were day by day. A tracker that logs each day as it happens builds that record over the year, and both apps can export it when the year is over.

How each app counts your New York days

TaxBird builds its count from background location and shows real-time counts for every place it tracks, New York State and New York City included.

Geostay records the US state for each day, even while the app is closed. It works out where you are from a map stored in the app, so roaming and flight mode leave no gap. Points recorded in the air are ignored, so flying over a state does not add a day there. Timeline shows every stay as a list or on a calendar. If a day is wrong, you change it, and your edit takes precedence over what the phone recorded.

Geostay's New York counter counts your days the way New York does, over the calendar year. In New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Minnesota, a day spent only passing through is not a day there. Under New York's audit guidelines, being in the state only to board a plane out of it, or to travel through it on a trip that starts and ends elsewhere, does not count, even if you stop for gas or a meal.

To set it up, tap Add a counter and choose New York, and its card appears on Today. The card shows your New York days against 183 for the year, the days you have left, and whether you are within the limit, close to it or over. Geostay has counters like this for 27 states and New York City.

How each app warns you before day 184 in New York

TaxBird alerts you when you are approaching a residency threshold, and its planned travel feature projects your counts from trips you enter ahead of time.

Geostay's notification gives the count and the last day you can stay, for example "Staying past 4 Dec would cross the limit", so you can plan the move south around a specific day. You choose how many days ahead it warns, and each card has its own switch, so the New York card can warn you early while other cards stay quiet. The Watching for you list on the Profile tab shows every card and how it warns.

What you hand your accountant at year end

At the end of the year, TaxBird generates a report that summarizes your residency days, and you can also request that summary as a CSV.

In Geostay, tap Create a report on the Profile tab to make a PDF of your counts and stays for any period you choose. A CSV day log comes with it, one line per day with the date, country, state and city. Proof you attached to a trip, such as a boarding pass or a ticket, is included in the report. The record also comes with you if you change phones: a backup saves all of it in one file that you can restore on your new iPhone.

In a New York audit, the records that count are ones kept at the time that show where you were each day, such as day calendars, airline tickets, receipts and credit card statements.