It is obvious that you can shop on your iPhone faster, easier, and more conveniently compared to the traditional way. Although some people may think that smartphones distract them from the real world, these are still the fastest ways to get what you want done before you even start shopping for it. With these money-saving iPhone apps and Safari browser extensions, your online shopping experience can be far less expensive.
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PayPal Honey
The app and browser extension PayPal Honey is a tool that helps users to save money while shopping online. To start with, Honey was a standalone app until it was bought by PayPal in 2019.The app operates by scanning for working codes at checkout instantly and then applying the code to your cart automatically. This way, you do not have to spend your time looking for coupons and trying out the codes by yourself.
Although you can still shop at thousands of online stores from within the Honey app, the platform is more useful when it is used as a browser extension to Safari. After it is included, it can instantly retrieve discount codes with a single tap at checkout.
The app also contains a free rewards program named Honey Gold that enables you to get cashback at many retailers, among which Apple and Microsoft are included. All the money you earn as a reward in cash can be converted into gift cards, however, you need at least 1,000 Honey Gold to do that or about $10.
Capital One Shopping
Capital One Shopping is another online shopping application that can also be a means of you saving money. As for other examples like PayPal Honey, It is an app and extension which automatically finds and applies the best available coupon codes.
As Honey, you can also install its Safari browser extension to quickly discover the best coupons for the sites you already shop at. In addition, it has a more effective deal finder, and therefore, the best deal for you is more likely to be found more easily.
The app also allows you to get cashback rewards at some particular retailers, the same way other apps on this list do. The rewards from the game can be cashed out in the form of gift cards. It is even better to the extent that some gift cards have lower cash-out thresholds. For instance, you can even get a Walmart gift card for a mere $0. 01.
Capital One has some features, however, it is not the case of the other features, like the ability to scan a barcode while shopping in-store, in order to know if there is a better price for that product online.
Rakuten
Apart from Shopinas, Rakuten is also another app that can help you to save money while shopping on the internet. It is different from Capital One Shopping and Honey as it concentrates on the cashbacks instead of the coupon codes.
The app operates in the background while you browse at various stores. To sum it up, when you buy something at a store at Rakuten’s network, you are guaranteed to get a predetermined amount of cashback for it. You are able to look for the retailers that are available from within the Rakuten app or on the desktop site.
Upon redeeming your cash, you can select to receive the payments via Check or PayPal. This puts Rakuten in a better position than those airlines that only distribute rewards through gift cards. On the other hand, Rakuten rewards its customers by paying out the rewards quarterly so it is not a money at once cashback.
Marketing platforms like Rakuten have other useful functions. For example, you can put credit or debit cards into the Rakuten wallet so that you can get cashback while doing the shopping in the store.
Shopkick
Shopkick is an online shopping app, but of a different kind, which means that the user gets rewards for making purchases, barcode scanning, or performing other tasks. Thus, it is neither a cashback app nor a rewards platform like Swagbucks, but a hybrid somewhere between the two.
Shopkick is different from lots of other apps on this list because it encourages you to shop online and in a store. The app allows you to get reward points or “kicks” which are the points you receive for walking into some stores with the location services turned on.
Besides, you can also receive kicks for each dollar you spend using a linked credit card. The receipt can be used to scan the purchases you’ve already made to get cashback money.
Besides the attachments to your phone, there is other activities that you can do to get rewards, like watching videos inside the app or scanning barcodes of certain products at a brick-and-mortar store. The broad scope of the cashback opportunities and gamified tasks make it an interesting choice for those who buy both online and offline.
Libby
Libby is a complete revolution for those who buy ebooks or physical books online. Whereas you can go to a library and borrow them for free using a library card. The library affiliation of Libby is the reason it is not like other digital libraries that provide free ebooks.
In a nutshell, you can borrow any book that your local library has “in stock. ” The majority of libraries have a huge collection of books where you can choose from the best-sellers and classics. You’ll also be able to find audiobooks in Libby, besides books.
Technically, you can only “borrow” books using Libby, thus, if one compares the two, they are almost the same. The time that you can borrow a book from the library varies depending on the library you are using, it could be for 7, 14, or 21 days. You can, of course, always re-chat a book if it’s still available.
Libby has, for instance, an audio player for audiobooks and a reader mode for ebooks, but you can also borrow books and read them on your Kindle or any other e-reader by linking your accounts.
Keepa
Amazon is usually the first online store that people check when they do shopping online, especially if they are a Prime member. Besides being cheaper than other stores, Amazon also provides same-day or next-day delivery for most of the products and daily deals to get the best price on almost everything you can think of.
For those who are Amazon shoppers, Keepa is an app that is, indeed, an amazing companion. Apart from the fact that Amazon’s prices are sometimes lower than other retailers, they still change from time to time. Without a third-party app, you are unable to know if the price has increased or decreased over time.
Keepa is the solution to the problem of tiresome driving. The app allows you to see the detailed price history of any Amazon product, including the lowest and highest prices, and the pricing changes over time.
Besides, you can also get a lot of other useful stuff about a product, such as the last price change, the average rating, and how many reviews it has. In in-store shopping, by barcode scanning you can also compare prices on Amazon.
Your Local Store App
The majority of these apps are on the topic of online shopping, but you should download the app for the physical store you already shop at if it is available. This is true based on where you are in the United States and the stores that are closer to you.
For instance, the Vons app in Southern California is a good way to get rewards for the grocery items that you buy on a daily basis. Other national retailers like Walgreens and CVS also have the companion apps, and most of them let you quickly check for the deals or get rewarded for the points.
Though, these apps are not usually as exciting as cashback or coupon apps, they can really be a source of savings for you over time because they focus on daily and necessary purchases. Contrast the frequency with which you buy clothing or beauty products online with the one you have in buying food to eat for example.
It is a fact, to begin with, that not all the grocery store chains will have a app on the App Store. Of course, it’s a good idea to just do a search on Google for your local grocery store to find out what is available.
Either you select one or two of these apps or you use them for different purposes, just a few taps are enough for you to save a lot of money.
