Pocket Points: Student Rewards

I was loving this app and would have given it a 4-5 star rating if you would have asked me about it a few days ago. However, all of the sudden the app is no longer rewarding me points for the longer periods of time that I am off my phone. For example, yesterday I was off my phone for about 5 hours in total: 1 early in the day during a class, 2 at work, and another 2 in the evening. During all of those times when I locked me phone I had the notification that I was earning points. When I unlocked my phone, it was to my surprise that I actually had earned no points, though I had been off of my phone. I even tried setting a goal later in the evening and I got the notification on my screen that I finished my goal, but when I unlocked my phone there were no points. Very frustrated at this app. Great in concept, and it was great for a while, but very lacking in delivery. I’m tempted to give it a 2 star rating, but because I had a good experience at first I’m giving it a 3 star rating.

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When this app first came out I loved the idea, it’s great for students, it’s incentive to stay off your phone during class and you can use the rewards to save money because as a college student you are really on a budget. I really liked the system, the only thing I felt was lacking was the rewards but I figured that would get better with time. I stopped using it when I couldn’t spend my points on anything. I picked it back up after the update and I absolutely hate the goal change, it’s just a way to cheat you out of points. It also doesn’t really make sense because now you have to check your phone and tell it to keep going occasionally which defeats the purpose of getting you off your phone. The rewards increased in the number of places but they still haven’t gotten better. It’s just not worth spending a crap ton of points on 5% off someplace I wasn’t planning on going in the first place. This was originally targeted for students but now they are trying to broaden the spectrum of users, which is fine, but if you are catering to students and people of low income maybe have rewards that actually make sense to your demographic and are monetarily worth it. 5% a clothing store I can’t afford anyway isn’t really great.

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I used to love this app to no end. I use it multiple times per week, and I used to always have the pocket points I needed when I needed them. Lately with this latest update, or perhaps a glitch in my version, the free points prizes are few and far between, I no longer get them for claiming my 10 unclaimed points, also sometimes I’ll get home and check my points after driving and there’s none. I don’t know what’s going on, but this week I had to pay for Chips and. Drink at subway, with money instead of points and I just don’t know why. I talked with some friends of mine at a dinner last night, and they’re still getting tons of points. I’m not sure if their version is different. I’m a full time student and work part time at the school and should be getting lots of points, but it’s gotten to where they’re super rare. Please bring the points back!

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I would’ve given this five stars before but now it gets one star. The new update cheats you out of potential points with the fifty minute goal. I have two classes nearly three hours long and I don’t get rewarded for it like I would’ve before for having my phone locked for three hours consecutively because the fifty minute goal is so limiting in terms of points and you have to remember to reset it. I feel like the update was to appeal to businesses and in the end, capitalism, but the whole point is to help the student be less distracted so screw the update. I’m still going to use it because discounts are cool, but the new system doesn’t actually reward your actual effort anymore. If you haven’t gotten this app yet, I would reconsider and not do it, especially if you have longer classes or if you wouldn’t remember to reset it. Maybe try to find other ways for deals, and a lot of places gives you discounts right off the bat if they’re near your campus or if you have a student ID. It actually defeats the purpose because you’ll be distracted by the phone waiting for fifty minutes to pass rather than just locking it and forgetting it.

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The original way to gain Pocket Points was more unique than other apps on the market. You’d have to be on campus and in the app, and based on how long you were in the app you got more points. That was great because no other app on the market was approaching it in that way. If you were to get out of class early, you’d only get a few points, but you’d still get something. Now, you have to set a specific time for how long you want to be off your phone. What if you have a 3 hour long night class and you get out an hour early? You can either lose the points you’ve been earning for the past two hours completely, or wait another hour not using your phone at all. It’s just like every other “stay off your phone” productivity app nowadays, and is nothing special. Also, the app won’t recognize when it’s being used. An example, I left my phone in the app for hours in the campus library working on a paper, only to find out it awarded me no points despite giving me the “congrats on earning points” notification. RIP Pocket Points, you are not what you once were.