Best Coupon Scanning Apps to Save Money
Store-Specific Apps (manufacturer coupons app)
More stores where coupons are available are sending out their coupons through Smartphone apps specific to their chain. Here are the top store-specific apps to check out:
1. Target App: If you’re a frequent shopper at Target, this app is a must-have. You can use it to shop online, manage registries, or even store and use those Target gift cards you scored over the holidays. Plus, you can view your local store’s weekly ad on your phone, and you can have daily deals and twice-a-month coupons sent directly to your phone.
2. Walgreens: Many extreme couponers love saving on personal health care items by combining coupons and sales at local drug stores. The Walgreens app allows you to receive exclusive offers and weekly store ads on your phone. Plus, you can use the barcode/QR code scanner to learn more about products while you’re in the store or checking out Walgreens’s physical weekly ad. As an added bonus, the app comes with options for refilling your prescriptions, checking your prescription history, or even ordering photos straight from your phone.
3. CVS: The CVS Pharmacy app is similar to the Walgreens app. It gives you exclusive coupons and lets you create a shopping list while checking out the weekly ad. If you’re an ExtraCare card user, you can actually make a mobile ExtraCare card on your phone. Then, use the app to access your ExtraCare points account. Of course, this is also similar to the Walgreens app in allowing you to refill a prescription and check out your prescription history. If you’re in need of urgent care services, you can also use the app to find your nearest Minute Clinic and check out its hours and services.
Other Couponing Apps
To broaden your mobile couponing search, check out these apps that help compile savings from several different stores and brands, all at once:
1. SnipSnap: This app is ideal for extreme couponers. You snap a picture of coupons with your SmartPhone. The app captures the coupon, but it also stores the expiration date and provides in-store reminders. It’s social, too. You can connect with friends to share coupons.
2. The Coupon App: True to its name, this app helps you save money in a myriad of ways. It includes a coupon widget to give you daily deals. The coupon database is updated continuously every day. You can save coupons so you can more easily find them later, or you can share them with friends. The great part about The Coupon App is that it has such a large database of coupons. You can search them (even by voice search) while you’re actually shopping to pick up last-minute deals. As with similar apps, you can use this one for mobile coupons that can be scanned right at the register.
3. Grocery Smarts Coupon Shopper: If you’re interested in cross-referencing manufacturer coupons with store sales, this is the couponing app for you. Using coupons for items that are already on sale is how extreme couponers save so much money. This app actually tracks store prices from Wal-Mart, Rite-Aid, Target, CVS, and Walgreens, and then shows you exactly how to use current manufacturer’s coupons to save. Note that this app allows you to save with printable coupons and coupons from your Sunday insert. You can have printable coupons emailed to you for printing. If the app is showing a coupon from a Sunday paper insert, it will let you know what date the insert was sent so you can find and clip the coupon on your own. You still have to carry paper coupons, but this app does the cross-referencing work for you
4. CardStar: With this iPhone or Android app, you can move all your loyalty cards onto your SmartPhone by taking a picture of them. You don’t have to stuff your wallet with cards are add them to your key chain. And stores can scan in your account directly from your phone.