Coin Out started out with minimal rewards & minimal partners, but improved to a point where it was fun to use when paper receipts were more popular and then earlier this year it changed its earning & rewards system to where users HAVE to obtain paper receipts & snap photos & said user, must photograph quite a number of “qualifying” paper receipts in order to redeem earned coins for points. AND in addition to encouraging the killing of trees for paper, Coin Out customer support (Vinod, via email) has also went downhill. I could not redeem any of my 22,000+ points for any e-gift card because the reward section showed ALL rewards with a padlock, and Vinod said I didn’t photo a single receipt in June, even though I had automated emails from CoinOut stating I had unlocked all reward levels & my account receipt history showed lots of photographed receipts & the summary screen showed that I had unlocked every level of reward. Vinod responded once stating that I didn’t take any receipt photos in June and just disappeared. I won’t be using it anymore if I am FORCED to use paper receipts when electronic receipts are an option and reward redemptions are not unlocked properly.

With all the various secure ways of linking a bank and email account, there’s zero excuses for them to require for us to directly input our information into the app in clear text. For email there’s the application “Sign in with Google” where it begins up a pop up where you can securely sign in. For cards, there’s Plaid. I have serious doubts about the competence of the cyber security team for this company. There are much better and secure companies out there that don’t ask you to directly input your sensitive data into the app itself. I don’t even trust my own family with that info! And I don’t believe what they said about how they can’t see that data and it stays locally on the phone. I know you see all the complaints here about being nearly forced to give up sensitive information in order for the app to be useful. Cyber security 101, never ask for a customer to directly put their email login credentials into your app if you want to be taken seriously. Have them connect their bank account with Plaid. Or use the “Sign in With Google” application. I’m starting to see why the deal never went through fully after that Shark Tank episode. Red flags all over the place. I’m not saying they have malicious intent. But they are incredibly criminally negligent almost. All it takes is one security breach for this to be a disaster. And it won’t take long for that to happen based on what I see here. It’s a shame because it looks like a good app otherwise.

I have been using this app for approximately 2 years. I enjoyed the original format much more to this upgrade & changed format. I find this app a joke. The delays in uploading receipts is ridiculous. If you don’t “play” a stupid game or keep active daily then your status drops. If you can’t get retailers apps connected then they will crash close to the 1/2 way mark on status bar. If you disconnect the app & try to reconnect said retailer app, good luck. I have been trying to reconnect for 9 months to no avail. Oh the bonus is if you don’t have these connections then it won’t allow for email receipts, and as a special bonus your status drops so you can’t earn as much per receipt. It’s not like anyone is doingthis as a career. You used to make up to .12 for a receipt but that was rare more like .02 per receipt. The new format is earning coins. There is no way to see what coins are earned per receipt. Oh let’s not forget, since it is VERY hard to load the receipts you scan & VERY hard to see said receipts , makes it hard to know if a receipt is a duplicate. But wait there’s more…. IF you accidentally uploaded a duplicate receipt (cuz you get tired of spending 20+ minutes trying to figure out what you scanned already) then all your hard work of earning chump change is essentially void … why you ask? Because the company flags your account & makes your status unable for any withdrawal. So no this app is not worth it. It’s a joke. I wasted 2 years with this upsurdity.

I’m a chronic shopper and use many receipt-for-points apps. This one, by far, has the highest payout threshold (either $20-$25, I can’t remember)! Now that I’ve read other reviews, I know I’m not mistaken when I recall the minimum payout used to be $10. When I finally got to $10, I was excited to finally be able to redeem virtually anything after over a year of uploading approximately 5-10 receipts per week on average. That’s when I learned the minimum payout was changed to either $20-$25. I think the app simply evolved in the amount of time it took for me to get to $10, which makes sense at generating only about $0.01 per receipt/$0.10 per week. This is also when I learned e-receipts are able to be counted, as well, if they are emailed on the day of placing an order. Fair enough. Eleven receipts in one week added up to $0.03, which was disappointing considering the minimum (and average, for me) for a traditional receipt is $0.01. Don’t get me wrong, $0.03 is still more than $0.00. But like I said, I’ve cashed out at least 4-5 different times with nearly identical apps that I’ve been using for the same amount of time, while in this app I am currently still at about $12 balance with zero cash-outs to date. There is a reason there is a large variety of receipt-collecting apps; the market research that is sold and/or gained from your receipts has monetary value, and I’m going to take a shot in the dark and guess it’s worth more than a penny per transaction, per person. If you’re looking for the *best* receipt app as opposed to simply using all of em, keep it moving!