Tuesday, August 12, 2025
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It's not hard to get me to download an app—if I see an ad for one, it's going right on my phone. I don't care at all if it's all a scheme to get my data. My data is out there, baby, and it's too late to care, so I might as well reap all the benefits these flash-in-the-pan, VC-bolstering programs can give me.
Some of the time, I don't get much. But other times, I get free stuff! I love trading my data and my finite time on this earth for meager rewards. If you do too, here are eight apps I use all the time to get free stuff, from food to more tangible goods.
The best apps to get free food or drinks
Dunkin'
As I've noted before, the Dunkin' app is elite when it comes to rewarding customers for spending money on donuts and coffee. If you play it right, you can get all kinds of treats for free. Yes, you have to spend money to earn money, but if you're already going to Dunkin', that doesn't really matter. For every dollar you spend, you get 10 rewards points, but if you visit 12 times in a month and hit "boosted" status, each dollar you spend for the next three months earns you 12 points. Points add up quickly, and you don't need all that many to score something free: You can get an espresso shot for 150, a donut for 250, a hot or iced coffee of any size for 500, and so on.
There are also point-enhancing promotions going on all the time. Sometimes, you get bonus points for ordering a certain snack or visiting at a certain time. On Mondays, you get 100 points just for placing a mobile order. Soon enough, you'll be rolling in free Munchkins.
McDonald's
In the food and drink sphere, I have a membership and associated app at pretty much every restaurant chain. McDonald's is among the best. The app is fabulous because it's constantly running promotions where you can get a free something-or-other, usually for doing nothing but using the app to place your order. On days when I'm feeling frugal but not particularly health-conscious, you'll catch me mobile-ordering my way to a medium fry and a big Diet Coke—and the fries are free as long as I spend a minimum of $1, which is about what the drink costs. Don't mind if I do!
Right now, the app is offering up a free double cheeseburger or six-piece McNuggets when you buy one. I also have enough points for two McChickens or a large iced coffee. Every dollar you spend earns you 100 points, but as with the Dunkin' app, you also get bonus points for fulfilling certain stipulations, like double points on breakfast orders. The first time you pay through the app with your linked card, you'll also get 1,500 points, which is enough for a cheeseburger.
7-Eleven
7-Eleven has a severely underrated rewards app. I usually get a dollar or so off my purchases every few visits, and since most of the goods available at this convenience store are themselves just a few dollars, that basically means I'm getting free Doritos or Vitamin Waters every two weeks. Every dollar you spend gets you 10 points (unless you're spending on age-restricted items or gas), plus you can earn extra points for daily promotions like buying two of a certain item. Once you get 1,000 points, you have $1 to spend. A dollar off for every $100 spent isn't great, but if you take advantage of those random weekly specials, you can score a lot of bonus points. I also maximize my points (and laziness) by getting household necessities on a one-by-one basis at 7 Eleven. Instead of waiting for my bi-monthly Target run to stock up on paper towels, garbage bags, and frozen pizzas, I just get them as I need them at the convenience chain. (I do not think Target Circle is a great app for free stuff, so you see how I operate here.)
Seated
For a slightly different spin on getting free stuff from a food app, try Seated, which I've also evangelized for before. What sets it apart from other restaurant-affiliated apps is that the free things you get for using it don't come from the restaurants themselves. Instead, you get a percentage of your money back every time you use the app to make a reservation and eat a meal, which you can then spend on gift cards for businesses like Uber, Amazon, and TJMaxx—or just have it deposited back into your checking account as cash. Again, you're spending money to make money, but it's better than getting nothing if you're spending anyway. I have gotten hundreds of dollars back from Seated and turned that into hundreds of dollars worth of free stuff.
The referrals program is also top-notch. You get $10 any time someone you refer dines out with the app (and they get $10, too), but what's more, once you rack up five confirmed referrals, you get $1 any time one of your referrals dines out ever. I have made $185 in referrals alone.
Claim
Last month, I was served up an ad for Claim, an app with the tagline "get paid to eat and shop." Buddy, you do not have to tell me twice. After linking a debit card and my Venmo account, I got to work figuring out how to earn my free stuff. The gist is that once per week, you can choose a restaurant or retail establishment from a pre-selected list and stake a "claim" on it. This means that if and when you spend money at that spot during that week using your linked card, you get a set amount sent back to your Venmo account. To test it out, I got a claim for Wingstop, which happens to be across the street from the post office where I ship out my Poshmark sales. I took a walk, dropped off my sales for the day, then ordered a six-piece wing box. By the time I got home and tucked into the chicken, $10 had appeared in my Venmo account. I would have had to stop and eat that day anyway, so this was free money. Since then, I've gotten money back for booking classes at Solidcore (something I was going to do already), buying tickets to a sporting event (again, something I was going to do regardless), and more.
While you can only select and use one claim per week, you can earn additional claims by inviting friends to the app. You pick the establishment you want a claim for—right now, choices include Starbucks, Chipotle, Blue Bottle Coffee, Dunkin', and more—and the place you want your friend to get their free claim for. Once they use your referral and link a card to the app, you both get a bonus claim. As with Seated, I am now rolling in referral dough.
The best apps to get free stuff
Influenster
I'm way into makeup and personal care items and I'm always looking for ways to get my hands on more. Years ago, I downloaded Influenster, an app that promised free samples in exchange for a little effort on my part in the form of reviewing products within the app. After earning up some cred within the app, I started getting free stuff sent to me, with the caveat that I would thoughtfully review it. There were other tasks I could complete, like creating public Instagram posts about products, but I declined—that's not my style. Even without completing those challenges, I have gotten a ton of free stuff. I even secured a few lipsticks from Revlon that I never would have bought on my own, but ended up liking so much that I've consistently repurchased them in the years since 2017. Great app.
Iris
Lately, I've gotten very into Iris, which is basically a new-gen spin on Influenster. You earn "gems" by reviewing products, posting in discussions, and generally interacting with the community, which is comprised of people interested in beauty and skincare. These gems can be used on "drops," or limited-time offers of products you can get sent to you free, but which you must then review. The drops you're eligible for depend on your level within the app, with the quality scaling up as you climb the ladder.
Drops are quite limited: One may only have a few pieces available, so you have to order it the second it hits your phone, unless you're saving your gems for something major. Right now, I'm entertaining the delusion that I'll earn 45,000 gems fast enough to snag the final remaining Dyson Airstraight, a hair tool that costs $500 in the real world. The nice thing about Iris is that you can't use real money to buy gems or expedite your progress. You really do have to do it all on your own, and you'll pay nothing out of pocket. Yes, you're still spending time and energy reviewing and photographing your goods, but you also get access to everyone else's reviews, which is helpful when making purchasing decisions. Everything in life is a trade-off.
A few months ago, I used my gems on a travel-sized bottle of Glossier perfume, which saved me about $40. I didn't have to wait long, the package came straight from Glossier as if I'd ordered from the company directly, and all I had to do was write a review the next week. More recently, I got some Vacation aftersun gel, which only retails for $14, but which I wanted quite badly. I always use my FSA money to buy sunscreen and I love the Vacation product line, but I couldn't justify spending real money on it when I have used my "free" FSA money on the other products. My penny-pinching streak continues unmarred. May God strike me dead before I spend a real cent of my paycheck on a sun product.
TYB
The latest entrant in my free-things app hoard is TYB, which is a third-party membership hub for a variety of brands. Basically, instead of having your loyalty membership run directly through the brand itself, these companies outsource the point-accruing to a standalone app. Some of the brands that use TYB include, but are not at all limited to, Glossier, Outdoor Voices, Poppi, Rare Beauty, Crocs, and Urban Outfitters. I joined it because I am a loyal (if not obsessed) customer of an activewear brand called SET Active, but once I was on the app, I saw how easy it was to join the loyalty programs of other TYB-affiliated companies I also patronize.
Earning your "coins," which translate directly into discount codes you can redeem at checkout when shopping the brands directly, is not only simple, but enjoyable: You participate in challenges that ask you for feedback. So, b.Tan may ask for suggestions on which stores you'd like to see their tanning products in or Wellah may ask for ideas for future creatine powder flavors. WeWoreWhat may ask where you typically wear their clothes. You get the idea. You can review past purchases, give detailed product feedback, and actually interact with the brands and the community of consumers who like them. It's unlike any loyalty membership I've ever been a part of—plus I am, as you would expect, absolutely flush with coins I am happily using for discounts at checkout. Across the 10 brands I joined, I currently have $542 to spend, but that doesn't include the over $100 I've already redeemed.
And yes, I know nothing is really free
What's that phrase?"If it's free, you're the product?" Well, yes. All of these apps require me to give companies access to my data, from my interests to my shopping habits. I'm also racking up time playing games, writing reviews, or even spending money to earn some of it back. I understand that, but in these instances, it's a trade I'm willing to make. If Big Brother wants to keep tabs on my McChicken consumption, I could not possibly care less at this point. I have accepted we already live under some degree of constant surveillance, so my goal is to thrive, not survive. Give me my free French fries.
By choosing apps that line up with the things you'd already be doing or spending money on—in my case: buying makeup, walking to Dunkin' twice a day, and wasting time on my phone—you can earn free rewards, and make the most of your routines and idle time. Life can be a downer, so I might as well find ways to turn a mundane task into free perfume.
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