Back in February, Starbucks announced it would be changing its Rewards program, from 1 star earned per visit to 2 stars earned per dollar spent. As of this morning, the new program has launched along with an update to the iOS app, bringing version 4.0.
Starbucks told iPhone in Canada there are now 1.2 million active app users in Canada, and today’s update brings a new dashboard to allow you to view your stars, rewards, offers, and more immediately.
Check out our screenshots below (left: old; right: new):
As you can see the new Star Balance is front and centre, letting you know how many stars you’ve earned and how many are required next to get a Star Reward. Also, any offers you receive are now able to be redeemed via Mobile Order & Pay (finally!), which allows users to bypass lines.
For VoiceOver users, Starbucks says there is now an improved mobile ordering experience.
Also, when confirming your mobile order, you can now apply your stars for a Reward if you wish during checkout:
Starbucks also has launched a promo, which will give any member immediate Gold status with their next purchase starting today until May 2 in stores, the first time in history it has been offered. If you’re an existing Gold member, you will get an extended year with your next purchase.
Starbucks says users will require 125 stars to earn a Reward, which can be any food or drink on the menu, while users should keep an eye out for new monthly Double-Star days. By referring friends to the program, you can get 6 free stars. Also, free food or drink perks remain for birthdays, plus free refills on hot or iced coffee and tea.
This morning, we’ve been seeing a “We’re sorry, a system error has occurred. Please try again later.” message, which prevents mobile orders. Expect this to be resolved soon.
Click here to download Starbucks for iPhone in the App Store.
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Yes to being able to use rewards on mobile pickup.
Yeah that had prevented me from redeeming my current freebie shown in the screenshot. Booya
My God, it’s full of stars….
Its a raw deal for those who don’t regularly buy the expensive coffees.
That is true. But the argument could go both ways, for those that buy multiple espresso drinks plus food and only get 1 star (unless they do each transaction individually).
Yeah, for me it’s a big plus. $5 was typically a minimum order amount for me at Starbucks, and most often it was more because my wife and I usually go together. So the rewards should come a little quicker for me now than they did before.
The launch is a bit rocky (app errors, I have had to uninstall the app and reinstall it for it to work correctly for me this morning, etc.), but I expect it’s going to be smoothed out pretty soon, once they’ve finished transferring everyone and can squish the remaining bugs.
And yeah to redeeming rewards through the app!
I guess it’s a complex program and ordering system, as the Android app keeps getting bigger and bigger, and with the service holding on to more memory, my phone is slower and slower.