Airtime Rewards review and list of retailers

How do you like the idea of earning cashback just by spending from your credit or debit card as usual? Then you’re probably going to love Airtime Rewards. Let’s see how the app works, where you can use it and what you can expect.

Airtime Rewards

I’m a big fan of making money by using as little effort as possible. And there are two ways that I like the most – cashback and using receipt scanning apps.

But one major drawback comes to using any of these apps, especially for new users. And that’s to remember actually to use them. But Airtime Rewards ends that issue.

What is Airtime Rewards?

Airtime Rewards is an app you download to your phone that will give you cashback when you shop in certain stores. The earnings are added to your account and you can then use that money to pay towards your phone bill. Most offers range from 1% – 10% cashback.

Is it safe?

Airtime Rewards is an official Visa and Mastercard partner and PCI Level 1 compliant. PCI is the industry standard for processing payment cards and Level 1 is the highest and most stringent level.

Airtime Rewards claims to keep your data secure and can only see the transactions you make, nothing else.

How does Airtime Rewards work?

Download the app to your smartphone and create an account, it will take just a few minutes.

Then,link your debit or credit card. You can either scan the card using your phone’s camera (as long as the card’s numbers are on the front) or enter the digits. This can be as many cards as you like. The link should be confirmed within 24 hours.

It’s important to note that Airtime Rewards will not link to American Express cards.

When you receive confirmation, look through the list of retailers on the Airtime Rewards app. This will give you an idea of when and where you can earn cashback. But you don’t need to worry about that too much. When you shop, cashback should be automatically added to your account.

But there’s also another way to earn cashback. Airtime Rewards allows you to purchase gift cards for over 40 major stores like B&M, Sainsbury’s, Asda and IKEA for use in-store or online (depending on the shop). When you buy a card, 4% of its value will be paid as cashback into your Airtime Rewards account.

4% is actually quite good for some of these gift cards. On rival apps like JamDoughnut and Sprive, many cards only pay 2 or 3%.

How long does it take to receive your rewards?

Expect your transaction to be tracked within five days. If it doesn’t, it’s easy to put in a claim through the app. Once tracked, it can take anywhere between 30 and 90 days before you can withdraw your earnings – depending on the retailer you shopped with.

Airtime Rewards retailers 2023

The list of shops is long and forever changing. However, here are the latest retailers you can earn cashback from.

Withdrawing your earnings

So, this is where Airtime Rewards is quite unique. Instead of being able to withdraw your earnings as cash, you can only do it as payment towards your mobile phone bill… if you have a compatible network.

Now, this can be done automatically, or in some cases, you may need to request credit and then top your network up yourself.

Which networks does the app work with?

You can withdraw your earnings from Airtime Rewards to the following networks:

• 3
• EE
• giffgaff
• Lebara Mobile
• Lycamobile
• Now PAYG
• O2
• Vodafone

If your network isn’t listed, then you can’t withdraw. However, there’s no reason why you can’t link to a family member’s account or keep collecting your earnings. It may incentivise you to switch to one of these networks later.

Any downsides?

Although the gift card rate is quite generous, I prefer to stick with apps like JamDoughnut. I appreciate the ability to withdraw cash more.

Obviously, the biggest downside is how you withdraw. It would be great to have a cash option, but it just isn’t there.

I find it a little frustrating as my network is giffgaff. I have to request a code when I cash out from Airtime Rewards and then call giffgaff to add it. Each month I have to buy a ‘goody bag’ from giffgaff and this can’t be done automatically.

I know it’s not a big deal, but it’s 10 minutes of my life wasted each time. I could be watching TV.

But apart from that, there are very few downsides to the app. It can just sit there on your phone and you can shop as usual.

Refer your friends

Shopping isn’t the only way you can earn with Airtime Rewards. If you refer a friend, you each earn 50 pence. And if they spend within seven days, you’ll earn an extra £1 each.

And occasionally, special promotions are available, which means you can earn £3 each!

What other people think

Over on Trustpilot. the app scores an excellent 4.5 out of 5 from close to 5,000 reviews. On the Apple App Store, it rises to 4.7 from over 40,000 reviews.

My Airtime Rewards review conclusion

This is an incredibly useful app and an easy way to earn a bit extra. It is a shame that it doesn’t work with all networks and it is a little annoying that the retailers it works with aren’t always consistent.

But that doesn’t mean it should be an app you avoid, as it’s very simple to use.

If you don’t have one of the mobile networks listed on the Airtime Rewards app, why not check out how to get a free SIM from giffgaff plus £5 credit?

Airtime Rewards promo code

If you decide to download, click the button below and use the promo code 8YXY4BLK when you join for a bonus.

Airtime Rewards

Further reading

Why not take a look at some other great money-making apps?