Starbucks, the global coffee company and coffeehouse chain,announcedWednesday that new features are coming to itsfree iPhone applicationnext Wednesday, March 19.
For starters, coffee aficionados in the United States and Canada will be able to use the firm’sfree iPhone appto tip their baristas in $0.50, $1 and $2 denominations at more than 7,000 company-operated locations in the U.S. This has apparently been a much-requested feature.
And to make mobile payments even easier, the app will include a brand new (and pretty handy) ‘Shake to Pay’ feature which does exactly that – you can just shake your iPhone to quickly bring the barcode of your Starbucks Card to the front, saving you diving into Apple’s Passbook app…
The My Starbucks Rewards interface has been streamlined to show multiple transactions in a single day and promotional offers in a single view. The built-in store locator lets you locate nearby Starbucks locations and save your favorite ones.
In light of therecent scareinvolving the appstoring passwords in clear text, Starbucks is ensuring us that it’s since fixed the problem, underscoring that no credit card or payment info gets stored on devices.
Check out a new iOS 7-inspired design below.
If you have a Starbucks Card, the app makes it easy to set up automatic reloads and add funds via credit cards, as well as send someone a Starbucks eGift Card for any amount between $5- $100, along with a personal message.
Dashboard (left), Stores (middle) and Gifts (right).
Here are some of the headline features of the app:
The company says that nearly ten million customers are currently using the mobile Starbucks app, with about eleven percent of transactions a week now happening through mobile devices.
Again, these features will arrive via the next app update, scheduled for Wednesday, March 19. A completely redone Android app, including a digital tipping feature, is due later this year.
Download Starbucks app free in the App Store.
