Honey App Review

This Honey App Review focuses on the free shopping app designed to save you money!  It operates by discovering and entering discount codes to your shopping cart on participating merchant websites including Amazon and countless others. 

Honey App Discovery:

Have you ever caught yourself scouring the web for discount codes for what seems like hours trying to get the best price on something? I frequently get caught up shopping for the same item on 3-4 websites hunting for the best deal.  Like most products the manufacturers control the list price but retailers sometimes offer discount codes in exchange for an email address or for a holiday event. Sometimes this search ends in frustration and I just buy from the guy that offers free shipping. But I have a new solution to this madness, the Honey App!

I first learned about the existence of Honey (the app not the food) while listening to the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. This has been my go to podcast ever since I first discovered podcasts in early 2019.  I generally stick to the intellectual and adventure episodes that include current affairs, scientists, hunters, military, athletes, and politicians. I usually skip UFC and comedian episodes due to their raunchiness and lack of depth.  

Joining Honey: 

Honey is extremely simple to join. For Instance, it only requires a browser extension install (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, or Opera)  and account creation using Google, Facebook, or email. It will also ask for permission to run in the background with access to browsing pages. 

The Honey Privacy Policy:

The privacy policy states that they promise not to sell your data. The FAQ page also states that data is only shared within the Honey organization. This might include service providers for quality control and improvement purposes. Take this claim with a grain of salt and make your own decisions about your personal data. For me, I keep a junk email account that collects my subscriptions. Therefore, I don’t mind sharing it to save a few bucks.  As with all online services, do your own due diligence and check out their Privacy Policy and FAQs page for details. 

Saving Money with Honey:

When I first installed Honey it was only available on Chrome. Therefore, I had to change my shopping habits to make sure I shopped on Chrome instead of Edge or Firefox. Recently,  Honey has released extensions for the other browsers making it easier for me to utilize Honey without having to actively think about finding coupons. 

As long as you are shopping in a browser equipped with the extension, Honey will actively search out coupon codes for the websites you are visiting.  The extension icon will contain a number telling you how many coupon codes are available (below). When you are finished shopping and proceed to checkout Honey will ask for permission to test and choose the coupon code that provides the greatest savings.  It will then notify you how much you have saved and recalculate the shopping cart.

A Trial Run:

This process can be seen below where I re-enacted my first purchase with my new friend Honey. 

1. I added items (also referred by JRE Podcast) to my cart. Meanwhile, note that the extension icon is already showing 2 coupons available above. Proceed to Checkout

2. The Honey Gold mascot pops up to tell me it found coupons. Choose Apply Coupons

3. Honey will test every coupon in its database for the best match. It will tell you which code it chose and how much money you saved. 

4. Honey automatically enters the best discount code. And the Shopping Cart is also updated to reflect the new price. 20% Discount in this case. (Imagine if it was a big ticket item!)

Honey furthers its usefulness on sites like Amazon by tracking price history or saving your desired items into a drop list.  Here you can set up email notifications for specific price reduction scenarios for those items you are willing to wait on in order to get the best deal. I also recently realized that items I had shopped (Added to Cart/Saved for Later) for were added to my drop list so that I would be notified of price drops. Exploring examples to show for this Honey Review I came across a wiffle ball set I looked at for our son. Honey did not give me the best price badge so I viewed the price history. After the browser redirected to JoinHoney.com, I was able to see that I missed an excellent deal on Amazon Prime Day. When the price dropped to nearly 62% off its current value. 

Honey App Review on Mobile: 

Honey has also developed a mobile app for those who prefer to shop on their phone or tablet.  I downloaded it but haven’t found it functional for my needs. The search function needs work. In addition, the application itself reminds me of a Group On style application suggesting the best deals that are available today. The majority of which are of zero interest to me. 

Honey Rewards: 

Honey has a luck of the draw rewards program that supplies users with Honey Gold. You can earn Gold a number of ways: 

1. Qualifying purchases at participating vendors.  Not all websites that support Honey provide Honey Gold. 

2. Bonuses: some participating websites offer bonuses that can provide shoppers with larger amounts of Gold for qualifying purchases. 

3. Being a Member. Keep an eye out for an orange Honey Gold Box on your browser for notifications about bonuses just for being a member.  

4. Referrals: Share your code with friends to earn gold. At the time of this review 2 friends = $10 worth of Honey Gold after they sign up, install, and complete a purchase. 

When you accumulate 1000 Honey Gold you can exchange it for a $10 gift card or donate to charity if you wish. 

Honey Pros:

• 100% Free to use (Honey makes their money as a commission from the retailer)
• Easy Install on all of today’s most popular workstation browsers.
• Low Impact on network and PC resources.
• Save Time searching for valid discount codes.
• Save Money even when you forget to hunt for a discount code.
• Install Honey on your spouse’s browser so that they save money too!
• Drop List and Price History tell you the best times to buy. 

Honey Cons:

• There is always risk of a data breach with any technology. .
• Not all retailers participate with Honey.
• Honey Gold isn’t earned on Amazon.
• Honey Mobile leaves a bit to be desired.
• Doesn’t work on the Amazon Mobile App
• Mobile browsers don’t allow extensions. 

Honey App Review Wrap Up:

I have been thoroughly pleased with my savings from using Honey. I attempt to incorporate it as a shopping tool every chance I get.  Data collection and sharing appear to be limited enough that I am willing to accept the risk. If you are risk averse you need to evaluate their policies and make your own decisions. Should you decide to give it a try, feel free to share and use one of my links or referral codes (joinhoney.com/ref/jsu7ws8) in this Honey App Review.