App Review: Crownit For Cashback

By Hozefa Kutiyanawala

Crownit. These two words are now fairly common for me as you may find me in a peculiar situation, taking a picture of my restaurant bill with my cell phone at the end of every meal.

This strange little act is not to document one of my actuals but instead to earn a discount in the form of cash back on my recently completed excavation of the wallet. In an age where eating out is burdened by a multitude of taxes, gratuities and service charges, and genuine discounts are rare to find, there comes a savior who helps us beat the system (George Orwell much?).

Why use it?

Crownit is a robust and fun mobile application which helps you earn a percentage of your bill amount in the form of cash back. The cash back is accrued in the app’s wallet in the form of points aptly titled crowns where one crown is equivalent to one rupee.

How?

The process is simple, check into the restaurant or bar through the app. The app takes barely a few seconds to detect your location and verify that you are actually at the said restaurant or bar. Then spin a wheel (like a mini wheel of fortune) which decides how much cash back you earn. The cash back percentage ranges from 2% to 25% depending on the outlet you are at. Finally, upload the bill and Voila! You are few rupees richer or less poor depending on whether you are a glass half full or half empty type of person. The app even allows you to share your earned crowns with your friends or date who may be present with you at that moment. Because true love is built on shared monies isn’t it?

The last stage is just uploading the bill image to the app which verifies if your bill is legit showing the date, time, address of the outlet, total amount, whether any discounts are availed on it and it is legible (not hazy or incomplete). This generally takes less than ten minutes and then you hear the sound of a cash register which is the sweetest sound you will ever hear as you just earned 100 rupees cash back on a total bill amount of a 1000. Sweet deal right !

What next?

So what do you do with the crowns you earned ? The same thing any king or queen has done with their crown money ! Spend it ! There are multiple ways you can redeem your crowns. It’s all online through the app. You may either recharge your prepaid mobile number, redeem movie cinema vouchers of Book My Show or PVR or even avail food and spa outlets’ discount coupons. But one of my favorite redemption options is redeeming a discount voucher of either Amazon or Flipkart because who doesn’t like free shopping.

What all do you get?

Sounds fun and crazy right. Well, the app gives you much more. In order to attract more users the app has a referral system where you refer the app to friends and then get 100 crowns when they crown their first bill. Additionally, your said friend might choose to let you earn 10 percent of what they earn every time they crown a bill in the future. This amount is given to you by the app.

Lucky with Lotteries!

The generosity doesn’t end there. In order to keep their users engaged you earn lottery tickets every time you crown a bill. Every Friday afternoon check if your tickets have earned you anything ranging from 100 crowns (which is equivalent to 100 rupees) to a Book My Show or Amazon voucher worth 500 rupees to the grand prize being an iPhone 6. This fun lottery is called The Weekly Rush and the app even has a plug IN to let you see what your friends have won that week. It connects with your friends effortlessly and brilliantly. You can see their activity on the app as well, that is if they have their privacy option off.

More Options

Now the app even allows you to earn cash back on purchase of spa packages, medical checkup or tests, gym memberships or even food or shopping discount vouchers. With a multitude of options, an easy to use and fun interface backed by a robust back end and a customer care team, it’s no wonder that this app has more than tripled it’s number of users in recent weeks. Also, the fact that nearly any and every eatery or restaurant around you will most probably be tied up with the app. What are you waiting for, Crown It and start earning right away.

You can get the app here for Android user and here for IOS users.

Hozefa is a friend who’s also a big foodie and hence an avid user of Crownit. He has won a whole lot of goodies via this app. Take his word on this one.