CardStar: A Better Way to Get Reward Cards Into an iPhone
Do you carry barcoded merchant “Reward Cards” with you when you shop? I used to attach the mini versions to my keychain but I had too many: Borders, Barnes & Noble, Giant and several more. Of course, when I removed them from the keychain, they were never with me when I was shopping at my favorite locations, so I never got the “rewards.” Sometimes the store will try to find my account by phone number, but that’s hit or miss.
For a while, I tried to use my iPhone camera to capture and carry the barcodes around, but it’s just not suited for close-up, detailed photos. I’d say I had a 50 percent or so success rate with that method.
The Consumerist just made mention of CardStar, which you can find in the iTunes App Store. It’s currently free, but only for a limited time, so I just nabbed it. At some point, it will cost 99 cents, which I still think is a bargain. CardStar doesn’t need the barcode image from your reward cards. Instead, you simply enter the numbers from your card and CardStar creates the barcode for you. It makes for a much cleaner look and should be easily readable when at the store. CardStar includes support for over 190 merchants, and you can add your own using the Advanced features.
Wow, that’s pretty clever actually. Hopefully there will be a version (or something similar) for the Pre shortly, because I’ve been trying to make my keychain smaller lately and this would definitely help.
I tried it but ended up ditching it. It worked the first time I used it at any given store, but the check-out person ended up entering the number by hand after because it would not scan.
Ah, that’s a shame. Maybe that’s why it’s temporarily free.
Tried it but removed it. Tried to add my library cards using the advanced thingy but it didn’t show the bar code right. They can’t expect peopel to try every one of the various barcode type thingies you can select each time they enter a custom card! They need a preview mode where you select the right one
Cptnodegard- Send an image of your card with the numbers to info@mycardstar.com. You probably just weren’t selecting the proper symbology. If you send us an image we can figure it out for you and let you know.
-The CardStar Team
@cardstar
Thanks for chiming in live. Always nice to see that.
Im curius as to how long another version f9or Windows Mobile, S60 or Blackberry is expected?
Has anyone seen a similar product for other phones out there? I think its a great idea.
@wireless
We will be on Blackberry as soon as we can. We are shooting to be available on Blackberry within the next month to 2 months. Our focus right now has been working on the newest version for the iPhone which you will see this next week including complete merchant information.
Blackberry is next on our list!
When will this app be available for blackberry? I love it and can’t wait to be able to use it on my blackberry!
Our focus right now is on Android. So Blackberry has been put on the back burner. Dont worry though, in talks with Verizon now!
Hmmmm, forgive my skepticism but seeing is believing now regarding seeing this available for the Blackberry. Considering in June, a CardStar rep said “Blackberry is next on our list!” and to expect it withing 2 months. Now that a shiny new toy (Android) had arrived, their focus seems to have shifted. Is this an ADHD thing?
Hey last time I checked more people had Blackberries than Droids. Come on CardStar I’ve been waiting months for this app to come to BB (ever since I saw it on the iphone). Let’s get movin’ on the Blackberry version!