Microsoft’s Bing Rewards program now available on iOS

Bing Rewards (iPhone screenshot 002)

Microsoft launched Bing Rewards in September 2010 in a desperate attempt to get people search the web with Bing. Bing Rewards provides credits to users of major desktop browsers through regular Bing searches and special promotions.

Today, Bing Rewards is going mobile as the program has just been extended to owners of iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

Rather surprisingly, the Windows maker said that Bing Rewards was “coming soon” to Windows Phone devices. Bing Rewards replaced Microsoft’s similarly conceived initiatives, SearchPerks! and Bing Cashback…

The company explains in a blog post how it works:

Bing Rewards was designed to help you discover ways Bing can help you do the things that are most important to you.

It allows us to recognize and appreciate our most consistent, loyal users with additional perks as a way of saying thanks for choosing Bing.

You can earn credits by searching every day and then redeem them for great rewards including gift cards from top brands such as Amazon.com, Xbox, Skype, Fandango, and Dominos or donate your credits to a local school or charity of your choice.

Just visit the mobile Bing website on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPa, sign in with your Microsoft or Facebook account and search to earn your credits.

Bing Rewards (iPhone screenshot 001)

Your Bing Rewards balance is displayed at the bottom of every Bing search results page and there’s even an exclusive mobile-only search offer that gives you an opportunity to earn additional credits.

Offers customized just for you can be found in the new mobile-optimized Bing dashboard. You’ll soon be able to take advantage of these offers right from your phone, after Microsoft finishes updating the mobile version of the redemption center.

“For now when you’re ready, go to the Bing Rewards redemption center on your PC to redeem credits for a selection of gift cards, donations, and sweepstakes entries,” reads the post.

Bing credits are typically redeemable against product purchases like electronics, gift cards, sweepstakes and charitable donations. Not all desktop Bing Rewards features are available on mobile initially and Microsoft said feature parity will be achieved “over the next several months”.