Starbucks

Spotify and Starbucks sign multi-year streaming music partnership, should Apple be worried?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

How times change. It used to be that Starbucks would partner with Apple on any relevant music-focused initiative. But as the balance of power has slowly but surely shifted from music downloads to streaming, Apple is no longer the preferred partner.

Announced Tuesday, a potentially far-reaching partnership between the U.S.-based coffeehouse chain and Spotify, the world's leading streaming-music service hailing from Sweden, will see Starbucks promote premium Spotify subscription tiers while granting Spotify users access to Starbucks' rewards program.

Starbucks, Spotify ink big deal that gives employees Premium subscription

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

While it's been a partner of iTunes in the past, Starbucks announced on Monday a big partnership with Spotify that will link its 7,000 stores in the US and 10 million My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members with Spotify’s 60 million global users.

Most notably, Starbucks' 150,000 US-based employees will receive a free Spotify Premium subscription in the coming weeks, followed shortly thereafter by employees in Canada and the UK. Spotify Premium is priced at $10 per month.

Hackers find easy way to steal large sums of money through Starbucks app

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Hackers are stealing money from users' credit cards, banks, and PayPal accounts through the Starbucks mobile app, the coffee giant confirmed to CNN on Tuesday.

The app, which lets users pay at checkout and reload Starbucks gift cards, has an auto-reload function that makes it easy for hackers to take from users, not needing any account numbers.

Starbucks app now supports Apple Pay

Sébastien Page ∙ February 11, 2015

Reloading your Starbucks Card directly from the app just got that much easier, with today's update that brings support for Apple Pay. Although the coffee chain was listed as one of the Apple Pay partners at launch, it took the company several months to update their app to offer full support for Apple's new mobile payment service.

Starbucks launches ‘Mobile Order & Pay’ in Oregon, national rollout planned for 2015

Cody Lee ∙ December 4, 2014

Starbucks has announced that it's launched a new "Mobile Order & Pay" service that will allow customers to place an order using the Starbucks app on their iPhone and schedule it for pickup. The service, which we first heard about in July, is available now at stores in Portland, Oregon, and will rollout to other locations in 2015.

The whole thing works like you'd expect it to. You can place an order for both food and beverages, and drinks are completely customizable down to the size, dairy and espresso additives, and more. Once you've selected all of your items, you choose the closest participating store for pickup and pay in-app with your Starbucks card.

Starbucks offering free month of Lumosity Premium as its ‘Pick of the Week’

Cody Lee ∙ August 27, 2014

Heads up US-based readers, Starbucks is currently offering a free month of Lumosity's Premium service as its App Store 'Pick of the Week.' The promotion is worth a solid savings of $15, and opens up additional games and features for an already extremely popular app.

For those unfamiliar with Lumosity, it's essentially "sophisticated, scientifically designed brain training for anyone." The iOS app, which currently has a 5-star rating on 85K+ reviews, offers games that help improve skills in the areas of memory, problem-solving and more.

Starbucks preparing coffee ordering service for mobile app

Cody Lee ∙ July 21, 2014

Great news Starbucks-goers. You may soon be able to order your coffee using your iPhone. In a recent interview with Recode, the company's Chief Digital Officer Adam Brotman said that it plans to start testing a pickup service later this year via its mobile app.

The move comes as Americans are increasingly turning to smartphone-friendly services like Uber and GrubHub. And with nearly 15% of Starbucks' US purchases now coming via its mobile app, adding the ability to order from it seems like a natural evolution...

Starbucks offering popular ‘Threes’ game as its free ‘Pick of the Week’

Cody Lee ∙ July 7, 2014

Just a quick heads up for all of you Starbucks-goers out there. The coffee-serving chain is offering the popular 'Threes!' puzzle game for iPhone and iPad free this week as its App Pick of the Week.

For those unfamiliar with Threes!, it's a simple number-matching puzzle game known for its beautiful UI and addictive gameplay. It typically costs $1.99 and is very rarely (if ever) offered for free...

Duracell installing wireless Powermat chargers in Starbucks stores

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Duracell and Starbucks announced today that they have reached a partnership that will see wireless chargers installed into several Starbucks stores. The chargers will use Duracell's Powermat technology, which works with a number of devices—including iPhones.

Stores will be equipped with 'Powermat Spots,' which are designated areas on tables and counters where customers can place their devices to charge wirelessly. Starbucks believes this will be far more convenient for its customers than having to hunt down outlets...

Starbucks 3.0 is out with new iOS 7 design, shake-to-pay and tipping

Cody Lee ∙ March 20, 2014

That big Starbucks app update we told you about last week has arrived in the App Store today. The update, which brings the client to version 3.o, includes the long-awaited redesign for iOS 7 as well as a handful of major new features and improvements.

On the new features side, we have shake-to-pay, which will allow you to bring up your barcode with the flick of a wrist to pay for your Starbucks order. There's also a new digital tipping function that lets you tip your barista, and a new Dashboard view...

Starbucks bringing shake-to-pay, digital tipping and iOS 7-friendly look to iPhone app

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 12, 2014

Starbucks, the global coffee company and coffeehouse chain, announced Wednesday that new features are coming to its free iPhone application next Wednesday, March 19.

For starters, coffee aficionados in the United States and Canada will be able to use the firm's free iPhone app to 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...

Following backlash, Starbucks beefs up security in iPhone app

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

You have to hand it to the folks of Starbucks. When they want to, they can move rather quickly. Hot on the heels of its blog post earlier today addressing security concerns regarding its iPhone app, the coffee company released an update this evening.

The change log for the update, which is marked as version 2.6.2, notes the new release brings 'additional performance enhancements and safeguards.' And we're hoping this means that the app no longer stores user passwords and data in plain text...