How to buy Starbucks coffee with your iPhone

By Molly McHugh January 19, 2012

Starbucks introduced a new app for iPhone and BlackBerry today allowing users to pay for coffee via smartphone. And with a location (let’s be honest, more like four or five) in our neighborhood, we decided to try it out.

The only things you’re required to have are a Starbucks gift card and account. You’re able to sign up for an account on your phone, but consider yourselves warned, it’s not a fun process. We all know apps aren’t great data entry tools, and this one is no exception. It unfortunately wasn’t an option during the test run, so head here and do it beforehand if you plan on using the app.

We also had an issue finding the coffee shop’s location. It could’ve easily been a 3G glitch, but one of the baristas mentioned that its particular locale is sometimes difficult to find via GPS, and manually finding the address proved challenging. After a second run, we were able to pay remotely. It really is as simple as it claims to be: you register your gift card (or cards), tap for purchases, and let the barista scan it after you order. What we’re uncertain of is why this is so much easier than handing over a debit or credit card. Other than the seconds and fraction of human interaction it shaves off, the experience seems pretty comparable.

But for those times when you’ve got nothing but your phone and a craving for caffeine, the Starbucks Mobile App has you covered.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…

Mobile

This one Apple Fitness feature completely changed how I exercise

Someone holding an iPhone with the Apple Fitness app open, showing the Custom Plans feature.

I have a confession to make: I'm not good at sticking to a workout routine. I love running, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), strength training, etc. In the moment of those exercises and in the post-workout euphoria, I feel amazing. But when it comes to waking up early in the morning to do these things before work? Well, that's where I really struggle.

This has been a problem for a while now. I go to bed with the goal of waking up early and going to the gym, but as I groggily open my eyes to snooze the alarm on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, I end up falling back asleep. And I've been repeating this over and over and over again.

Mobile

Best refurbished iPhone deals: Get an iPhone 14 for $513

An iPhone 13 in white color option.

The Apple iPhone is one of the best phones on the market, and because of it they don’t often come cheap. There are some great iPhone deals out there, but it’s rare to find significant discounts on newer models without having to commit to a longterm contract with a carrier, and it’s even less frequent you come across one of the best iPhones with a major price drop. This is where shopping refurbished can come in handy. Refurbished iPhones — for the most part — will come backed with a functionality guarantee or extended return window, making refurbished iPhones as safe of a purchase as shopping new. There are a lot of refurbished iPhone models seeing great price drops right now, which is why we’ve done the heavy lifting of rounding up all of the best refurbished iPhone deals. You’ll find them below, as well as some information on which refurbished iPhone might be best for you.
iPhone XR -- from $136

A refurbished model but one that's unlocked and comes with a full one-year warranty, the Apple iPhone XR is still pretty stylish for its age. It has a large 6.1-inch LCD screen with 1,792 x 828 resolution with Liquid Retina technology ensuring it looks super sharp. Powered by the A12 Bionic chip, it's starting to show its age but still has potential. There's also a 12MP back camera that can shoot 4K videos while the front-facing camera is 7MP and ideal for selfie-taking.

Mobile

Nomad’s new iPhone case and Apple Watch band may be its coolest yet

Nomad Glow 2.0 Sport Case and Apple Watch Sport Band in daylight.

Though the world of Apple accessories is a dime a dozen, one of the better brands that you can buy is Nomad. Nomad has a variety of amazing leather Apple Watch bands and cases, as well as non-leather options, too. In August 2023, Nomad released a one-of-a-kind Glow in the Dark Apple Watch band that sold out in about 12 hours.

Since that Glow in the Dark band was a limited edition, no one was sure if Nomad was going to re-release it, and this explains the high resale prices you’ll find on eBay. But Nomad just released the Glow 2.0 Apple Watch Sport Band as well as a new Glow 2.0 Sport Case for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. And, yes, they're just as wonderful as before.
The new and improved Glow 2.0