1. WhatsApp
Works on: iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Nokia
Cost: Free for first year
Already used by a huge number of under-25s, WhatsApp is a cross-platform app that allows you to text people without paying.
To achieve this, WhatsApp sends messages across the internet using either Wi-Fi or the data plan you use for email and browsing the web. The big money savings come while travelling abroad using free Wi-Fi. WhatsApp is so popular there are rumours (regularly denied) that Google is on the verge of paying $1bn to buy it.
But it does not have the market entirely to itself. Other services, such as Viber, allow you to make free calls and texts to other Viber users through 3G or Wi-Fi.
2 RedLaser
Works on: iPhone, Android and Windows Phone
Cost: Free
Owned by auction site eBay, RedLaser enables shoppers to scan barcodes while out shopping and compare the price of an item with both offline and online stores. You can also read reviews, ratings and information about searched products.
Once you find the cheapest price you can buy the item via the app, have it delivered to your home or arrange to pick it up from a local retailer. RedLaser can also scan food labels and barcodes and alert you to any ingredient to which you might be allergic.
There are a number of other comparison shopping apps that do similar things. Idealo also lets you scan the barcode on a product and search for the cheapest place to buy it.
Google Shopper also works on Android and iPhone.
3 08 Wizard
Works on: iPhone, Android and Windows Phone
Cost: iPhone 69p, Android 99p, Windows Phone 99p
Calling “free” 0800 numbers or premium rate 0845 and 0870 numbers from a mobile phone can cost a small fortune. O2, for example, charges contract customers 20.4p a minute to call 0800, 0845 and 0870.
08 Wizard works by replacing 08 calls with an 01 or 02 landline number. This allows you to make the call using your free inclusive minutes if you’re on a contract, or at a lower rate if you’re on pay-as-you-go.
To use, simply input the 08 number and the app will come up with the corresponding 01 or 02 number and redirect your call.
4 Loyalli
Works on: iPhone and Android
Cost: Free
Instead of having your wallet weighed down by numerous loyalty cards, Loyalli combines them into a smartphone app. Already, 600 retailers use Loyalli as their loyalty reward scheme. Each has a “QR code” which the customer scans with their phone in order to add a “stamp” to their “card”. However, it is still early days for this app and others like it, such as stampme, and few of the big-name coffee chains are members.
5 Redeemia
Works on: iPhone and Android
Cost: Free
There are numerous “daily deals” sites available now including Groupon, Wowcher, Living Social, KGB Deals and Secret Escapes. They all work in a similar way by negotiating discounts with retailers and service providers and passing on savings to consumers.
Redeemia saves you the hassle of trawling through each individual website or app each day by capturing the best deals from each site based on your preferences and location. So if you’re looking for a spa day in Bristol, for example, it lists all the deals from the different providers.
6 MyVoucherCodes
Works on: iPhone and Android
Cost: Free
The app from the website of the same name, MyVoucherCodes uses GPS to send you the best money-off deals for eating out, shopping, health and beauty, travel, entertainment etc, wherever you are.
Instead of printing a voucher off the internet and taking it to a retailer, you simply show the voucher on your phone screen at the store to get your discount. Handy if you’re in Pizza Express and realise you’re the only one about to pay your bill without a money-off voucher.
7 Trivago
Works on: iPhone and Android
Cost: Free
Whereas other apps and websites compare the cost of hotel rooms, Trivago goes one step further and compares room rates on the main hotel booking websites such as booking.com, hotels.com and lastminute.com. So if you want to stay in a particular hotel it can tell you the cheapest site to book it through.
Alternatively, if you need a hotel bed for tonight it can also use your current location to find a nearby hotel with availability and, again, the cheapest agent to book it through. Kayak runs a similar “search one and done” service for comparing hotel websites.
8 Azimo
Works on: iPhone and Android
Cost: Free
Azimo lets people transfer money from the UK to more than 100 countries at a fraction of the rates charged by banks or money transfer services.
To send money, users need to register and enter the recipient’s bank account details. Azimo charges about 1% of the value of the transaction, up to a maximum of 15 per transaction.
The app claims big savings versus other money transfer methods. For example, sending 500 from the UK to Poland would cost 42.50 at a typical high street bank, 32.64 with Western Union, or 19.70 through PayPal. Amizo would set you back just 6.25.
Most banks and mobile phone networks have developed mobile money apps, most of which work across all networks. It’s also worth considering O2 Wallet and Barclays’ Pingit. Both are free and open to anyone.
Guardian News and Media 2013
