The Points Guy launches new app with features for maximizing travel rewards

With the abundance of airline and hotel loyalty programs and credit card rewards becoming more and more competitive, managing rewards earning and redemptions can turn into a challenging task.

An app that would optimize this process has been a long time coming – and now, it’s finally launched.

On Sept. 27, 2021, CreditCards.com sister site The Points Guy announced the launch of The Points Guy App. The app will allow users to connect their credit card accounts and rewards programs to track their progress, pick the best card to pay with to maximize earnings and find travel redemptions that offer the best value.

The new app is full of useful features and provides users with ways to “learn, earn and burn” their rewards.

Here’s the first look at this exciting new product.

What The Points Guy App offers

Juggling multiple rewards credit cards and loyalty programs can become a complicated process even for experienced cardholders and travel enthusiasts.

The Points Guy App makes this process much simpler. The app tracks rewards, suggests the best cards to use on purchases based on the user’s location, offers redemption options and explains how to use them. Additionally, users can stay on top of travel rewards news with The Points Guy’s news feed personalized to their interests.

The number of features the app offers, from sign-up bonus tracking to step-by-step instructions for booking award travel, is truly impressive and shows the level of expertise and attention to finer details put into this product.

“It’s been a complicated piece of product,” Mitchell Stoutin, The Points Guy App’s head developer, told us. “And this is the great thing about having the TPG staff behind this, to have these very, very deep travel experts on points and miles. I locked a number of them in rooms in Austin with very large whiteboards for days at a time, getting them to explain to us what was happening so we could build this piece of software. And I think it really came out great.”

Learning with The Points Guy

The first section of the app, “Home,” provides the opportunity for users to stay in the know of the travel industry trends. Here, you can track the latest travel news from The Points Guy, search articles and adjust your feed to follow topics like points and miles, deals, credit cards and more. You can also bookmark stories to return to them later.

Earning rewards with The Points Guy

The “Cards” section of the app allows users to add their credit cards by connecting their card accounts and access their earnings summary. The tab shows how much cardholders have earned and analyzes missed earning opportunities, offering a better card option.

In this section, users can also check which card they should use for a purchase based on their location. For cardholders with multiple credit cards earning different rewards rates, this can be a rather convenient feature.

For cardholders working to earn a welcome bonus, the app has another useful feature. By adding the date of approval, users can track their progress to meet the spend requirement.

In the “Points” tab, app users can add their hotel and airline loyalty programs and track the net worth of their rewards, including their card points and miles. Here, they can also check the points and value breakdown based on The Points Guy’s evaluations.

Burning points and miles with the Points Guy

In the “Award Explorer,” users can plan how to burn the rewards they’ve earned based on the estimated lowest price.

When a user taps on an award travel redemption option in search results, they can see transferable points toward the trip, prices in cash and points and credit card offers that could help them boost their points.

Probably the most exciting feature here is “How to Book” – step-by-step instructions on booking award travel. The process of transferring points may be confusing, especially to those new to travel rewards, so the detailed instructions the app offers can be extremely helpful.

Should you download the Points Guy app?

The Points Guy app is an ambitious product that can make earning and redeeming travel rewards easier. With the expertise behind the app and countless unique features, it’s an exciting addition to a credit cardholder’s list of downloaded apps.

However, we’ve noticed a few bugs while testing The Points Guy app – some minor, others more significant, like miscategorized transactions in spending reports or having to reconnect multiple accounts. The developers are continuing to work on the app and actively asking for feedback. For instance, the “Award Explorer” tab shows a message the feature is still in early testing and encourages users to report any info that looks inaccurate.

That said, the app is still an excellent product built by some of the most knowledgeable travel rewards experts. Despite some glitches that will likely be ironed out in the future, The Points Guy App has potential to save its users money on travel and make managing rewards simpler than it’s ever been.

The Points Guy App is currently available to iPhone users. Android users may have to wait to get their hands on the new app, but the developers are hoping to release it at the end of the year or the beginning of 2021.

Bottom line

The Points Guy App is an exciting new product that can help cardholders get the most of their credit cards, points and miles. While some features aren’t perfect yet, it shows amazing potential and is undoubtedly a helpful tool for award travel enthusiasts.