Fetch Rewards Review: 10 Things to Know Before You Sign Up (2024)

Ibottais considered by many to be the best grocery rebate app, but you’re missing out on rewards if you haven’t tried Fetch.

Since I first downloaded the Fetch app (formerly Fetch Rewards) in January 2018 and started uploading my grocery receipts every week, I’ve redeemed my points for more than $1,000 in Amazon gift cards.

My personal strategy has evolved over the years as new features have been added to the app.

What Is the Fetch App and How Does It Work? Fast Facts

• What Is Fetch?: Fetch is a consumer loyalty app with more than 17 million monthly active users. It rebranded from Fetch Rewards to Fetch in early 2023. The rewards app is not affiliated with the Fetch package delivery app.

• How Does Fetch Work?: When you upload any receipt through the Fetch app, you’ll be awarded points that can be used to redeem free gift cards.

• How Does Fetch Make Money?: Fetch is free to users. It makes money from contracts with major companies that are featured in the app, including KraftHeinz and PepsiCo.

• What Stores Does Fetch Work With?: Fetch doesn’t care where you shop and accepts receipts from any store. App users frequently upload receipts from retailers like Walmart, Kroger, Target, CVS, Publix and Dollar General.

• Is Fetch Legit?: Fetch is a legitimate shopping app that awards users with free gift cards for uploading receipts. When I last checked in January 2024, the Fetch app had a 4.8/5 star rating in the App Store and a 4.6/5 star rating in the Google Play Store.

• Is Fetch Better Than Ibotta?: Fetch is easier to use than Ibotta and takes less time. However, Ibotta has a better welcome bonus, more ways to earn and flexible redemption options. You can upload the same receipt to both apps.

This Fetch app review includes the strategy that I use to earn the most points. Read on to learn everything you need to know before you sign up!

Table of Contents:

• Fetch Doesn’t Care Where You Shop
• 1,000 Points = $1 Value
• Uploading a Receipt Takes 10 Seconds
• There Are 5 Main Ways to Earn Points
• Electronic Receipts Are Now Accepted
• Upload Your Receipts to Multiple Apps
• Redeem Your Points for Gift Cards
• Use Your Gift Cards Promptly
• Refer Your Family and Friends
• Pros and Cons Summary
• Frequently Asked Questions

1. Fetch Doesn’t Care Where You Shop

Fetch works with all major grocery retailers. The app doesn’t care whether you’re loyal to Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, Whole Foods or a regional supermarket chain.

In addition to your grocery receipts, the Fetch app now accepts physical receipts from any retailer where you dine or shop.

That means receipts from restaurants, clothing stores, warehouse clubs and gas stations are all accepted.

From my experience, receipts from grocery retailers earn the most points.

2. 1,000 Points = Up to $1 Value

Every 1,000 points that you earn through Fetch is typically equal to about a dollar, but sometimes the value is less.

Fetch recently adjusted the number of points needed to redeem many popular gift cards. For example, a $25 Amazon gift card now requires 28,000 points. It used to be 25,000 points.

I’ll have more on the best gift card redemption options later on in this article.

3. Uploading a Receipt Takes 10 Seconds

The main reason why I recommend the Fetch app is because it’s so much easier to use than Ibotta.

With Fetch, all you have to do is upload your receipt to the app and you’ll receive points immediately. There are no barcodes to scan or offers that need to be unlocked.

However, you can only scan 35 receipts over a 7-day period. This limit is based on the date that you snap the receipt.

In addition, physical receipts must be scanned within 14 days of the checkout date.

Fetch updated its receipt-scanning technology in March 2023 to more accurately capture data from your receipts. It normally takes about 10 seconds to upload a receipt to the app.

I demonstrate how this process works in the short YouTube video below:

4. There Are 5 Main Ways to Earn Points

To earn points faster with Fetch, you want to focus on the Special Offers featured on the Discover tab when you open the app. That’s the best way to increase your points balance.

Here are the five main ways to earn points with the Fetch app:

• Special Offers
• Participating Brands
• Groceries From Any Store
• Member-Only Offers
• Fetch Play

Special Offers

Fetch features more Special Offers than before. More than 100 offers were available to redeem the last time I used the app. Simply upload a receipt with a participating item to receive bonus points.

This is an easy way to score 1,000 to 5,000 points, which is typically equal to $1 to $5.

Lately, I’ve noticed that more of these offers require you to shop at a specific retailer (Walmart, Amazon, etc.) to earn points. In that case, you’ll see a store logo next to the offer.

Bottom line: Check the app before you shop and read the fine print before heading to the store!

Participating Brands

You can earn points with Fetch by purchasing select name-brand products. Fetch partners with more than 300 brands, so this is a simple way to earn points for things that you already buy.

I normally don’t plan my purchases based on these brands, but you can find a list of them at the top of the Discover tab.

Fetch says receipts with at least one participating brand should receive a minimum of 35 points, but sometimes I’ve earned 100 or 200 points for these purchases.

Groceries From Any Store

If you don’t buy a lot of products from major national brands, you can still earn points with Fetch. When you shop at any of the following stores, you’ll earn at least 25 points per receipt:

• Grocery retailers
• Supermarkets
• Club stores
• Home improvement and hardware stores
• Pet stores
• Liquor stores
• Convenience stores
• Gas station receipts

Of course, 25 points is just the minimum. You’ll earn more if your receipt has a Special Offer or a participating brand item.

You can also earn points with Fetch when you upload shopping or dining receipts from any other retailers. Remember that every receipt earns a minimum of 25 points.

Member-Only Offers

Another way to earn points is by joining loyalty programs from specific brands to receive member-only offers.

There are several programs for you to opt-in to from the Fetch app:

• Huggies Rewards+ Fetch
• General Mills Good Rewards

After you opt-in to these programs, you’ll have the opportunity to earn more points by uploading your receipts on eligible purchases.

In addition, Fetch has partnered with GoodRx for prescription savings.

When you show your pharmacist the digital GoodRx card from the Fetch app, you’ll save on your prescription and earn at least 1,500 Fetch points.

I have a separate review and walkthrough of this partnership here.

Fetch Play

The newest way to earn points is called Fetch Play. This doesn’t require uploading receipts. Instead, you earn by downloading and playing games from Fetch’s library.

You can access Fetch Play from the Social tab within the regular Fetch app.

UPDATE: Fetch discontinued its popular Daily Reward prize wheel when it launched Fetch Play. However, the company said the prize wheel could make a return sometime in 2024.

5. Electronic Receipts Are Accepted

If you do a lot of shopping online, Fetch has a Digital Receipt Program called eReceipts.

To participate, you must connect your Amazon or email account to earn points for online purchases. Participating retailers include Walmart, Target, Shipt, Costco, Instacart and many others.

Every time you tap the blue eReceipt button from the app, Fetch will scan your account for digital receipts. This never earns me as many points as the physical receipts.

Unfortunately, you can’t scan photos or printouts of eReceipts. Learn more about the eReceipts program here.

6. Upload Your Receipts to Multiple Apps

Fetch is one of only two grocery rebate apps that I use. The other is Ibotta.

Fortunately, you can upload the same receipt to Fetch and Ibotta or other shopping apps. In some cases, the Fetch and Ibotta apps feature offers for the exact same items.

This is a great way to stack your earnings. You can take it even further by clipping digital or paper coupons.

IMPORTANT: Although you can upload the same grocery receipt to different apps, you never want to upload the same receipt to Fetch twice. That’s a violation of the terms and conditions.

7. Redeem Your Points for Gift Cards

Fetch allows you to request a gift card starting at 3,000 points, which is equivalent to up to $3. However, there are more gift card options available if you wait until you reach 10,000 or more points.

Here are some of the popular gift card redemption options:

• Amazon
• American Cancer Society
• Best Buy
• Delta
• Hotels.com
• Hulu
• Marshalls & T.J Maxx
• Southwest
• Target
• The Home Depot
• Uber
• Visa Prepaid
• Walmart
• Whole Foods Market

Unlike Ibotta, cash back is not an option with Fetch. However, a Visa Prepaid card is available.

After selecting a reward to redeem, your electronic gift card will be available through the app.

Fetch says it can take up to three days for you to receive your gift card, but typically rewards are available to use immediately or a few minutes after redemption.

If your reward is still processing, you have the option to cancel it and your points will be added back to your balance.

8. Use Your Gift Cards Promptly

When you’ve earned enough points for a $10 or $25 gift card, that’s the best time to redeem because there are plenty of gift card options available.

I do not recommend that you keep a large balance with Fetch or any shopping app.

Although my Fetch account has never been hacked and I follow the password recommendations, there’s no way to 100% guarantee that my points will always be there.

Think about it this way: Your bank deposits are FDIC-insured, but your Fetch points are not.

My advice is to earn your points, redeem them when you reach $10 or $25, and use the gift cards quickly before you forget that you have them!

9. Refer Your Family and Friends

If you get started with Fetch and enjoy the app, you may be able to score extra points by recommending it to your family and friends. Referral offers change frequently.

Click on the Me tab from the app to find your personal referral code. Mine is 2Q7VV3 if you want to use it.

NOTE: Fetch used to regularly offer 2,000 points to new users and also the person who referred them. This welcome bonus has been reduced to only 100-1,000 points since March 2023. Typically, you will earn points after using a referral code and uploading your first receipt.

When you connect with friends and family through Fetch, you’ll be able to see their activity on the Social tab. They’ll also be able to see your activity, including points earned from submitting receipts.

To stop sharing this information, you can manually remove friends from the app:

• Go to the Social tab
• Tap your friend’s name/picture
• Select the three dots and Remove Friend

This is the only workaround as of this update. Ideally, Fetch would add a privacy feature to allow users to hide their activity.

10. Pros and Cons of Fetch Rewards App

If you’re already earning cash back with Ibotta, adding Fetch to the mix makes a lot of sense. I still earn a lot more with Ibotta, but the Fetch app is faster and easier to use.

To get free gift cards with Fetch on a regular basis, take advantage of Special Offers as much as possible.

If you don’t scan receipts with those Special Offers or participating brand items, Fetch may not be worth it for you. Your balance will increase by only 25 points per receipt.

You can sign up for Fetch in less than two minutes with an email address or an existing Google or Facebook account. You’ll be asked to enter your phone number, state of residence and birthday.

During the sign-up process, create a strong password to keep your Fetch account safe and secure.

The Fetch team recommends creating a password that’s at least 12 characters long and includes at least one capital letter, one number and one special character.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Michael Saves Content You May Like:

• How to Use the Google Sheets Budget Template (Free Spreadsheet!)
• Ibotta Cheat Sheet: How I Earned $4,000 Cash Back
• The Big 3 Credit Card Strategy: How to Maximize Cash Back Rewards