Apps
5 free apps for amazing deals in the Philippines
Being cheap doesn’t mean getting the worst; you just have to be practical to get the best deals in town. You don’t even have to look too far, because your smartphone is just waiting for you to download these apps to get discounts and freebies.
We personally use these apps, so we’re a living testament to how great they are. From commuting to eating, watching movies, and staycations, we’ve got you covered!
Angkas

When Uber was suspended in the Philippines, we turned to other ride-sharing and booking services. One of them was Angkas — a motorcycle passenger service. Riding on a motorcycle through major thoroughfares is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it gets us to our destinations faster! We also get discounts every week, ranging from PhP 20 to PhP 40 from user-exclusive promo codes. We use Angkas during rush hour traffic since it’s cheaper compared to Uber or Grab’s spiked-up rates.
Booky

You gotta love Booky for their amazing Buy One, Get One deals! The app started off as your go-to restaurant finder that works even when you’re offline. It then offered table reservations with discounts of up to PhP 500, and now, they have a wide selection of buy one, take one promos. You can get two Potato Corner jumbo fries for the price of one, and more!
GMovies

If you love going to the cinemas, you should have GMovies on your phone. With this app, you get to check out current show times from popular movie theaters, join other movie buffs with their discussion, and most importantly, get rewards and discounts. You receive an initial PhP 100 off your first ticket purchase, and earn points which you can convert for a movie ticket. GMovies also gives out discount codes for new movie releases every week, plus surprise deals for movie festivals.
TravelBook.ph

While there a lot of online hotel booking services, TravelBook.ph always give us the best deals in the Philippines. When trying a number of similar services, we always end up with TravelBook.ph since they have the cheapest prices. Not only that, you also get generous points (one point = one peso) every booking, plus seasonal discount codes that you can apply. You even get bonus points for providing an honest review and by being loyal to the service.
Zen Rooms

If you’re traveling abroad or even locally, you should check out Zen Rooms. We first discovered Zen Rooms when their service was limited to selected places, but now, they cover more Asian countries and Philippine cities like Cebu, Bohol, and Boracay, to name a few. While their quality-assured rooms are already cheap, you also get discount codes through their newsletters. Additionally, you can search for more Zen Room coupons online that you might have missed.
SEE ALSO: Five Uber app alternatives for your daily commute
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Over the weekend, a report emerged about Disney+ allegedly considering a new tier offered to users for absolutely free. Apparently, Disney isn’t the only one. Netflix is now resurrecting its free trial program in select countries.
Back in the day, it was easy to get into Netflix. With a 30-day free trial, you can watch the shows you’ve always wanted to catch. If you liked what you saw, you can pay the monthly fee to access the entire library without constraints. Eventually, the platform got rid of this system to favor a cheaper ad-supported tier.
Perhaps not seeing the benefits of ad-supported tiers, Netflix has suddenly resurrected its free trial program. Spotted online (via Android Authority), some countries, including Brazil and India, are experimenting with the program again. New users can get 30 days of free Netflix access.
Because only regular users are spotting this (rather than an official announcement), we don’t have a list of where the free trials are available.
Still, it’s an interesting move. Cable isn’t a thing anymore so “cutting the cable” isn’t a popular phrase anymore, but people are definitely cancelling subscriptions over rising prices. Some even rely on short clips from YouTube to catch up with their shows. Having a free trial opens up more possibilities for users, but it remains to be seen whether it’s enough for users to return to Netflix.
SEE ALSO: Netflix expands its cheaper ad-supported tier to Southeast Asia
In a world disappointingly obsessed with increasing prices beyond our means, Disney+ has miraculously remembered the phrase, “free sample.” According to a report, the streaming platform is considering making a free subscription tier.
As of late, it’s been difficult to maintain a healthy collection of streaming services. When you have to pay the equivalent of a full-course meal every month for just a single platform, you start to evaluate which ones really matter.
Perhaps feeling the sting of users leaving the platform over pricing, Disney+ is reportedly experimenting with a tier that comes at no cost to users (via Business Insider). According to two sources, adding such a tier might help the platform reach customers more.
Now, it’s still a mystery how this tier might work. Disney+ already offers an ad-supported tier, so it’s unlikely to be another one like that.
One possibility is a heavily curated feed of content either designed specifically for free users or limited exactly to give users a free sample. For the latter, think of the limited content you get on a plane. Sure, you might get the first three episodes of The Mandalorian, but you’ll have to fork over cash if you want to see the rest of the story.
And for the former, you can imagine short-form content available for free. Going back to Star Wars, you might see a short anthology series like Star Wars: Visions.
Either way, it’s an interesting concept. If the tier does offer full content, it’s a great way to get into franchises you were thinking of trying without the need to spend for a taste.
WhatsApp is about to get an extra later of protection. After thriving on number-based chatting, the platform will soon add usernames, eliminating the need to share your number with strangers.
Usernames are the standard way of maintaining your anonymity online. Though most platforms today require users to log their email addresses or phone numbers, establishing a username can prevent other users from seeing this information way too easily.
Today, Meta has started rolling out reservations for WhatsApp usernames. The feature itself isn’t available yet, but early adopters can grab theirs as soon as the setting becomes available on their app.
To access the reservation, users can go to Settings > Account > Username. Of note, this isn’t available for everyone yet. But if you want to take dibs on a specific name, be on the lookout for the setting.
As for the username itself, users can reserve anything as long as it’s unique. Business owners and creators can also use their Facebook or Instagram handles as their WhatsApp usernames.
The feature, once it launches, will stop users from accessing your phone number when messaging. Similarly, other users will now need your exact username to start a conversation. Users can also set a separate code to protect conversations further.
SEE ALSO: Meta adds subscriptions for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp
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