Students now have a mobile app to help them stay off their phones during class by rewarding them with food.
Pocket Points, an app new to LSU, motivates students to keep their phones locked to earn discounts from local businesses.
Pocket Points uses a geo-fencing system to determine when students are in particular buildings on campus. After students start the app and lock their phone, they rack up a “point” every 20 minutes.
Upon downloading the app and registering with Facebook, students confirm their school and can view the rewards available to them, as well as earn points.
The company partnered with a number of local businesses, including Roly Poly, Barcadia, Bengals and Bandits and several Izzo’s Illegal Burrito locations.
Some rewards include 20 percent off LSU apparel at Bengals and Bandits, free dessert at Barcadia and free drinks at New York Bagel Company.
Accounting junior Xochitl Roman said the app originated after two students at California State University, Chico noticed the vast number of students on their phones. Rob Richardson and Mitch Gardner co-founded Pocket Points in 2014, which launched at LSU the first day of classes this semester.
Roman, who promotes the app at LSU, said about 1,300 LSU students now use the app, ranking the school in the top 15 campuses with the most users.
While this is the first year Pocket Points expanded to universities other than CSU, Chico, Roman said she expects it to grow in popularity.
“I think it’s going to expand majorly,” Roman said.
The company now boasts more than 100 universities using the app nationwide.
In the early phases of the app at LSU, Roman said some loopholes existed. Students could use the app if they are in or near a campus building, even if they aren’t in class.
“I have found another one,” Roman said. “If your phone is locked and you have the messages that come in, and you answer it without unlocking your phone, you’re still getting points.”
The company is still working out the app’s kinks as Pocket Points finds a home in Baton Rouge, Roman said.
It has been hard to get students to engage with the app because many students do not care, Roman said, but she added she knows a student who stays off his phone regardless, and is excited to be rewarded.