Trunow is an app similar to Upside Gas, the idea is that you get cash back on gas, grocery, restaurant & other purchases by taking a picture of your receipt. The main focus is around gas, the app will display prices of gas stations in your area and then you can get cash back from partnered gas stations.
Cashback
If a gas station is partnered with Trunow then you get 2% cash back after uploading the receipt. If the gas station is not partnered with Trunow then you get 1% cash back. Â I’m not 100% sure if that varies by area or not. Remember to get further savings by using a credit card that earns at a high rate on gas station purchases.
You can also get additional cash back by purchasing specific products at specific gas stations. Sometimes they also have general deals (e.g $0.25 back on any ice cream purchase).
You can also earn 1¢ for confirming a gas price and 5¢ for updating a gas price.
Cashout
You can cash out by using your rewards at a partnered gas station. You can also cash out via PayPal, but when you do so you’ll receive half the value of your rewards (e.g if you have $10 in rewards that will become $5 via PayPal). You need a minimum of $5 to use your rewards at a gas station.
Sign Up/Referral Bonus
Update: Bonus has been reduced to $0.5
If you use a referral code then you get a $2 bonus after scanning your first receipt. The person who refers you will also receive a $2 bonus. Do not share your referral codes in this post. Instead please use this dedicated post linked here.
Our Verdict
Personally I wouldn’t be trusting the pricing feature, especially if people receive more money for changing a price than they do for confirming it. Still an extra minimum of 1% back on gas purchases seems like a good deal to me and worth uploading receipts for, especially if you have a long daily commute or drive often.
Hat tip to reader JV
I did a quick search of the major city areas in the US and didn’t find one participating retailer 🤬
Just be warned they track payment methods. 6 different card numbers max. In addition now it is only 0.5% back so when cashing out, now only .25%
Are there any other gas apps similar to trunow available for california? I’ve not had any luck on referrals and they don’t respond to my emails.
Just an update:
As of February, you only receive 0.5% cashback for purchases at non trunow retailers. Nowhere is this mentioned on this site or even the app. The app still shows that you receive 1% back for purchases at non trunow retailers. But I wrote them an email inquiring why I didn’t receive the correct cashback and this was their reply back to me:
Hi,
February promotions are at 0.5% purchases at non trunow retailers.
Thanks & Regards,
Trunow
Referral amounts have been changed. $0.50 for each party now.
Thanks, let me update
Just an update:
As of February, you only receive 0.5% cashback for purchases at non trunow retailers. Nowhere is this mentioned on this site or even the app. The app still shows that you receive 1% back for purchases at non trunow retailers. But I wrote them an email inquiring why I didn’t receive the correct cashback and this was their reply back to me:
Hi,
February promotions are at 0.5% purchases at non trunow retailers.
Thanks & Regards,
Trunow
Just one thing to be aware of – the app wants to run continuously, so is either a battery hog or you get a reminder that it’s draining the battery (I do a force shut down any time I’ve finished using it).
Also, I’ve not found any 2% stations near where I live, but it adds up slowly.
Yeah, I’ll sign up for an extra $100 bank bonus rather than take 400 gas receipt pictures to earn $10
Some people are capable of doing both
Looks like Shell works for both apps. I fill up on tuesdays there so I’ll follow up tomorrow! If so you can get $.10 off a gallon fuel rewards, 5% chase freedom, get upside $.01-$.02, plus what trunow gives.
I don’t see how the referral codes work. I tried entering two different codes in the promos area and neither worked.
What are you all using for gas discounts? I saved a lot of $ with the Chase Pay Shell $0.30 deal but that expired 12/31. Obviously I’ll use Chase Freedom for gas purchases but any other deal hacks?
I buy discounted gas cards on eBay.