Starbucks has updated its iPhone payment app with the option of digital tipping.
The option became available on March 19 in the U.S., U.K. and Canada for customers who use the coffee chain's app, according to Mercury News. While customers use to only be able to leave tips in cash, the app allows them add tips of $0.50, $1 or $2 to their orders.
"This update to the Starbucks app for iPhone is an important next step in digital innovation at Starbucks and one of the many ways we'll expand and improve our digital experience in the months to come," Adam Brotman, chief digital officer for Starbucks, said in a statement.
Brotman said over 11 percent of the weekly transactions in Starbucks stores are made with mobile devices, USA Today reported. Currently, about 10 million Starbucks customers use the Starbucks mobile app.
The company said that customers will be able to bring the barcode of their Starbucks Card to the front of the screen just by shaking their device. Starbucks representative Maggie Jantzen described the Shake to Pay feature as "fun and convenient," ClickZ reported.
The app displays a barcode that customers can use like a Starbucks Card to pay for orders. Customers hold the device in front of a scanner on the countertop and scan the app's on-screen barcode to make a purchase. Customers are also able to access their Starbucks accounts with Passbook. After customers enter Starbucks stores in their iPhone, Passbook lets their mobile Starbucks Cards appear on their iPhone screens automatically, according to ClickZ.
The company is planning to introduce an update to its Starbucks for Android app later this year, ClickZ reported. The update would include a digital tipping feature, but it has not yet been determined if the Shake and Pay feature will be available on the Android as well.
Digital tipping has been an important topic discussed on MyStarbucksIdea.com, which launched in 2008. The website was created as a way for consumers to "share, vote, discuss, and put into ideas on how to enhance the Starbucks Experience," ClickZ reported. Jantzen said other ideas from MyStarbucksIdea.com included Starbucks' flash sticks.
