Google Opinion Rewards wants you to scan your shopping receipts to earn points

Google Opinion Rewards has always been a go-to app for me when it comes to earning Play Store credit by answering questions. Now, it seems that Opinion Rewards has finally added a feature that’s been in testing for more than four years, per 9to5Google – the ability to scan your shopping receipts when you get home from a trip to the store. These new ‘Receipt tasks’ offer an opportunity to earn rewards points in exchange for sharing information about your store purchases.

To be honest, this feature may not appeal to everyone, as it comes off as a bit creepy. However, it’s worth noting that Google provides a centralized location where you can manage or delete all of your scanned receipts. Additionally, Google assures users that they will “never sell your personal information” and provides a link to their privacy policy for further information.

After shopping in a store, we’ll occasionally ask you about your visit and you can earn rewards for sharing a photo of your receipt. We’ll never share your personal information. Google’s privacy policy is available at policies.google.com/privacy.

Google Opinion Rewards

Upon uploading a receipt, Google will ask to access your recent location history to identify the store you visited. It then extracts various transaction details, such as the merchant, date of purchase, items bought, and total you spent during that visit.

Apparently, this information will be used to enhance their services, personalize the ads you see, and gain insights into shopping behavior to provide more relevant surveys. While earning extra rewards points is appealing, I find the trade off a bit unnerving. Luckily, this is optional, but we are seeing more and more of these exchanges between Google and its users over the past few years.