US-based mobile app developer Syntonic has launched its data cash back and promotion app Freeway in India. The company has partnered with Indian game developers including Reliance Games, Zapak Digital, Electronic Arts. Users can avail free data via Freeway app when they download apps, games from these developers. Currently only prepaid subscribers on Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, and RCOM can avail the free data offer.
Its is not clear why Freeway isn’t providing data as cashback to postpaid customers; it could probably be reasoned by the fact that more than 95% of mobile connections in India are on prepaid. MediaNama has written to Syntonic for more clarification. Update: A spokesperson from the company told that for now it is not providing the app for postpaid users. The data cash backs earned via download and use of promoted apps can be used without restrictions for any app or even surfing the Internet with a browser, the person added. The data expires after a period of 12 months.
Similar apps
Currently there are several similar apps that provide data, talktime, and wallet balance as cash back for completing tasks, or downloading apps. Gigato provides free 2G/3G/4G data for downloading partner apps, and users can utilize this data without any restrictions. mCent provides credits to users for installing partner apps, which users can redeem as talktime. Task Bucks, Ladoo, EarnTalktime, Pokkt, etc. also work on the same model as mCent by providing free talktime. Freeway tracks your app usage
But what’s different with Freeway? It tracks your app usage and credits data to your prepaid until you hit a 30 minute usage or a 25 MB data usage limit. The Freeway app requests explicit Android permissions to access your app usage records; it proceeds to work only if you turn this on manually from phone settings.
Here Freeway claims that it will credit 50 MB of free data to users if they install Dailyhunt news app, and use it precisely for 30 minutes. After installing Dailyhunt, Freeway keeps track of the amount of time a users spends on the downloaded app.
Similarly, Freeway will credit 30 MB of free data to your account once you install the Flipkart app and utilize 25 MB surfing the Flipkart app. So basically, a user is ending up spending 10.7 MB of data downloading the Flipkart app, and then an extra 25 MB surfing it, taking the total usage to 35 MB. Update: The spokesperson told MediaNama: “..we’ve subsequently updated our offers to ensure that data rewards are positive after download and use. Additionally, users can download over Wi-Fi to receive the same rewards.”