Tag: mobile applications

The new Starbucks emoji-themed keyboard app lets you send more than a smile.

When it comes to adopting mobile technology trends, Starbucks has shown time and again that it’s a leader in this field, having released apps and being one of the first to jump on board the mobile payments bandwagon, among other advancements. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that one of America’s favorite coffeehouse chains has released its very own Starbucks emoji keyboard, which lets users digitally express themselves with Frappauccinos, cake pops, iced coffee and their other favorite Starbucks products.

The app is free for iOS and Android.

The keyboard app is available free for both iOS and Android mobile devices and features a custom keyboard option decked out in the company’s colors and font as well as two pages of Starbucks-inspired emojis. The emoji library includes everything from drinks and treats to the logo and emoji people holding Starbucks products.

To enjoy this fun new application on iPhone, users need to install it and add it to the active keyboard list under settings. They need to allow the app full access so it can be used throughout the phone. The app is activated using the globe key on the bottom line on the standard keyboard. The emoji keyboard functions like most third-party keyboard apps and works with most major messaging apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, and iMessage.

On the flip side, Android users will find the activation process similar to iOS. After installing the app, it can be activated under Language & Input in Settings and should be selected as the standard keyboard. Via Android, the program sends emojis as images through apps instead of placing them within messages.

Could the Starbucks emoji keyboard evolve into something more in the future?

Many consumers weren’t pleased when the company changed its rewards program and app, and some hope that the new keyboard app – although currently nothing unique or ground-breaking for Starbucks – could be the start of something special. Imagine: instead of just sending an emoji to a friend, what if users could actually order coffee via emoji?

While that’s definitely only a sweet dream and a not reality at the moment or in the near future, lovers of this app will be pleased to know that the company intends to add more content to its Starbucks emoji keyboard app throughout the year.

The smartphone application for restaurant waitlisting is making it easier to complete the dining experience.

NoWait, a restaurant waitlisting service, has already established a popular smartphone app that allows diners to be able to “line up” digitally at nearby participating restaurants where they do not have reservations and the application is now rolling out their mobile payments service to boost the available convenience.

These services are meant to shrink the amount of time needed to get a meal without having to wait.

The mobile app has rapidly been increasing in its popularity over the last few years. It offers diners a range of different features, but it also provides a subscription-based suite of tools to restaurants. This allows the businesses themselves to be able to manage their waitlists, server rotation, seating, reservations, and many other important factors. By the time of the writing of this article, there were already nearly 4,000 restaurant companies that had signed on to use this platform. Among them, several are very large chains, such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Chili’s, On the Border, and First Watch, among others. Now, the app is also offering mobile payments.

The mobile payments are available in both the Android and iOS versions of the NoWait application.

The mobile app currently seats more than 25 million diners every month. This is a staggering amount of growth over the same figure in 2014, which had been just over 5 million per month. At that time, it had only just finished its Series B financing round at which time it brought in another $10 million.

It has already seated over 250 million diners who have used the application in order to join the line to wait for a table. The application is appropriate for both smartphone and tablet users. It has been downloaded more than 3 million times and NoWait is predicting that by the end of this year, there will have been about 5 million individual diners who will have headed out to restaurants by way of this mobile application.

By adding mobile payments, the goal is to be able to complete the entire dining experience over the smart device.