Review of Key Ring
I was on a trip recently and in the in-flight magazine they had an article about an application for mobile phones called Key Ring. The premise of the application is that you can either enter or scan all of those barcodes you use for shopping at various stores and store them on your phone. Then, when you go to check out at the store, you just give the cashier your phone to scan instead of the card itself. It eliminates the key ring ( or wallet ) clutter caused by carrying all of those cards.
I was intrigued ( and it’s free ) so I downloaded it last week and put some of my most-used loyalty cards in there. One of the nice features is that if you set up an account with Key Ring, they will actually archive your card information on their servers in case you lose your cards or change phones.
I was full of hope and promise today as I walked into Harris Teeter, a local grocery store here in NC. Harris Teeter was one of the supported merchants in the application, so I knew it would work. I bought my two or three things and went to the self check-out line. I pulled out my phone, selected my Harris Teeter card, and held it up for the scanner using all of the tips provided with the application. Crickets. It would not scan. I stood there for about three minutes twisting and contorting my phone, upsetting most everyone waiting in line. Alas, it was not meant to be.
I read a bit more on the Tips portion of the app, and it says that it does not work with flat-bed scanners. The obvious bad news is that most all large retailers use flat bed scanners, so I am not sure just how much this is really going to help me.
I walked out of the store, beaten and downtrodden. I downloaded iHandy Level when I got home ( another one I have been wanting to try ) just to make myself feel better.
