Smartphone app Pocket Points coming to UF on Monday

A smartphone application that offers local discounts if students don’t check Facebook during lectures will launch Monday at UF.

Pocket Points, which is available in 65 cities, lets users earn points for discounts if their phones are locked while they’re in educational buildings, said Mitch Gardner, the chief operating officer of the company.

The stores in Gainesville to offer student discounts through the app are Office Depot, Hungry Howie’s Pizza, High Tides Tobacco and Gifts, Big Lou’s NY Style Pizzeria and Know Where Coffee, he said.

“We try to find places that students love to go to get them good deals and discounts,” Gardner said.

Gardner said the idea to create the app came after he and his business partner were students and noticed almost everyone was on their phones.

“Students were always on their phone,” the 23-year-old said. “We saw that it was a constant problem.”

The company used Google Maps to find buildings on UF’s campus where users can earn points, he said.

“Anywhere on campus, you can earn points,” he said. “Except for dorms.”

If more people are using the app in the same area, students can earn points faster.

They can also double the points on Tuesdays, which Gardner calls “Two-Times Tuesday.”

Since the app’s launch in 2014, it has reached about 25 percent of students in 65 cities, he said, including Miami, Orlando, Tallahassee and Tampa.

At Florida State University and the University of Central Florida, he said about 19,000 total students are using the app.

Last year, users spent over 650 million “locked” minutes, or time not spent on their phones during classes, through the app, he said.

Chelsey Mays, 20, has never heard of the app but said she would consider using it.

“I feel like it’s something I could do, because I try to stay off my phone regardless,” the UF animal sciences senior said.

She said that of the local businesses partnered with Pocket Points, she would do it for Know Where Coffee.

But she’s not sure her peers feel the same.

“I don’t know if students are really going to stay off their phones,” she said, “but I think the incentive to get points and discounts at stores would help.”