Let's face it, mobile phone bills these days can be eye-wateringly expensive. But what if we told you that there is a way to save money on your UK phone bill?

That's right. If you live in the UK, then with Airtime Rewards, you can save real money off your monthly phone bill just by shopping as usual. Here's how.

What is Airtime Rewards?

Airtime Rewards is an app that, in return for tracking your spending, provides you with money off your phone bill. Essentially, Airtime Rewards facilitates a partnership between brands, mobile networks, and consumers for a shared mutual benefit.

Every time a member shops with a registered brand partner, they receive a percentage of the transaction back to use against their phone bill.

How Does Airtime Rewards Benefit Brands?

Airtime Rewards is designed to incentivize customers and reward their loyalty; encouraging first-time and repeat customers to shop more with brand partners. At the time of writing, Airtime Rewards is working with more than 80 major High Street retailers including Greggs, Morrisons, Nike, Boots, Argos, and Primark.

What Data Does Airtime Rewards Hold?

In exchange for providing members with cashback on their purchases, Airtime Rewards does use your spending data. This, coupled with AI and machine learning, allows the app to understand where, why, and how its member's shop. This data helps Airtime Rewards and its brand partners to get the right rewards to the right customers at the right time.

While data is often a sensitive topic, Airtime Rewards reassures its members that it can only see the transactions you make with their retailers—nothing else. Your collected data also won't be sold to a third party, and the service is PCI Level 1-compliant, so you needn't worry about the security of your card details.

Related: Has Your Credit Card Number Been Leaked?

How to Use Airtime Rewards

Getting started with Airtime Rewards is simple. First, download the app from either the App Store for iPhone or the Play Store for Android and then create an account.

While creating your account, you'll need to provide the app with your phone number and tell it who your mobile phone provider is.

To start earning rewards, you'll also need to add your payment cards to your app wallet. To make sure that Airtime Rewards can track all of your eligible transactions, it recommends that you add all of your bank cards, and you could even add those of your spouse.

From here on, using Airtime Rewards is as simple as remembering to check the app. Airtime Rewards automatically logs your eligible transactions with any of their brands and will add reward credit to your account following a pending period.

How Long Does It Take to Be Paid?

Pending periods in Airtime Rewards can be frustrating, but rest assured, all rewards owed do get paid eventually. Pending periods can vary from retailer to retailer, with most lasting 30 days but some taking up to 90 days to clear. Once you've made a purchase, you'll be able to track its progress and see how many days it has left pending.

While Airtime Rewards does not explicitly explain why it has pending periods, it is likely to ensure that any returns or refunds can be deducted from your reward amount.

How Much Can You Really Earn With Airtime Rewards?

The amount you can earn with Airtime Rewards depends on how often you shop with the brands involved. If you're keen to earn as much as possible, then you may want to alter your spending habits and try to shop more with the service's brand partners.

Another way to make more through the app is through referrals. For each friend that signs up, you'll receive 50p, and if they make a transaction within seven days, both you and your friend receive an extra £1 credit.

How to Redeem Your Airtime Rewards

Airtime Rewards are redeemed in £10 increments, and so you'll need to wait until you've accrued £10 worth of rewards before you try to redeem them off your phone bill for the first time.

Once you have £10 in your account, head to the Redeem tab in the app, and choose whether to redeem your rewards against your own phone bill or whether to give them to a friend. Next, simply choose the amount you want to redeem, and it will automatically be deducted from your next billing period.

Saving Money Has Never Been Easier

With Airtime Rewards, the sky's the limit, and you really can save serious money off your phone bill just by buying the things you're already going to buy. Just remember to check the app regularly to see how your rewards are growing, and keep your eyes peeled for new retailers or bonus offers that can help you to build your rewards even more quickly.