Boost Mobile Will Let You Pay Your Phone Bill by Watching Ads and Playing Games

Boost Mobile customers now have a new option for saving on their phone bill. They can trim it down — or pay it entirely — by watching ads and playing games.

Customers can use the carrier’s new BoostOne app to watch ads, play simple games and engage with Boost partners to earn the coins that will shave a few cents off their bill at a time. It could be a welcome way to save money, especially given how pricey the best unlimited data plans can be. 

A Boost executive said the ads for in-game rewards on Fortnite and Candy Crush inspired the carrier’s new payment model. “It’s time to move beyond the old ways and to embrace proven digital models popular in other industries,” Stephen Stokols, Boost EVP of retail wireless, said in a press release.

Customers will need to spend time to save cash. One of the carrier’s so-called Boost Coins knocks a single cent off their bill, and in a video demonstration, watching a several-second ad awarded the watcher two Boost Coins. There’s also a “spin to win” wheel that gets players between five and 500 coins, which equates to 5 cents and $5. 

Boost didn’t provide other examples for how long it will take to pay off your phone bill, but given those low payouts, it might take awhile, especially since the average phone bill costs consumers $144 per month, according to CNBC.

And Boost plans to expand the uses for its watch-and-earn currency, as eventually Boost Coins will be tradable for new phones. Some consumers might not be interested, but for Boost, it’s another experiment in finding alternatives to the current payment method.