How to Save Big on Windows Phone, BB10, Windows, and Mac Apps

Spent all your cash on a new gaming PC or a MacBook and wondering whether you should take a loan to buy expensive apps and games? Keep calm, and read this article to save a tonne of cash on digital purchases. Having already shown you how to save money on Android and iOS apps, we've got some great services for BlackBerry and Windows Phone deal-hunters.
Windows Phone
Windows Phone users can download AppDeals to get updates for deals. The free app tracks price drops and apps gone free, and while it requires you to register to get push notifications, you will be able to see deals right on your homescreen thanks to the live tile, which shows the newest deal at the time.
(Also see:How to Save Money on Google Play Store Apps)
BlackBerry 10
On BlackBerry 10, App Stalker is a good app for tracking discounts. It tracks deals and sends you a notification when a paid app gets discounted or goes free. The app tracks deals, and at the top of the screen, shows the total savings available at any given time. You can see featured deals, or check price drops and newly free apps, and App Stalker also sends notifications to your Hub, so you don't miss a deal. The only catch is that you can't mark apps in a wish list to track.
(Also see:How to Find the Best Deals on iOS Apps)
PC and Mac
We couldn't find any great way of getting PC software discounts, but most popular software has plenty of free alternatives. PC gaming at full price is painfully expensive though, but luckily, there are plenty of ways to find deals here. If you are looking for deals on PC games, IsThereAnyDeal is a great source.
It shows you deals from several online gaming stores such as Humble Bundle, Steam, GOG, among others. It lets you filter search results by the price of games and how high the discount is, apart from the usual alphabetical order or by store. The disadvantage is that it shows prices only in US dollars.

Android users should also follow Humble Bundle for great deals on games. Almost all popular indie games have been featured in this store, and the pay as you like model means that you can pay as little as $0.01, though if you pay more than the average, you get more games.
Cheap Ass Gamer doesn't get deals from bundle sites, but if you're looking for the latest deals, then the community on this site is a huge help.
(Also see:Never Pay MRP: 3 Browser Extensions That Will Help You Save Money)
Mac Bundles
Mac users should also keep an eye out for bundles, where several apps are sold for a big discount or where you can pay what you want. MacUpdate offers a good selection of app deals and sometimes offers a bunch of apps in one bundle. Another good website for Mac app bundles is Stack Social, which also keeps offering big discounts on several apps as long as you buy the whole bundle.

These apps and services are great for finding discounts on your favourite apps, but these aren't the only ones. If we've missed your favourite service or if you wish to share your experience hunting app deals, let us know via the comments. For more useful articles, visit our How to section.

Never Pay MRP: 3 Browser Extensions That Will Help You Save Money

Today, just about every major e-commerce player has daily deals, flash sales, and price cuts in a bid to encourage shopping. However, buying anything without comparing the price across various stores is usually a bad idea. Having said that, we know that checking every site manually can be a pain.
Enter price comparison websites like Junglee, which help you find great deals. However, the experience is far from seamless and going back to the site, every time you can come across a deal on an e-commerce store can be a pain.
In such situations, browser extensions do the job without interrupting your browsing flow. We tried different extensions that find the best deals across several Indian e-commerce websites and here are our favourites:
Makkhichoose
Named after a Hindi phrase that roughly translates to "penny pincher", Makkhichoose is a Chrome and Firefox extension that adds a button to product pages of shopping websites. When you go to a product page on leading e-commerce sites, you'll see a blue button in the corner of the page.
Clicking this button will tell you if other websites have a better deal on the product that you are currently browsing. This extension checks prices of the same product on Flipkart, Amazon, SnapDeal, Tradus, Saholic, Yebhi, Shopclues, Myntra, and Jabong.

If a better deal is available elsewhere, the extension adds a line of text under the product name, saying: Lower price available on another site! Click on tag at bottom left to see. This tag appears on the left side, not bottom-left, and half of the icon is sometimes outside the screen. Click the tag and Makkhichoose will show you deals on other sites, along with a couple of sponsored links.
We love MakkhiChoose, but it sometimes finds the wrong product. For instance, we searched for the comic book Boxers by Gene Luen Yang and MakkhiChoose said SnapDeal has the book for Rs. 300 while most others had priced the book at around Rs. 1,500. We clicked the link very happily, but then discovered that the product was boxers style underwear.
(Also see: How to Save Big on Windows Phone, BB10, Windows, and Mac Apps)
PriceKart
PriceKart does the same thing as MakkhiChoose, but has a much better interface and some extra features. PriceKart shows you three buttons - Price Alert, Check Price, and Coupons. The Price Alert button adds the product to your watch list and sends a notification when there is a price drop.
The Check Price button is for comparing prices across websites, similar to MakkhiChoose, while the Coupons button shows discount coupons for the product. When you checkout, a big Apply Coupon button appears, which automatically checks various coupons available online, and selects the one that will give you the maximum discount.

PriceKart checks prices across several websites including Amazon, Flipkart, SnapDeal, Crossword, Landmark, Naaptol, Myntra, Zovi, Jabong, and eBay, among others.
PriceKart is a very useful extension, and we prefer it over Makkhichoose due to the extra features - but if you want something that is fast and no frills, you might disagree.
(Also see:How to Save Money on Google Play Store Apps)
Compare Hatke
If Makkhichoose and PriceKart are too basic for you, we suggest that you try Compare Hatke for Chrome and Firefox. It does everything that the other two extensions do, but has a bigger database of websites and also shows you price vs. time graph for most products, so you can see, for example, if a product frequently goes on sale.
Install this extension by Buyhatke, search for a product across 70 Indian e-commerce sites, open any product page, and wait for a few seconds. A bar will appear at the top where you will be shown prices on other websites. However, the process isn't flawless - there were some pages where the top bar did not appear at all, even though the product was listed as available on various sites.

You will also notice two more buttons on the product page - Price too high? Watch Price, and Compare. The first button adds the product to your watch list and will send a notification when there is a price drop. You can find all products in your watch list by clicking the extension's button, which is next to the address bar. The Compare button takes you to the Buyhatke website, which is like any other price comparison website.
The best feature of this extension is a neat price vs. time graph that appears below any product page. This historical graph see the product's price over the past month. In one case, we saw that a product worth Rs. 1,500 was available for Rs. 299 for three days before its price rose again. If you're a compulsive deal-hunter, this is a great feature.
The extension also shows a big Apply Coupon button during checkout. When you click this button it applies several coupons and picks the one that offers the maximum discount, similar to PriceKart.
Compare Hatke is a great extension, but it has a couple of minor issues. As mentioned earlier, sometimes the top bar doesn't appear at all and we found that the buttons it adds to product pages can get distracting.
(Also see:How to Find the Best Deals on iOS Apps)
These three extensions are all very useful, but there are always more. If we missed your favourite addons or if these extensions saved you some dough, let us know via the comments.

How to Find the Best iOS App Deals

Everyone loves a good discount when buying stuff and most of us check various websites to find the best deals when shopping for products online, so why should apps be any different? If you're looking for apps to go free so you can get them without using a debit card, or looking for deals and discounts because you're not sure an app is worth buying, there are a lot of different methods you can employ to get the best deals.
It might seem miserly to seek deals on apps considering that most apps sell for Rs. 60 or Rs. 120 - less than a cup of coffee in many places. But as some of the members of our team can attest, the small spends add up, and you could end up spending several thousand rupees over the course of a year. At that point, you're really going to wish you'd looked for deals before making your purchases.
(Also see:Never Pay MRP: 3 Browser Extensions That Will Help You Save Money)
We'll be bringing the best deals we can find to you every week, but in case you want to find deals yourself, here's what you need to know:
iOS
AppShopper
There are plenty of websites that show the best deals for iOS and Mac users, but AppShopper is our favourite, just ahead of 148apps. Between the two, we preferred AppShopper because its search is easier to customise, and lets you find apps according to category.
To see the discounts, you need only click on the "Price Drops" button in the top right. You can choose between iOS and Mac, or iPad only, iPhone only and Universal apps. You also have the option of searching for discounts and apps that have gone free, through simple toggles along the top bar.
In case you want to watch for price drops on favourite apps, then you can also sign up for AppShopper and add apps to your wishlist.

TouchArcade
Unlike AppShopper, which is mostly useful for finding deals, TouchArcade is a game focused site where you'll get reviews and in-depth forum discussions about iOS games. It's a great way to also figure out what you should be downloading. The site also has a very useful app that lets you track sales on games as well. You can set it up with the following steps:
1. Download TouchArcade and open the app. Tap the gear icon on the top left > Watch List Updates > On > tap Done at the top.
2. Tap the search button on the top-right and search for your favourite games. Tap the game in the results. This will take you to Touch Arcade's page for the game. Here, flip the binocular switch under the price. Now you'll see the binoculars on a blue background. This means the game has been added to your watch list. Any time there is a price drop, or a review or an update to the games you added, you'll get a notification. TouchArcade notifications don't come if you haven't opened the app for several days, so just open it once every couple of days to keep it active.
(Also see: How to Save Money on Google Play Store Apps)

AppPriceDrop
If you just want a simple list of apps that have gone on discount, then TouchArcade and AppShopper aren't useful enough. You'll need to get either the Appsgonefree or AppPriceDrop apps.
AppsGoneFree updates once a day with a short list of apps on discount, sort of like the Yahoo News Digest of discounts. AppPriceDrop on the other hand shows a list of all apps that have gotten a discount, which can be sorted by category. It is based on the US app store, so while it should still be useful, it might sometimes show something as discounted, which isn't even available here.
(Also see: How to Save Big on Windows Phone, BB10, Windows, and Mac Apps)
IFTTT
IFTTT, short for If This Then That, is a great service that lets you automate several tasks. You can make it do several things, such as send you alerts when the currency exchange rate crosses a threshold, for you. It has a channel called AppZapp, which lets you track app deals for top-rated apps. Here's how to set it up.
1. Go to IFTTT > Create a Recipe.
2. You'll see this in huge font size: "if this then that". Click "this" > select AppZapp > scroll to the bottom > select one of six triggers.
3. Triggers are events that tell IFTTT to send you an alert. In the case of AppZapp, the triggers you can choose from are when a top-rated app goes on sale, goes free or gets an update. These three triggers are available for Apple's App Store and Google Play store. Pick the trigger you want to get relevant alerts, such as top app gone free.
4. Now choose your country, device and category of apps you want an alert for. Now click Create Recipe.
5. The next step will show you the same text you saw in step 2. Instead of "this", you'll see the AppZapp icon. Now click on "that". This is where you select the kind of alerts you want. We recommend that you pick one of Email Digest, Android notifications and iOS notifications. This will send you one email every day or a quick notification on your smartphone. You need to install the IFTTT app on your phone to get this to work.
We found this to be the best method to keep an eye on apps on sale or apps that go free due to the notifications. You can tap these notifications, tap the alert in the IFTTT app and you will be redirected to the App Store. This method also works for Google Play. We have also written about more resources you can browse when looking for deals on Android apps. Our How to section has many more useful articles, so make sure you check it out too.

How to Find the Best Deals on Android Apps

In an earlier article, we described how you can track great deals on great iOS apps, but that information is of little use if you're an Android user. If you find yourself scouring dark corners of Google Play store in the hope of landing yourself a good deal, worry not, help is at hand. Android may not necessarily have the best paid apps, but it definitely has the best app for finding deals on paid apps. Read on.
AppSales
AppSales is our favourite discount tracking app, and it's only for Android. It comes with several advanced filtering options to narrow down your search. With this app, you can filter search results by the amount of discount being applied, or show only apps that have gone free, which had a minimum rating you set. Here's how to use it:
1. Install AppSales and run it. You'll see two tabs - Sales and Watchlist. The first tab shows all apps on sale and you can tap any of these and click the eye icon to add it to your watch list to track deals at a glance.
2. To filter your deal hunt, tap the three vertical dots icon on the top-right > Settings. The first option is Set filters. Select the minimum discount and rating here to narrow down on the best apps. You can also select app categories and configure notifications in the Settings menu.
One problem with the app is that you can only add 10 apps to your watch list for free. The app charges a subscription fee of around Rs. 250 per year to let you add up to 100 apps in this list.
You can also find the deals using the AppSales website. It doesn't have the same search tools, but it's a quick way to find deals.
Amazon Appstore for Android
The other option for Android (and BB10) users is to install the Amazon Appstore. The Amazon Appstore has daily freebies, and it usually keeps offering up really nice apps; there are also huge discounts from time to time. Recently Amazon gave away paid apps worth $100 for free - so installing this on your phone is definitely a good idea.
(Also see: How to Save Big on Windows Phone, BB10, Windows, and Mac Apps)

IFTTT
IFTTT, short for If This Then That, is a great service that lets you automate several tasks. You can make it do several things, such as send you alerts when the currency exchange rate crosses a threshold, for you. It has a channel called AppZapp, which lets you track app deals for top-rated apps. The process of setting it up for Android is similar to what we'd explained for iOS earlier.
1. Go to IFTTT > Create a Recipe.
2. You'll see this in huge font size: "if this then that". Click "this" > select AppZapp > scroll to the bottom > select one of six triggers.
3. Triggers are events that tell IFTTT to send you an alert. In the case of AppZapp, the triggers you can choose from are when a top-rated app goes on sale, goes free or gets an update. These three triggers are available for Apple's App Store and Google Play store. Pick the trigger you want to get relevant alerts, such as top app gone free.
4. Now choose your country (you can choose between US, UK or Germany, but no India) and category of apps you want an alert for. Now click Create Recipe.
5. The next step will show you the same text you saw in step 2. Instead of "this", you'll see the AppZapp icon. Now click on "that". This is where you select the kind of alerts you want. We recommend that you pick one of Email Digest and Android notifications. This will send you one email every day or a quick notification on your smartphone. You need to install the IFTTT app on your phone to get this to work.
We found this to be the best method to keep an eye on apps on sale or apps that go free due to the notifications. You can tap these notifications, tap the alert in the IFTTT app and you will be redirected to Google Play.
(Also see:Never Pay MRP: 3 Browser Extensions That Will Help You Save Money)

Now that we've covered how to find the best deals on Android and iOS apps, we are certain that Windows Phone, BlackBerry, PC and Mac users are feeling left out. There's no need to be sad as we have published an article describing how to save big on Windows Phone, BB10, Windows, and Mac Apps.
As always, visit our How to section for many more useful articles.