What is Vlingo?
Vlingo is a free Gmail app that declutters your promotions tab and surfaces the deals already sitting in it. It sorts the promotional email brands send you, tracks the items you care about, and tells you when the price drops.
Is Vlingo free?
Yes. There is no paid tier and no trial that runs out.
How does Vlingo find deals in my email?
Brands already send you discount emails. Vlingo reads those, classifies them, and puts the offers somewhere you can search instead of leaving them buried in the promotions tab. Around 18,000 discount emails come in daily across the user base, and roughly 945 deals get added each day.
Is it safe to connect my Gmail?
Vlingo uses read-only access, so it can look at email but cannot send, delete or change anything. Personal details are redacted before anything else happens. You connect with an app password rather than handing over your main Gmail password.
Can Vlingo read my personal emails?
It works on promotional mail. Access is read-only, so nothing can be altered either way, and personal details are stripped out before processing.
Is Gmail safe?
Gmail encrypts messages both in transit and at rest. Google also applies spam and phishing filters to all incoming messages. However, the common vulnerabilities are typically related to the user's account rather than the service itself, such as using a password that was employed on another site, not enabling two-factor authentication, or granting excessive access to a third-party app. Vlingo only requires read-only access through an app password, which you can revoke from your Google account at any time without needing to change your main password.
How do I generate an app password in Gmail?
Visit your Google Account and navigate to the Security section. You must have two-step verification enabled because app passwords cannot be created without it. Within Two-step verification, go to App passwords, enter a label for the password, such as Vlingo, and Google will generate a sixteen-character password. Enter this password into Vlingo. The password will not be displayed again, but you can delete it and generate a new one at any time. Deleting an app password will disconnect the app, but it will not affect your real password.
How long does setup take?
About 60 seconds.
What is a Deal Locker?
It is where you save the things you want. Vlingo keeps an eye on those products and notifies you as soon as the price drops, so you do not need to keep checking your shopping cart every few days to see if the prices have changed.
How does Vlingo know when something will go on sale?
Most companies offer discounts following a specific pattern, not randomly. Vlingo analyzes two years of data on brand behavior to predict when each one might have its next sale, and displays it in a calendar.
What is a coupon code?
A coupon code represents a brief combination of letters and numbers that you enter during checkout to lower the cost. It is generated by the retailer, who also determines what the coupon applies to and its expiration date. The discount is applied before you make the payment, and there is no subsequent refund. These codes can be public, allowing anyone to use them, or personal, sent to you via email and linked to your account. Typically, personal codes have a higher value, which makes them worthwhile to locate in your email rather than searching for public ones.
What is a promo code?
The terms promo code, coupon code, and discount code essentially have the same meaning. Retailers choose the term that fits best on their checkout page. What actually differs is the offer type associated with the code: it could be a certain percentage off your purchase, a fixed amount of money off, free shipping, or a complimentary gift with your purchase.
What is a discount code?
It is identical to a promo code or a coupon code. A brief code that you enter during checkout which reduces the total amount you have to pay.
How do I get a promo code?
There are four main ways, listed here from most valuable to least. The first is through your email inbox. Brands often send better offers to people who are already on their mailing list, and those codes are typically personal and more generous than the public ones. Most people never read these emails. The second is by signing up for a brand's newsletter or mailing list. It's common to receive a first-order discount of 10 to 20 percent, and the only cost to the customer is providing an email address. Third is by abandoning your shopping cart. If you leave items in your online shopping cart, many retailers will send you a discount code within a day or two to encourage you to complete the purchase. And fourth is through public code websites. These are the easiest to find but often the most expired and smallest discounts. Retailers expect that a code that anyone can use is already factored into the product's price.
Where can I find coupons?
The most valuable and least accessed place is the promotions tab in your personal email, as personal offers are more valuable than general ones and they often go unnoticed in an unopened folder. Other sources include the retailer's website, which may have a current offers page, loyalty or rewards programs that offer member-exclusive prices, browser extensions that apply public codes at checkout, and various coupon websites that are often outdated. Vlingo helps you explore the first option and more, as members share deals with each other which means you can find offers that you weren't personally sent but someone else did and shared.
Is it safe to unsubscribe from emails?
Yes, if the emails are from a legitimate company. They are required to remove you from their mailing list and it's the most straightforward way to stop receiving emails. However, if the emails are spam, it's not safe. An unsubscribe link in spam email is a sure way to tell the sender that your email address is active, which typically leads to more spam, not less. Instead, mark those emails as spam and delete them. The trick is to know whether or not you recognize the sender. If it's someone you've willingly shared your email with, use the unsubscribe link. If it's a complete stranger, don't click on anything in the email.
How do I clean up my Gmail promotions tab?
If you connect Gmail to Vlingo, your promotions tab is organized into three searchable channels instead of one. These channels are your own promos, predicted deals, and deals shared by other members. This way, the clutter is removed, but the discounts are still there, which is not the case if you simply delete the tab.
How much can I save?
An estimated $2,395 a year.
What rewards can I get?
You get actual products, not points. Some of the rewards currently offered are AirPods, $50 off Delta flights, a $100 Vuori gift card, $50 Target gift cards, $20 McDonald's gift cards, and every month there's also a $500 Visa gift card you can enter to win. To earn these rewards, you connect your promotional emails and create Deal Lockers.
What is a founding member?
The first 1,000 users. Founding members earn rewards faster and get 3x the rewards.
How many brands does Vlingo track?
3,000 brands. 945 new deals are added every day.
Does Vlingo work with Outlook or Yahoo?
Vlingo is compatible with Gmail. It doesn't support other inboxes yet.
Is there a Vlingo app?
Currently, Vlingo is a web-based application. The iPhone app will be available on the App Store soon.
How does Vlingo make money if it is free?
Vlingo receives a commission if a purchase is made through a deal it found. The retailer is responsible for the payment, and the price remains unchanged for you, with no additional cost.