7 Essential Apps For Tracking Discounts On Tech

Tech deals are always in high demand because as modern technology progresses, the prices always seem to keep going up too. When you're shopping, it's important to make sure that you're getting the best prices, and you've got to be quick when discounts appear because they're usually only available for a limited time.

There are different kinds of methods to finding potential savings, and apps like the ones we've gathered here can be a big help. Among them are mobile versions of online commerce platforms, seekers for the lowest prices of whatever you want to buy, and even a community where everyone helps each other stay informed of fresh tech deals.

All of the apps in this roundup are available for both iOS and Android devices, and have received a solid rating from at least one of the app stores for these operating systems, after a minimum of 500 reviews. We'll also highlight some helpful feedback from users to support our selections.

The mobile app for Amazon (App Store, Google Play) brings the world's most popular online store and of one of the best sources for tech finds at deep discounts to your phone. It's easy to search for anything that you want to buy across its massive catalog with millions of products, and some items you can't buy anywhere else, according to users. However, the app is also an excellent way of tracking discounts on tech.

Amazon is always offering savings on a wide range of tech categories, and you can look at the price history of products as far back as 90 days in order to check if you're really getting a good deal. If you want to keep an eye on a product, you can tap the heart icon on its page to save it to your watch list, and you'll receive a notification when its price drops. If you see a device you like in the wild, you can tap the camera icon in the app's search bar and take a picture or scan a barcode, to check if it's sold by Amazon.

While the Amazon app usually offers 90-day price history for its products, Keepa (App Store, Google Play) is an even more comprehensive tracker of the retailer's items. When you search for Amazon items on the app, it will show you their current brand new and used prices. Tapping on a product will bring up more comprehensive data, including price history starting from as far back as three years, its lowest and highest prices, and its sellers on Amazon if there are others aside from the manufacturer.

Keepa requires creating an account if you want to track specific items, with the option to set target prices and for you to receive notifications if they drop to those values. You can also do this on items that are sold out, and get alerted when stocks are available again.

There's an option to sign up for a Keepa Pro plan, which costs about $33 per month, to unlock more in-depth data and increase the number of items you can track from 200 to 10,000, but for most people, the free version of the app will be more than enough. Users reviews say the app's ability to search for the lowest prices site-wide, and its alerts for snagging limited-time discounts, really works in helping find great deals on Amazon.

Woot (App Store, Google Play) is also owned by Amazon, but the app takes a different approach to helping you track tech discounts. While Amazon serves as an online marketplace, Woot focuses on delivering daily deals you might be interested in. The offers cover categories that include fashion and groceries, but you can simply head to the electronics and computers sections to bring up the tech-focused savings. Free shipping on Woot is also a less known Amazon Prime membership perk, but it's not necessary be a Prime subscriber to get any benefit from the app.

The discounts on the Woot app are only available for a limited time, either expiring on a certain date or ending once stocks are sold out. Deals include both brand new items and refurbished ones, and you can set the app to send you notifications when there's a new one. However, since it's primarily for flash sales, there are no wish lists or price history. Users said that the potential for savings through Woot are real though, so it will be worth it to spend a few minutes per day on the app to browse for tech deals.

Providing access to one of the most overlooked stores with electronics deals, the Newegg app (App Store, Google Play) will let you do some component shopping from your phone. Once you launch the app, among the things you'll see are daily deals and trade-in offers for computer parts and accessories, gaming systems, networking devices, and smart home gadgets, among other categories. You're not going to see fashion and groceries here.

You can enable push notifications to receive alerts for discounts, and add products to your wish list so that you can monitor their prices long term. If you're having trouble deciding between two products that you've been tracking, you can compare them side by side so that it's easier to determine the better deal.

According to users, shopping using the Newegg app is amazing because the discounts and bundle deals will let you save a lot of money, and the return policy won't give you a headache. They also highlighted the app's PC Builder tool, which lets you easily build your desktop computer from scratch while showing you the best offers for the components that you need. 

Capital One Shopping (App Store, Google Play) comes with daily offers across different platforms, including Amazon, Walmart, and Target, and it will automatically apply discounts to your purchases. It works in the background while you do your shopping on a supported platform, and once you're ready to check out, the app will apply a valid coupon or promo code. User reviews credit this feature with saving them quite a bit of money, as many don't even know where to look for coupons and promo codes.

Capital One Shopping will also compare prices among different retailers for a product that you want to buy, and it will also send you a notification if the price of an item that you've viewed drops. You'll also be able to earn rewards when you make your purchases, and you can redeem them for gift cards to do even more shopping. The app also doesn't even require a Capital One bank account or credit card before you're able to access these discounts.

Slickdeals (App Store, Google Play) is a community-driven app where millions of members share deals that they find online. The app covers many products and platforms outside of tech, and while you can keep browsing through all of them to find offers that catch your attention, you can also set up alerts to receive notifications whenever a deal gets posted on a specific gadget, from a certain store, or in a certain category.

As members of the Slickdeals community shares deals as soon as they see them, the app is a great way to keep updated on any limited-time discounts. User reviews praise the notifications from the community for helping them keep on top of very short-term deals, even ones available for less than a day.

In addition to the deals that are shared by the community, Slickdeals also has a collection of coupons that you can apply to your purchases. Combined with the discounts from retailers, you're in line for a lot of savings with this app.

Purchasing refurbished products is one of the ways to be frugal when buying electronics because of the possible savings, and Back Market (App Store, Google Play) is an excellent app for this purpose. You can browse through different categories, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and gaming consoles, or search for specific devices. If there's a refurbished gadget that you want to buy but the price is still too high, you can save it in the app's favorites section so that you'll know when it becomes more affordable. You can also do trade-ins to get even better deals, with the app capable of assessing the devices that you want to send out.

We've recommended to never buy refurbished tech without asking some things first, and apparently Back Market's customer support is excellent and receptive to questions, according to users. You'll receive answers for anything that you'd want to know about a product before you proceed with a purchase. All refurbished gadgets come with a one-year warranty and free shipping, and you have 30 days to send them back if you change your mind.

Our recommendations in this roundup of essential apps for tracking discounts on tech may be downloaded from both Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store for free. However, some of them will require a paid subscription if you want to unlock all of their features.

All of the apps have received an average rating of at least 4.4 stars after a minimum of 500 user reviews from one or both app stores. We've highlighted the important features in each app that will help you find the best tech deals, and showcased feedback to make sure that they're worth the download.