12 Ways To Master The McDonald's App For Maximum Savings

There's no question that, to retain customers, today's fast food restaurants need to have good apps and ordering websites. According to Restaurant Technology News, 40% of customers prefer to order using a restaurant's app or website when placing takeout orders, and it's even higher for delivery. NCR Voyix's 2025 Customer Experience Report found that 58% of customers like to place their orders using an app or website when they get their food delivered. The top reasons included convenience, ease of customizing orders, and loyalty point programs.

The McDonald's app is one of the better ones out there and offers all of those benefits. It's user-friendly, easy to navigate, and it makes ordering fast and convenient, even including customizations. Additionally, the rewards program isn't bad — if you are a frequent customer of McDonald's and you aren't using the app, you are paying more. 

One thing to note, though, is McDonald's is getting something back from you when you use the app — the company is tracking your data. It knows all sorts of things, like how often you order, what you like to eat, whether you eat in-store or go through the drive-through, and a lot of other information. McDonald's says it uses this to provide a better customer experience. If you decide you don't mind being tracked (It's hard to avoid these days, after all), McDonald's has plenty of app-exclusive offers. We've delved into some of the top ways to use the app to make sure you're getting the most bang for your buck.

If you've ever sat in the drive-thru line giving the employee a particularly long or complicated order, you know the benefit of being able to place your order ahead. You can get in every substitution or customization without forgetting or having your order misunderstood. In the McDonald's App, you have a few different choices. You can order ahead for curbside, table service, counter, or drive-thru. 

Depending on what pickup method you choose, McDonald's may start preparing your food as soon as your payment goes through. However, for drive-thru, the store won't prep your order until you give the employee your code at the window. Want to eat inside, but skip the line? Grab a table number and have a seat. You can place your order on the app, choose table service, and have your food delivered to your table without ever having to stand in line. If you've chosen to go through the drive-thru, you can save time by simply providing your code, skipping the ordering process and payment steps.

In addition to saving time, people want their food apps to save money with discounts, coupons, and free items. By using the McDonald's App, customers can accumulate points from ordering food. The points can then be redeemed for free items. You automatically get the points when you place orders through the app. If you're ordering in person, choose the "earn points" tab on the bottom. When you order, give your 4-digit code or have them scan the QR code to earn points. 

You can get a one-time 1,500 bonus point reward just by linking a credit card to the app and paying with it. Also, the first time you download the app, you can get a Quarter Pounder with Cheese for free with the purchase of at least $1 worth of food. Each dollar you spend is worth 100 points. Rewards begin at 1500 points. These include items like free hash browns or a vanilla cone. Let your points accumulate and get rewards for 3,000, 4,500, and 6,000 points. At the top of the list for 6,000 points are freebies such a Happy Meal or Big Mac. Don't forget to spend your points because they expire after six months.

McDonald's limits the number of rewards you can use to only one per transaction. According to the frequently asked questions portion of the McDonald's website, "At this time, you are limited to redeeming one reward per order." However, resourceful customers have found workarounds for this problem. According to customers on TikTok, McDonald's app rewards are reset after 10 to 15 minutes. 

This TikToker explains that 15 minutes is just enough time to go through the drive-thru and redeem one reward. Eat it, and then go back through the drive-thru to get another reward. This one is for people who don't mind waiting for deals. The app deals change daily, but sometimes, McDonald's has been known to offer 10-piece Chicken McNuggets for only $1. For example, you can get $1 McNuggets, wait 15 minutes, and then go through the line again to snag yourself a second deal, such as free french fries with a $1 purchase. Theoretically, you could repeat this multiple times for cheap food.

Many restaurants offer birthday rewards through apps and rewards programs. However, some birthday rewards are better than others. While some fast food restaurants will give you free food or drinks on your birthday, others only offer extra points. McDonald's birthday reward treat is not a bad one. It offers a free medium french fry. To get this deal, you will need to have the app downloaded. When you register, enter your birthdate. It should then show up in the "Deals" section of the app on your birthday. What's nice about this reward is that, unlike many other deals, you don't need to spend anything to redeem it.

This is not a bad deal, as the cost of medium french fries has gone up quite a bit in the last five to 10 years. In 2019, medium french fries were $2.29, and in 2015, they were $1.79. Today, depending on location, you may pay around $3.99 for medium french fries. Don't delay on your birthday if you want the free fries. The offer is only valid on your birthday, when it can be redeemed at the time they start serving lunch up until 10 p.m. that day, or later if you go through the drive-thru.

Separate from rewards points on the app is McDonald's "App Exclusive Deals." Don't forget to check these out before placing your order. They may vary daily and be different for breakfast and the rest of the day. When McDonald's has free french fries on Fridays, it's this section where you will find the offer. Even if there isn't a food item you want from the app exclusive deals, check for overall discounts. For example, there is often an option to save 20% off a purchase of $10 or more. Alternatively, if you're spending $20 or more, you can usually get $5 off.

Other deals you may find here for breakfast are 29-cent breakfast sandwiches or hash browns when you buy one, or 79-cent any-sized coffee. Later in the day after breakfast is over, depending on location, you may see offers such as buy one McChicken sandwich and get a second one for $1.

This McDonald's app feature is easily overlooked, but it can provide some extra points to use for free food. To find it, scroll down on the "Rewards & Deals" tab to the section labeled "Bonuses." You will see that you can choose a bonus to unlock that is good for the week. For example, for breakfast, you may see the option to earn double points on any breakfast purchase. 

By using this, you will get 200 points for every dollar spent, making it that much faster to earn free food. Instead of needing to spend $15 to get a free item, this cuts it down to $7.50. Note that you won't get the double points unless you go into the app and choose to unlock the bonus. Also, you can't get unlimited double points. It's good for one order per week and only on Monday through Friday.

This is not a money-saving hack, but it will save you time. One benefit of ordering on the app is a bit like being a regular customer in an old-timey diner when the waitress asks, "Would you like the usual?" Like many restaurant and fast food apps, McDonald's saves your order history. However, McDonald's makes it even more convenient than looking through your previous orders.

When you head over to the "Order" tab, you will see at the top of the screen the option to "Quickly reorder." The app displays the first couple of previous orders, but you have the option to "View all" if you want to go further back. Perhaps you have a regular order with lots of customizations — this makes reordering a snap. Note that choosing "Reorder" puts all the previous order's items in the bag, but you can modify, remove, or add more before you check out. Finally, McDonald's won't let you accidentally reorder an item that's not available — it won't let you complete your order until you remove the unavailable items.

Although you can't bundle multiple app deals or rewards together, you can bundle them with regular menu deals for extra savings. For example, McDonald's currently offers a McValue Menu. On this menu are "Buy One, Add One for $1." Although this may vary by region, the deals here may include a Double Cheeseburger, McChicken, six-piece chicken McNuggets, or small french fries. Combine that with an App Exclusive Deal (such as free french fries), and you can see the savings add up. 

In addition to the buy one, get one for one dollar options, McDonald's has rolled out $5 Meal Deals. The Meal Deals were initially announced in the summer of 2024, and they include a McChicken, McDouble, or Daily Double. For example, if you choose the McChicken deal, you also get small french fries and a four-piece Chicken McNugget. If you're feeding a crowd or are very hungry, combine the Meal Deal with the "Buy One, Add One" and throw in an exclusive app deal for maximum savings. If you bought the same amount of food directly from the restaurant without the app savings, you'd be paying a lot more.

Make it French Fry Friday every week with McDonald's free offer. This one comes and goes with the current promotion running until the end of the year, December 31, 2025. For now, every Friday, McDonald's app users can get free medium-sized french fries with at least a $1 purchase. To get this, you have to add your menu item that's $1 or above, and then choose the free fry deal from the deals tab. You can either add it to your mobile order or show a QR code when ordering at the restaurant.

We traced the "Free Fries on Fry Day" deal back to running during the month of June in 2020. Since then, sometimes the offer runs for a month or two at a time. For 2025, though, the offer will run the entire year. The catch is, it can't be combined with other offers.

McDonald's doesn't have an in-store delivery service, but has partnered with Uber Eats and DoorDash to have food delivered through a service called "McDelivery." You can either order your McDonald's delivered from one of the third-party food delivery services or directly through the McDonald's app. If you choose to have it delivered through the app, you will need to select "McDelivery" from the top of the menu page on the "Order" tab. From there, McDonald's will ask you to enter your address to see if delivery is available in your area. Before 2017, you could only get McDonald's delivered if you lived in Virginia's Tidewater region or New York City's Manhattan. In 2017, McDonald's partnered with Uber Eats, and in 2019, it added DoorDash to its options to bring McDonald's delivery across the country.

McDelivery does charge a fee, which can vary. We noted in the Chicago area, it was recently $2.99 plus an 86-cent service fee. However, the benefit of McDelivery over Uber Eats or DoorDash is that you can still use App Exclusive Deals or redeem rewards in the app. As for prices, when you get your food delivered, it's slightly higher than picking it up directly from the restaurant. This is also true when you order directly through DoorDash or Uber Eats — you pay a price for convenience. Occasionally, McDonald's will offer deals, such as free delivery.

Sadly, you can't hold onto those rewards points forever. You are probably better off spending them as soon as you get them, rather than risk having them expire. According to the McDonald's website, "Unfortunately, nothing can last forever. Your points will expire on the first day of the month after the sixth month from the day your points were earned." This means, if you earn points on June 15th, you have until January 1 of the following year to use your points. McDonald's does provide a warning notice when your points are close to expiring, reminding you to use them.

Should you save them up for big rewards or spend them right away at the 1,500 point tier? According to the Krazy Coupon Lady, "You should always use your McDonald's Rewards points on the 1,500 point tier if you want to maximize your savings since it'll give you the most cashback in rewards." In addition to getting more cash back, if you spend at the 1,500 level as you earn, you are also less at risk of having your points expire.

Finally, to get the most from the rewards program, it helps to be familiar with the cheapest items on the menu. These deals do change, but some common ones usually offer a free item under the deals tab that only requires a $1 or $2 purchase. For example, currently on Fridays, McDonald's offers free medium french fries with only $1 minimum purchase. You can buy a soda for a little more than a dollar, and you can add on large french fries for free.

Note that these specials will change, but some of the cheapest food we've seen offered through the app are 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, bagel sandwiches, and breakfast sandwiches, all for $1 each, or 99-cent iced coffee. Although these deals come and go, and we can't promise any of them will be on your app, it pays to check the deals section for the cheapest items before you place your order.