Pret A Manger

Opening the Pret App: What You Actually See

The moment you install and open the Pret A Manger app, you are not greeted with a menu or a map of nearby shops. You land on a login or sign-up page. There is no guest mode. You cannot browse the menu, check your rewards, or see any shop locations until you create an account or log in. This is a deliberate design choice. The app is built around the Club Pret subscription and the Pret Perks loyalty program, and it assumes you are already a customer or ready to become one. The login screen asks for your email or phone number and a password. If you are a new user, you are prompted to sign up with your details, including your name, email, and a password that meets certain criteria. The interface is clean and branded in Pret's signature green and white colors, but it is functional rather than flashy.

Once you log in, the home screen displays a carousel of promotional offers, a "Order Now" button, and a summary of your Pret Perks stars. The bottom navigation bar has four tabs: Home, Order, Rewards, and Account. The Order tab lets you browse the menu by category (coffee, food, baked goods, etc.), customize items, and add them to your cart. The Rewards tab shows your star balance and available perks. The Account tab holds your subscription details, payment methods, and settings. The app is responsive and fast on modern devices, but it relies heavily on a stable internet connection. There is no offline mode. If you lose connectivity while placing an order, the app freezes until the connection is restored.

How Club Pret and Pret Perks Work Together

The Pret A Manger app is not just an ordering tool. It is the digital backbone of two interconnected loyalty systems: Club Pret and Pret Perks. Club Pret is a subscription service that costs $50 per month and gives you up to five barista-made drinks every single day. This includes organic coffees, teas, espressos, lemonades, and more. The app manages your subscription, tracks your daily drink usage, and generates a QR code that you scan at the till to redeem your drinks. Pret Perks, on the other hand, is a free loyalty program that rewards you with stars for every purchase. You earn one star for every item you buy, and after collecting ten stars, you can redeem them for a free perk—usually a hot drink, a pastry, or a sandwich.

The tension between these two systems is where the app's design reveals its complexity. Club Pret subscribers already get unlimited drinks, so they do not need to use stars for drinks. Instead, they can use their stars for food items, effectively stacking their benefits. A subscriber who buys a sandwich with their daily coffee earns stars for the sandwich, which they can later redeem for a free pastry. This creates a powerful incentive to use the app regularly. However, the app's technical failures often undermine this ecosystem. Users have reported that the QR code for the subscription does not always appear, that stars do not always register, and that the app logs them out at the worst possible moment—right when they are at the till, ready to pay. The result is a rewards system that works beautifully on paper but frustrates users in practice.

Real-World Performance: Bugs, Crashes, and Login Loops

The Pret A Manger app has a reputation for being unreliable. User reviews across multiple platforms consistently mention login failures, app crashes, and unresponsive customer support. The most common complaint is the OTP (one-time password) system. Users report that they request an OTP to log in, wait for several minutes, and never receive it. They try again, and the same thing happens. The app does not offer an alternative login method, such as a password or social media login, for users who cannot receive the OTP. This means that users who cannot receive the OTP are effectively locked out of the app forever. Some users have tried contacting the support number listed in the app, only to find that it is not answered or that the person on the other end cannot help.

The app also crashes frequently. Users have reported that the app freezes when they try to view their order history, redeem a reward, or scan their QR code. The crashes are more common on older Android devices, but they have also been reported on newer iPhones. The app's performance is inconsistent. One user described the app as "terrible" and said they "cannot even login to the useless Pret app." Another user said the app is the first they have ever downloaded for rewards and the first they have deleted. The app's reliance on a backend API means that any server-side issues can cause the app to become unresponsive or slow. The app's changelog shows that the developer is actively working on fixes, but the updates are often vague, with notes like "minor bug fixes and improvements" that do not inspire confidence.

What the App Asks For: Permissions and Technical Quirks

The Pret A Manger app requests access to your device's location, storage, and camera. The location permission is used to find nearby Pret shops and provide accurate pickup times. The storage permission is used to cache menu images and order data. The camera permission is used to scan QR codes for rewards and payments. These are standard requests for a food ordering app. However, the app does not explain why it needs these permissions during the onboarding process. It asks for them the first time you try to place an order or scan a QR code. This can be confusing for users who are not expecting it. The app also requires an internet connection for almost every function. There is no offline mode. You cannot view your order history, check your star balance, or see the menu without a connection. The app stores a local cache, but it is limited. If you lose connectivity while trying to redeem a reward, the app freezes until the connection is restored. This is a technical detail that affects users in areas with spotty mobile coverage. The app is built for constant connectivity, and it does not handle interruptions gracefully.