The best Black Friday Android apps for shopping in-store or online

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 27 Nov 2014

Another Black Friday is upon us. Many retailers have already started their discount madness, with all kinds of pre-Black Friday sales promotions ready to lure you in with the latest “must-have” deal.

If you plan on venturing out in the wee hours after Thanksgiving, or have your eye on a particular online sale, your Android device can be a great aid for finding that sought-after gadget or scoring for additional discounts from specific retailers. The following apps can help you hone in on what you’re after, so you can get back to what the holidays are supposed to be about instead of spending time in a mosh pit of commercialism gone mad.

Sort through the firehose of sales

TGI Black Friday: This app compiles listings from Internet published ads. You can sort by store, category, or search for specific products. The search works pretty well; it pulled up several different models of Chromebooks when I typed “Chromebook” into the search bar was similarly accurate with other product searches. If you find something that you’re interested in exploring later, save it to a dedicated list inside the app.

tgi black friday

TGI Black Friday is a good way to search for sales on specific items.

Each item has a “shop now” button that takes you to its retail page on the web. However, some of the sales aren’t available until Black Friday, so you may be disappointed if trying to buy before then. The merchise listed in TGI Black Friday is pretty tech heavy, but there are non-gadget options like tools, furniture, toys.

Black Friday: The mobile app for BlackFriday.com is like a digital collection of those thirty-page weekly newspaper sales guides you get in the mail. This app reproduces a bunch of them, so rest assured you’re probably not going to miss one from any of the major companies. It’s a little hard to navigate on a phone screen, as you have to pinch zoom through a full reproduction of the ads, so check it out on a tablet if you can. Curiously, you can’t swipe to turn the page, you must press left right arrow buttons. A scrolling ad lurks just above the arrows, awaiting your misplaced touch to chalk up a little revenue.

black friday app

You won’t run out of sales to look at when using the Black Friday app.

There is a tab dedicated to listings by store, recent deals, or press releases from the retailers. You can also sign up for email alerts when new ads show up, both for big box online-only storefronts. The interface isn’t great, but it’s useful for scanning through a pretty comprehensive collection of Black Friday sales.

SnipSnap: SnipSnap is a great app to have year round, not just on Black Friday. You can use it to digitize all your coupons, so they’re always at the ready when heading to the store. It also has a social element—other users can share their coupons to a community stream, which you can then snag add them to your own database.

snipsnap

Snipsnap takes the misery out of clipping finding paper coupons. 

ong with these coupons there’s a general bank of them for just about any product category you can imagine. You can then get them scanned when checking out at a store to get the discount.

search: is giving you another reason to turn to its search engine for finding a specific product. Certain products, many of them electronics, now feature more detailed descriptions local store availability.

google search black friday

Rotate products with your finger in ’s shopping search feature.

They may also feature a 360-degree model you can twist around with your finger. is also ramping up its shopping-friendly knowledge base in anticipation of Black Friday, with information about store openings sponsored shopping results.

Shopping delivery tools

If you’re joining the masses on Black Friday (or Thanksgiving Day, sigh) at one of the big box stores, it’s best to arm yourself with that particular retailer’s app. Many have deals tucked into their mobile apps or incentives for using them with your purchase. There are too many to list, but we’ll highlighting a few of the major players tell you why you may want to grab their apps.

Cartwheel by Target: This app can simplify finding the store’s coupons discounts. Scroll through the app for any you like, then just tap on the item to add it to your “cartwheel,” which is the holding pen for your saved coupons.

target cartwheel

Target’s Cartwheel app saves all your discount offers for redeeming then in the store.

en checking out, the clerk can scan the barcode on your phone to credit you for the savings. If you’re a Target regular, this app is probably worth having, as such discounts are available all year.

lmart: lmart’s mobile app tries to save you money after your purchase. It has a feature dubbed “Savings Catcher” that compares all the items on your receipt with a database from other retailers. If it finds any lower prices, it credits you the difference with a digital gift card. Sure, it’s probably a way to track all your purchases data mine them, but at least you may get a few dollars out of it.

walmart roid

The retail behemoth puts all its sales inside of its mobile app.

The lmart app has other features, including the weekly ad the ability to scan barcodes QR codes for additional product information. You can also shop directly from the app schedule items for in-store pickup.

Express: y venture out into the cold crowds if you don’t have to? Black Friday the holiday shopping season is as good a time as any to try out ’s nascent shopping service.

google express

Express promises next- or same-day delivery to certain metropolitan regions.

Browse the mobile app for items from Costco, Target, lgreens, other retailers set them up for delivery. th a membership (there’s a three-month-trial), you get free same-day or overnight delivery if you’re in an eligible delivery area. If you elect to keep the service it’s $10 per month or $95 per year. It’s a direct shot at Amazon’s growing same-day delivery service, which is exping to many large cities (though leaving s Vegas).