For Android users with Google Location HIstory enabled, theGoogle Opinion Rewardsapp is a no-brainer — just answer a couple questions and get money to spend on apps and games in the Play Store. Opinion Rewards uses various sources to find relevant surveys to give you, with your Google Search history and the account-based Google Location History being the main two. Now, it appears there will be another option.
For years, you would have to ensure that the app had location access to get location-based surveys. But at some point recently, it switched to using your account-level Google Location History to see if you had been to a business that was seeking customer feedback through surveys. Before this most recent change, you would still get location-based surveys even if the Opinion Rewards app didn’t have access to your phone’s location permission. Even starting fresh by clearing app data, it wouldn’t prompt for location access — just notification access and Google account access.
Now, several users have spotted an “Enable location permissions” task in Opinion Rewards, indicating that the service could be switching back to an app-based location permission for surveys or potentially supplementing your Google Location History with it. We’re not entirely sure how the app would benefit from accessing both device and account location history, but it could be meant to enable real-time surveys, or at least faster notifications for surveys after visiting a business.
Importantly, this new onboarding experience doesn’t just ask for access to your device’s precise location, but it also walks you through allowing the Opinion Rewards app to view your location information in the background. Android 11 changed how this process works, and now users have to manually enable the background location permission from a system Settings menu rather than a prompt. Opinion Rewards makes this easier by providing a button that takes you to this Settings menu.
Google recently split location-based surveys into two parts: the survey anda new Receipt tasks section. Previously, surveys would prompt you to upload a copy of your receipt after asking you about the nature of your visit (I entered but didn’t buy anything, I paid with a debit card, etc.). Now, you only get the questionnaire part in the survey, and there’s a separate section where you can upload receipts for more rewards.
It’s possible this new precise background location permission prompt could be used to enhance Receipt tasks in some way, or it may be intended to expedite surveys as mentioned earlier. It’s also possible this could be used to enable a different type of reward, but we’ve seen no other indication of such a development. We’re seeing the new onboarding UI on some of our devices, but not all, so it appears to be in the early stages of a rollout.
