LOOK no further than your mobile if you’re hoping to save a bit of cash in 2026 – there are a load of hidden tricks I used to save £100s last year.
As The Sun’s Assistant Technology and Science Editor, I know loads of apps brimming with freebies and a fair few subscription switches that maximise savings too – and I’m willing to share them.
Some of them you’ll likely already have access to and others take a bit of know-how, but here exactly where to look and how to get started…
#1 Extra cashback
My approximate saving in 2025: £47
We’re all fairly used to cashback apps now, but you probably don’t realise there are ways to potentially get cashback twice.
I’ve been a fan of one called Airtime Rewards for years – it automatically gives you cashback when using certain bank cards.
You don’t need to open special website links to take advantage, just buy as you normally would and eligible purchases are tracked.
There are all sorts of big names on board like Asos, Boots, Ikea, New Look, Morrisons, The Range, Argos and many more.
The cashback per cent varies from retailer to retailer, but is usually anything up to 10 per cent.
Once you build up £10 or more, Airtime Rewards can be used to pay toward your mobile phone bill.
You’ll have to go into the app to redeem it but the process is fairly simple once Airtime Rewards has your phone number.
Since starting Airtime Rewards in 2023 I’ve pocketed almost £70.
Also, look out for bonus promotions that give you even more within the app – so if you spend a certain amount in a month you get extra cashback.
The other bonus cashback you can bag is through your bank.
My bank, Lloyds, has Everyday Offers, which I consult before making any purchases.
Annoyingly, you have to activate them before which means checking each time but you can bag a lot of savings.
For example, I can currently get 7 per cent back at Iceland and 15 per cent back from Morrisons.
In my lifetime with Lloyds Bank I’ve earned more than £317 through the Everyday Offers cashback.
#2 Free and reduced food
My approximate saving in 2025: £42
There’s plenty of free food around if you know where to look.
Many of your existing subscriptions give out nosh on a regular basis.
For example, my Sky subscription gives me a free Sainsbury’s food item every week, including Taste The Difference pizzas, cookies, and more.
Meanwhile my mobile provider Vodafone occasionally does £3 vouchers for Sainsbury’s too.
Elsewhere, there are ways to bag reduced short-dated food for bargain prices.
Last year, I tried Olio’s latest bag of reduced goods from Iceland which got me £19 worth of veg and meat for £2.
All you have to do is secure a bag within the Olio app, turn up to your local Iceland store before it closes and pay the £2.
SAVE ON AMAZON PRIME
My approximate saving in 2025: £25.97
I also stopped paying full price (£8.99 a month) for Amazon Prime in 2025.
Firstly, Vodafone offers Prime for £1 for three months, which was a nice little saving.
When I cancelled Prime after that, Amazon routinely tries to win me back with special offers.
Just this week, it came up with 50 per cent off Prime for three months (£4.49 a month) when I added an item to my basket, so it’s worth checking out.
Image credit: Getty
#3 Switching cloud subs
My approximate saving in 2025: £7.89
Almost everybody requires cloud storage for all their photos and videos these days (and if you don’t, I hope you’re backing them up some other way, as losing them is devastating).
I realised I was going to need more cloud space this year as I have so many old memories I want to keep.
I would advise anyone to go through their photos and videos to do a clear out to avoid racking up cloud storage bills first, though.
Be sure to check your WhatsApp as well, as silly videos and memes you don’t need can swallow up your space.
There are a few ways to save money on cloud storage.
Firstly, if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber many forget that you get free unlimited photo storage on your account.
Videos are capped at 5GB for free but you could still offload all your pics to Amazon Photos and leave the rest to your existing cloud storage.
Doing this will help you avoid upgrading to the next cloud storage size up which will cost more.
Another option is shared cloud storage plans.
Both Google and Apple offer these, where you and five other people pay one bill and share the benefits.
Although you’re sharing you still have your own private account, so others won’t be able to snoop on your photos and videos.
I opted for Google One Premium, which is £7.99 a month with 2TB of storage space.
Shared between six people that’s £1.33 a month with 333GB of data each – by comparison Google One Basic only offers 100GB and it costs more, at £1.59 a month.
You can save further if you’re able to pay for a year upfront.
At the moment, Google are running an offer on selected accounts for Google One Premium at £39.99 for the year instead of £79.99.
Visit one.google.com and sign into your account to see what’s available to you.
If you want to use the Apple equivalent, Apple One, it’s a bit higher because you get Apple TV, Apple Music and Apple Arcade thrown in too.
It might work out cheaper if you’re all using Apple Music – or if you’re willing to switch from Spotify.
It costs £24.95 a month with 200TB of storage to share between six of you.
FREE DISNEY+
My approximate saving in 2025: £35.94
Disney+ usually costs £5.99 for the cheapest tier – but you can get it free if you’re a takeaway lover.
I subscribe to Uber One for cheaper rides and discounts on my Uber Eats takeaway deliveries.
I also book my train tickets to get to work through Uber as well, as you get 10 per cent back.
But on top of all this, you also get Disney+ free for a limited time.
If you’re a monthly subscriber you get Disney+ free for six months – and if you’re an annual subscriber you get it for a year.
Look out for the banner offering Disney+ free in the Uber app.
Image credit: Disney
#4 Free and cheap cinema tickets
My approximate saving in 2025: £30
Paying full price for a cinema ticket seems madness these days when there are plenty of ways to get them cheap or entirely free.
My Sky account offers two free Vue cinema tickets a month with Sky Cinema – and you can get free film preview tickets from Sky as well.
Meanwhile, Vodafone offers two Odeon tickets for £8 or four for £16.
If you’re not a Vodafone customer, you can get two with Prime for a tenner.
Other networks like Three have Cineworld tickets available for only £3 each.
And on O2 you can get two Vue tickets for £9 or four for £18.
#5 Cheaper petrol
My approximate saving in 2025: £10
AI is becoming an increasingly handy tool for saving money – and it can be used to reduce petrol costs too.
I used Google Gemini to identify the best place for cheaper fuel in 2025.
Gemini is coming to some car dashboards this year but you can use it hands-free from your mobile.
On one occasion I asked it to find cheaper petrol at my destination rather than my hometown to assess whether it was worth refuelling there.
Sure enough, Gemini told me where I could get petrol for 130.9p per litre instead of 134.9p per litre closer to home.
Gemini is available to download for free on iOS and Android.
