Grab has announced the launch of what it calls Partner Apps. This will make certain third-party apps be available natively from Grab’s own app, which in turn brings a couple of benefits to users. One is skipping the need to download a separate app or creating accounts for participating partners. Another is letting users accumulate GrabRewards points for transactions made with Partner Apps within the Grab app itself.
Partner Apps are now available in Malaysia and Singapore, with more to be added in the coming months. As part of the launch, there are currently five partners on board. They are the eSIM provider Firsty, bicycle-sharing and on-demand bicycle rental HelloRide, bus ticketing platform redBus, Singaporean peer-to-peer car sharing platform Drive lah, and Jolibox which has games and short dramas.
As mentioned above, one benefit to using these Partner Apps from within the Grab app is earning GrabRewards points for transactions made this way. By extension, this also means you can use GrabPay as a payment method. That being said, it may be the only mode of transaction for awhile. The announcement also says that “in the coming months, other payment methods will be available, including credit and debit cards”.
As for where you’ll find it, Grab says that “users will see a new Partners section” within the app. The company also says that all available partners in respective markets will be shown here. At the time of writing, we see the section hidden behind the “More” button. Though all that we see here are two options from Jolibox. The company does say that it has plans to introduce more, so there’s that.
(Source: Grab)
