You know the best part about a public holiday? Empty roads, empty trains, and that rare feeling of a car-free city. There’s less stress searching for an open coffee shop—because, let’s face it, McDonald’s is often the only place open around here. 😅

Lately, we’ve made it a tradition as a family to do the Sunday McDonald’s run, treating ourselves to their “new” Iced Caramel Latte. But here’s the thing: I never bothered collecting loyalty points. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how it worked when ordering from my car. The idea of showing a QR code while sitting in the car, to a person on the speaker looked like too much effort. Today, I finally decided to ask at the drive-thru if I could collect points. To my surprise, the staff just asked for my 4-character code from the McDonald’s app. I gave it, and—voilà!—points added.


Hello Friend

As I waited for my order, I started thinking: how does this work? If they identify me with just a 4-character code, does that mean only 10,000 people can collect points (since 4 characters could mean 10,000 combinations)? That didn’t seem right.

Curious, I opened the app, found my code, and took a screenshot. Instantly, a pop-up appeared: “This code is valid for 2 minutes and will change if you restart the app.” Mystery solved! It’s a session code—unique, temporary, and refreshed every time you open the app. A pretty clever way to securely and smoothly collect loyalty points and identify users.

Thankfully, I’m no longer missing out on points! 😄