Microsoft Rewards Adds Helpful New Feature

Highlights

Microsoft Rewards offers points for using Microsoft products daily, with new Streak Protection feature for uninterrupted streaks.
Users can earn points for tasks like searching with Bing, playing Xbox games, and make donations or purchases with points.
Streak Protection allows users to miss up to 14 days without losing their streak, but must remember to turn it off to avoid using multiple protections.

Microsoft has rolled out an update to its Microsoft Rewards program that looks to help users earn more Microsoft points. While it began hitting Rewards dashboards back in March, more Microsoft Rewards users should see the new support measure showing up for them.

Microsoft Rewards encourages users to use Microsoft products by doling out points for things they do online on a near-daily basis, like searching with Bing or Edge, playing games on Xbox systems or the Xbox app, and purchasing things from the Microsoft store. These points can be used to enter sweepstakes for Microsoft products, purchase Microsoft gift cards, or even make a monetary donation to a nonprofit organization. Rewards users also receive a daily list of personalized actions on their Rewards dashboard that they can complete to earn bonus points. By completing their daily activities, users build up a streak that earns them more points the longer they can keep it going, but missing one day resets the streak and the bonus points entirely.

How PlayStation Stars Compares to Microsoft Rewards

Although Sony’s PlayStation Stars loyalty program is similar to Microsoft Rewards, there are several differences that help it stand out.

But, as it happens, sometimes life gets in the way of a good streak. Back in March, the official Microsoft Bing Developer account quietly announced in a tweet that Microsoft would begin adding a Streak Protection feature to the Microsoft Rewards dashboard. Users can activate the feature if they don’t think they’re going to get to their activities that day for up to 14 missed days per year.

Rolling Out Microsoft Rewards Streak Protection

When this was announced back in March, it was still being rolled out to a fairly small group of users. Since then, users like Video Game Tracker’s Alan Feely have reported the feature becoming available to more Rewards accounts. User reception to Streak Protection has been somewhat mixed, with most expressing relief that they’ll be able to keep their streak even if they happen to go on vacation and can’t get to their activities on a particular day.

Anyone who’s ever lost a Duolingo streak understands the emotional devastation that comes with breaking a streak. On paper, it seems like a great way to keep users interested and invested in the Microsoft Rewards program.

Other users have been pointing out what is either a glitch or design oversight: When a user activates Streak Protection for a particular day, they must remember to turn it off the following day, or they’ll burn another Streak Protection. Some users have reported that they’ve turned it on and left it on just in case something comes up. A week and a half later, they’ll receive a notification saying that they’re almost out of Streak Protection days even if they’ve been completing their allotted daily activities every day since. So, while Microsoft‘s new feature seems to be a major relief for those who can’t get to their Microsoft Rewards dashboards every day, there do seem to be some drawbacks that may prevent users from reaching the elusive 999-day Rewards Streak badge.

Microsoft

Date Founded: April 4, 1975
Headquarters: Redmond, Washington, United States
CEO: Satya Nadella
Subsidiaries: activision blizzard , Microsoft Studios , Mojang Studios , Microsoft Game Studios , Xbox Game Studios