Beam vs EI +
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Beam
This app offers personalized deals and dollar rewards from local stores. Merchants can create targeted marketing campaigns to connect with specific customer profiles. It aims to help customers save money, businesses increase profits, and reduce waste.
- Personalized offers from stores
- Earn rewards in dollars
- Merchant campaign creation
- Targeted offers to user profiles
- Pay with your phone
- 10% back on every spend
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Beam is an innovative payments and marketing app and platform built for the 21st century. Beam allows users to access personalised offers from stores and earn rewards in dollars! For merchants, we’ve created a platform that turns payments into conversations; Beam allows merchants to create campaigns for specific user profiles, allowing merchants to match their offers with the right customer. Customers save money, businesses profit, and waste is a thing of the past. How Pay with your phone, get 10% back, on every spend, anywhere. Why → It’s easy Download the app for free and go. → It’s different 10% back on every spend. Always. → It’s BS-free Rewards in dollars, not inflated points. What you see is what you get. Note: Beam is currently available in Sydney, Australia and Lisbon, Portugal, and is no longer available in the UAE and Sweden. Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
EI +
This mobile banking application offers advanced technology and an improved user experience for both new and existing clients. It provides a streamlined way to manage your finances on the go.
- Advanced technology integration
- Enhanced user experience
- Manage finances on the go
- For existing and new clients
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Emirates Islamic's newest mobile banking offering brings the latest in technology, and enhanced user experience to our existing and new clients.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: EI + at every 10 days against Beam's every 4 months. EI + also leads on ratings volume (4.6K vs 808) and review sentiment (55% vs 47%). Beam's advantage is monetization model (free vs ad-supported) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Beam against 4.7 for EI +. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: EI + has 4.6K ratings behind it against 808, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 47% of Beam's written reviews are positive against 55% of EI +'s.
Beam ships an update every 4 months, EI + every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Beam | EI + |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (808 ratings) | 4.7 (4.6K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 46.9% of reviews | 55.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 808 | 4.6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 57 MB | 685 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | GBC S.A. | Emirates Islamic Bank P.J.S.C |
Customer experience
Beam
EI +
User reviews
Beam
From 808 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💰 Rewarding with cash back and discounts
- 🚀 Convenient and easy to use
- 🔒 Secure payment method
- 👍 Smooth and intuitive interface
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes and technical issues
- ❌ Limited merchant acceptance and availability
- 🕰️ Slow and unreliable payment processing
- 💸 Unauthorized charges and deductions from accounts
- 🔍 Poor customer support and lack of responsiveness
EI +
From 4.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 🚀 Secure and easy access
- 🚀 Impressive UI/UX and features
- 🚀 Instant transfer to mobile
Room to improve
- 🐛 Doesn't work, app crashes
- 🐛 Impossible to reach customer support
- 🐛 Unfriendly app, confusing, and not user-friendly
- 🐛 Terrible app, doesn't function properly
- 🐛 Complicated to use, not user-friendly
Bugs and requests
Beam
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes on launch or during use
- Payment transactions fail or get stuck
- Account verification and card linking issues
- Rewards and credits not properly tracked or applied
Requested features
5 requests- Expand merchant network and availability
- Improve payment reliability and speed
- Provide better customer support channels
- Add Apple Watch support
- Introduce more rewards and discounts
EI +
Reported bugs
5 issues- Credit card balance and transactions not updating
- Can't access credit card details
- Lost all beneficiary accounts and historical data
- Unable to transfer money, international transfers not working
- Forced to re-enter all account details and beneficiaries
Requested features
5 requests- Increase credit card limit
- Provide a link to relationship manager
- Add more communication options
- Improve customer service and response time
- Restore old app features and functionality
In-app purchases
Beam
No in-app purchases
EI +
No in-app purchases
