[5] Richardson realized the problem of smartphone abuse in classrooms as he was sitting in the back of a large lecture.

This led them to their current model: Rewarding students with discounted items at local businesses surrounding each campus.

After securing seed funding, Pocket Points is available on both iOS and Android to students at over 200 schools in the United States and Canada.

[13] After accumulating enough points, students can choose from a variety of different discounts at local and online businesses from the app's "Gift Page."

[citation needed] The app's main demographic consists of college students between 17 and 23 years of age.