Costco Wholesale

Review by eFreeware

The most interesting change in the Costco app is that the membership card now lives on the phone. You can show the digital card to get into the warehouse and again at the register to begin checkout, so the plastic card in your wallet becomes optional rather than essential. For a retailer with more than ten million installs of this app and a 4.8 average across hundreds of thousands of ratings, that small shift is the headline.

The rest of the app is an attempt to gather the parts of a membership that normally live in separate places: savings, online shopping, store hours, photos and prescriptions. It is aimed at people who already pay for a Costco membership and want the errands around it to take fewer steps. If you shop there regularly, the appeal is obvious; if you do not, there is little here for you.

Built for members, not browsers

Everything in the app assumes a membership. The digital card is the clearest example, since it is the thing you present to get through the door and to start a transaction. The savings section and the online store are likewise framed around what members can buy.

That makes the app a companion for existing members rather than a way to discover Costco. I would expect it to fit households that already plan trips around the warehouse and want the paperwork side of those trips handled on a phone. Someone who splits shopping between several stores may find less reason to keep it installed, since the tools here are tied to one retailer's ecosystem.

The breadth of the feature set also says something about who it is for. Photos, pharmacy refills and warehouse hours in the same app suggest a household that uses Costco for more than bulk groceries. If your membership is mostly about a monthly stock-up run, you will use a smaller slice of what is offered.

The digital card and the savings feed

The digital membership card is the feature that changes behavior most. Instead of digging for a card at the entrance and again at checkout, you show the phone both times. That is a small convenience, but it is the kind you notice every visit once it becomes a habit.

Alongside it sits the warehouse savings section, which keeps current offers on the device. The idea is that you can check what is discounted before you go rather than discovering it in the aisle. For anyone who plans a list around the offers of the week, having them in the same place as the rest of the app is more useful than a separate mailing or flyer.

Neither feature asks much of you. The card is a display; the savings feed is something to glance at. Their value comes from frequency, which is why they suit regular shoppers more than occasional ones.

Shopping, lists and warehouse details

The shopping side covers two different kinds of trip. A shopping list in the app helps you remember what to buy at the warehouse. Online, members can order from the expanded Costco.com selection, which includes thousands of items that are not stocked in a local warehouse, with delivery to the door. The two work together reasonably well: you can note what you need in person and order the rest.

Warehouse information rounds this out. It lists the closest warehouse's hours, regular and holiday, and offers directions. That is the sort of thing that matters on a holiday weekend when the schedule is not the usual one, and it saves a phone call or a search.

The photo service is the odd one out in this group but fits the same pattern. Prints, wall decor and photo gifts can be ordered from the app at any time, which turns a task that used to require a trip or a desktop session into something you can do from a phone. It is a niche within the app, but a self-contained one.

Pharmacy tools for households

The pharmacy section is the most substantial part of the app after shopping. Prescription refills can be ordered and their status checked, refill reminders are available, and there is medication tracking. Family accounts can be managed from the same place, and prescriptions can be transferred. There is also a way to find a Costco pharmacy.

This is where the app starts to look like a household tool rather than a shopping one. Managing several people's prescriptions, or moving one between pharmacies, involves a fair amount of administrative work, and putting it in the same app as the shopping list means one less place to look. I would expect families with ongoing prescriptions to get the most out of this section.

A feedback option sits alongside these tools, letting members comment on the app, the website or a warehouse. It is a small addition, but it gives the app a channel for the complaints and suggestions that would otherwise go unrecorded.

What it costs, and the ads inside it

The app itself is free to download, and there are no in-app purchases. That is worth stating plainly because the app is a companion to a paid membership rather than a product you buy on its own. The cost of using it is the membership you already hold.

The app does contain advertising. That is the trade for a free download, and it is the main thing to weigh if you prefer a clean interface. Since there are no purchases to make inside the app, there is no upsell path to consider either; the ads are simply part of the experience.

For a retailer's app, this arrangement is unremarkable. You are not paying for the software, and the store is where the money changes hands. The practical question is whether the ads bother you enough to matter, and that is a personal threshold rather than something the app decides for you.

Alternatives worth weighing

The most direct alternative is the retailer's own website in a mobile browser. It covers ordering and account tasks, and it does not need an install.

General shopping list apps are another option if that is all you want. The Costco app wins on integration and loses on flexibility.

Choosing between these and the Costco app comes down to whether you would rather have one app that does several Costco tasks adequately or several apps that each do one thing well.

A useful companion for regular members

The Costco app is worth installing if you are a member who visits the warehouse often and uses more than one of its services. The digital membership card alone justifies a place on the home screen for regular shoppers, and the savings feed, shopping list, warehouse hours, photo ordering and pharmacy tools give the rest of the app a reason to exist. It has been available since 2012 and was updated in October 2026 with bug fixes and improvements, so it is an established part of the membership rather than a new experiment.

The reservations are straightforward. It is free but ad-supported, it assumes a membership, and its value scales with how much of Costco you actually use. A member who only makes the occasional bulk run will find less here than one who orders online, manages prescriptions and prints photos through the same account.

For that regular member, the app does what a good companion app should: it removes small frictions from a routine you already have. That is a modest ambition, and it is met.

What's new in version 26.9.2

Bug fixes and improvements