Shopping plugin Honey continues to be installed with PayPal on iPhones

After YouTuber "MegaLag" uncovered the allegedly fraudulent business model of the "Honey" browser plugin acquired by PayPal in 2020, criticism of the software and the system behind it continues unabated. Although this is the case, the extension for Apple's Safari browser continues to be installed on iOS devices without comment along with the payment provider's popular app, as has now been revealed.

The Mac & i editorial team checked this again today: On both an iPhone and an iPad, the browser extension was present in Safari as soon as only the Paypal app had been installed from the App Store. As before, the plug-in is not activated in Safari, which would require user action. The behavior of the software has therefore not changed, it is the same as we described in April 2023. The confgurations now tested: iPhone 16 Pro with iOS 18.3 Beta 2, iPhone 12 mini with iOS 17.7.2 and iPad mini with iPadOS 18.3b2. All with the latest Paypal version 8.76.0.

The fact that Honey cannot be removed on its own still applies: to get rid of the Safari extension, you also have to uninstall the PayPal app. Although this means you lose some convenience, the payment service can also be used via the browser alone, just like on a Mac or PC. On Android, which we also checked today, no Honey plug-in from the Google Play Store is installed together with the PayPal app (Samsung S23, Android 14, Paypal 8.76.0). Interestingly, PayPal continues to sell the Honey app separately on iOS and iPadOS, but here the user is guided through the installation process including activation of the plug-in. The purpose of the deactivated Safari extension, which is called "PayPal Honey", is not clear at first glance. Perhaps PayPal is hoping that users will activate it "just like that".

Honey's questionable business model

Honey has been the subject of debate for weeks, not only in the YouTube scene and among other influencers, because the plug-in apparently not only fails to deliver on some of its promises, but also carries out other activities that were previously hardly known. Honey is advertised as always finding and automatically applying the best discounts when shopping online using a voucher code. According to MegaLag's experiments, however, this regularly applies above all to discounts in which Honey is also involved –. Under certain circumstances, greater savings could be achieved with other offers. Sometimes Honey also claims not to have found any discounts, even though they exist.

In addition, and this is the main allegation, the plug-in is also said to always replace the cookies of affiliate links in such a way that the revenue share of a store always ends up with Honey and not with the creator who had previously placed the affiliate link. Even well-known YouTubers such as Marques "MKBHD" Brownlee, who used to promote Honey, now recommend uninstalling the plug-in. The influencers themselves lost money through Honey if they worked with affiliate links: They received money from the company for the sponsorship, but were then kicked out of the revenue share. – It should also be added that if you want to stick with the PayPal app – under iOS, you should at least regularly check whether the Safari extension is deactivated. However, as far as we know, this should not happen by itself.

(nie)