Set up your Simply Pay account in two minutes, and claim your free €3

The launderette's app is called Simply Pay. It is free, the account takes one tap to create, and your first top-up gives you €3 more than you put in.

One thing surprises everyone, so I may as well say it straight away: you cannot top up your account from the sofa. Topping up happens at the terminal in the launderette, on site. Everything else, on the other hand, happens on your phone.

What it earns you, in euros

There are two bonuses, and the key point is that they add up.

The first is a welcome bonus: €3 credited on the account's first top-up. The second is the tier bonus, which applies to every top-up, the first one included.

In other words, if you plan to use the launderette more than once or twice, make your first top-up the biggest one. The machine prices stay the same; it is your credit that changes.

Creating the account, in four steps

1. Download the app. It is under 60 MB, so it fits on any phone, even a nearly full one.
2. Create the account in one tap with your Google or Apple account: there is nothing to type and nothing to remember. By email, a confirmation message arrives straight away, and you need to open it to finish.
3. Link the app to the launderette, just once: scan the QR code shown in the « Fidélité » (Loyalty) tab on the terminal. Without this step, the app is installed but does not know where it is. This is the one people forget.
4. Top up at the terminal, whatever amount you like. The bonus is credited immediately.

Topping up happens at the terminal, never online

It is the app's only constraint, and it is worth understanding rather than putting up with: the trip is not really a trip, since it happens while your laundry is spinning. You load your machine, you top up the account, and off you go.

There are two ways to pay at the terminal, and they do not give the same result.

• By card, the terminal sets three fixed amounts: €20, €35 or €50.
• In cash, the amount is up to you, and the bonus is worked out by band.

Once the balance is loaded, you no longer need the terminal. That is where the app really earns its place on a big laundry day: you fill three machines, pick them on your phone and start them one after another, without queuing again in between.

What the app does next, and what it does not

The home screen asks a single question, and the answer takes you to two very different places.

Washing machines. You can see in real time which ones are already running, before you even leave home. You can book one from wherever you are: it stays in your name for 15 minutes, free of charge, long enough to get there. And you pay for it from your phone.

Dryers. No live status, no booking. You pay for them, and that is all, cycle by cycle, and the cycles run on without a break if you pay for several in a row.

On top of that come three things that help day to day: the end-of-cycle notification, receipts available in the app, and sharing the account with your family or your business.

In short

• The app and the account are free, and setting up takes two minutes.
• The free €3 arrives with your first top-up, not when you sign up, and it adds to the tier bonus: €59 for €50 loaded on a new account.
• The €20 tier has to be reached in a single top-up.
• Topping up happens at the terminal, by card for fixed amounts or in cash for any amount.
• The cycle is always chosen on the machine.

The full detail of the tiers and features is on the loyalty page. To get started, there is only one thing to do.

Download Simply Pay and claim your €3 on your first top-up.