How Does The McDonald's App Work? Las Vegas Worker Explains

Audio By Carbonatix

A Las Vegas McDonald’s worker has a PSA for customers picking up mobile orders placed on the app.

TikTok user @justesmeee_ is a McDonald’s worker with a fry to pick with customers that don’t understand how the mobile app works. She offers free advice in a video posted earlier this week.

“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but I need to tell y’all something,” she says to start the video. “First of all, we have absolutely no control over the mobile app and its rules and who makes it and what we can do and can’t do.”

She continues, “We just get told simple information just like y’all. If you place a mobile order from McDonald’s, that same device you use to place the order needs to be at the store when you pick it up.”

But can’t the workers there find your order another way? “No, we can’t find your order if you have a screenshot,” she says. “It’s GPS tracked. And yes, you got charged for it. If you don’t pick it up, it’s going to reverse into your account. It’s not going to process.”

She ends the video with a final piece of advice. “And if you place it at the wrong location?” she says. “That’s on you.”

Viewers React To The McDonald’s Mobile App Warning

In the comments section, viewers expressed frustration with the warning itself and the McDonald’s mobile app ordering process more broadly.

“I don’t know who needs to hear this,” wrote one viewer. “But the receipt has words on it to show what I ordered. So put what I ordered in the bag.”

“Nope, I make orders on my phone and my husband picks it up with just the code,” wrote a second viewer. “So, no, the device you put the order in does not have to be there.”

A third person said, “Well, at the McDonald’s I work at, somebody else can pick up the order as long as the person with the mobile device hits ‘I’m already here.’”

Do You Need Your Phone To Get A McDonald’s Mobile Order?

According to the McDonald’s website, @justesmeee_ is correct—it’s not possible to order on your phone and send someone else to collect it with a screenshot or code. That’s because the order won’t process until your GPS shows you’ve arrived at the location.

Then how are viewers in the TikTok comments or on this Reddit thread saying that they somehow got around this policy? Elsewhere on the McDonald’s policy page, the company does acknowledge you can press the “I’m here” button to get around this issue.