I’ve been thinking about using the Liven app to earn rewards on dining out, but I’ve seen mixed reviews online and I’m unsure if it’s really worth it. Has anyone here used Liven long term, and can you share your real experience with payments, rewards, and customer support? I’m trying to figure out if it’s safe, legit, and actually useful before I link my card and start spending through it.
Used Liven on and off in Melbourne and Sydney for about 2 years. Short version. It is worth it if you eat at partner places often and treat it like a small rebate, not free money.
Here is how it worked for me.
- Earning and value
- Typical earn for me was 5 to 20 percent in LVN on each bill.
- Higher rates were on newer or less busy venues, or for top ups.
- If you spend 400 a month eating out at partner spots, at 10 percent average, you get around 40 in LVN.
- LVN value matched 1 LVN to 1 AUD in my experience, but locked into the app.
- Where it makes sense
- You already like and visit several partner restaurants in your area.
- You pay in full through the app every time, not split between app and card.
- You are okay with using credits at the same or similar places again.
- You treat it as a small loyalty program, not an investment.
- Annoying parts
- Partner list changes. A few places I liked dropped out, so saved LVN felt a bit stuck.
- Some venues had different prices or restricted menus for app payment. Rare, but annoying.
- App could be glitchy during peak times. Once had to ask staff to reprint bill and retry.
- Terms change. Earn rates went down on a few spots that used to be “high earn”.
- Risk side
- Your balance is closed in their system. It is not normal cash in a bank.
- I never had an issue withdrawing because there was no way to withdraw, only spend.
- To reduce risk, I tried to keep my LVN balance under about 80 to 100. When it got high, I picked a nicer meal and spent it down.
- How to test it without committing much
- Install, link a low limit card, and use it only at 1 or 2 places you already like.
- Track one month of use.
Example.
Month 1: 6 visits, total 250 spend, earned 30 in LVN.
Month 2: Use the 30 on 1 or 2 meals. - If you feel forced to go out of your way to use the credits, it is not worth it for you.
- If it fits into your normal pattern, keep it.
- Signs it is not worth it for you
- Your area has few partner venues or they are places you would not pick anyway.
- You do not eat out much.
- You forget to open the app at the table and default to tapping your card.
- You hate juggling loyalty stuff and prefer one simple cashback card.
- Random personal notes
- When I was eating out for work a lot, it added up fast and felt useful.
- Once my balance sat there for 3 months because I moved suburbs and partner spots near me changed. That felt like dead money.
- Support responded in 1 or 2 days when I had a missing reward. They fixed it, but it took a bit of back and forth and screenshots of receipts.
If you try it, start small, do not preload large amounts, and check partner venues near your home and work first. If the map looks thin or full of places you do not care about, I would skip it.
Long-term Liven user here in Melbourne, used it pretty heavily 2019–2023, now more sporadically.
I agree with a lot of what @nachtschatten said, but my experience was a bit different in a few spots:
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For me it wasn’t worth it when I tried to “optimize” it. The moment I started picking venues just because they were on Liven, the food quality and overall experience dropped. The best value I ever got was when I ignored the app and only checked it after deciding where to eat. If I started from the app map, I ended up at average places more often than I’d like.
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Earn rates: early on I’d see 15–25% a fair bit, especially on top ups, but over time most of my usual places settled around 5–10%. Once it felt closer to a normal card cashback, the “wow” factor vanished and it was just… ok.
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The “LVN is 1:1 with AUD” thing is technically true in the app, but it mentally did not feel like real money to me. I caught myself splurging more (“it’s just credits”) which kind of cancels out the benefit. If you’re the type who overspends with store credit, that’s a legit pitfall.
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Partner churn was a bigger pain for me than for @nachtschatten. A couple of my go-to spots dropped off right after I’d built up a big balance planning a birthday dinner there. I had to scramble to use it at places I only half-liked. That was the moment I stopped treating LVN as anything close to savings.
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The “no withdrawal” thing is key. Personally I’d say: never let your balance get higher than what you’d be happy to lose in a glitch or company collapse. I know that sounds dramatic, but with any closed-loop credit system, that’s the realistic mindset.
When is it actually worth it?
- You’re already eating out at partner venues 2–3 times a week.
- You’re disciplined enough to:
- Not chase venues just because they’re on Liven.
- Not preload large amounts.
- Burn credits quickly instead of hoarding.
When is it not worth it (in my view, slightly harsher than @nachtschatten):
- You go out maybe once a week or less. In that case, a simple credit card with 1–2% cashback will quietly beat Liven over a year, with less hassle.
- You mainly eat at small local spots that are unlikely to be on the app.
- You already juggle multiple loyalty programs and hate the mental overhead.
If you’re on the fence:
Instead of doing their “top up for bonus” thing, just:
- Ignore top ups and fancy promos.
- Use it only as a pay-at-table method at places you already chose.
- Give it 4–6 weeks.
- At the end, ask yourself:
- Did I actually notice the savings in a meaningful way?
- Did the app change where I ate, and was that a good or bad thing?
- Did the slight friction (opening app, glitches, staff confusion) bother me?
If any of those feel like a “meh” or a “no,” I’d skip committing and stick to a decent rewards card. If it slides naturally into your routine and you’re seeing a steady balance that you actually use, then it’s fine as a small, closed-loop perk rather than some game-changing hack.