Redbox App Lets You Cut in Line Without Getting Punched

The free Redbox mobile app for the iPhone essentially lets you cut in line for the movies.

How?

It allows you see what titles are available at the Redbox location(s) near you, and then lets you to reserve the ones you want.  

Earlier:

Now, admittedly, I’m primarily a Netflix customer. I get DVDs in the mail, use the Netflix’s streaming app and play a ton of Disney’s Phineas and Ferb (for my 3-year-old twins) through our PlayStation 3. But when we’re on vacation, Redbox comes in handy. If we’d only had this app earlier this summer during our beach vacation, maybe I could have saved myself from The Green Hornet by reserving a copy of True Grit (which was rented out completely, two days running, at a local grocery store).

The Redbox app does take a little while to set up with your credit card information and an associated email address, but once you’re green-lit everything else is fast. (Bonus:  I got a free movie rental when I signed up.) The browsing and search functions replicate the Redbox shopping experience, complete with movie descriptions, ratings and run times. Here's a look at Redbox locations in the Oak Park-River Forest area:

• , 7525 Lake St. in River Forest (2 machines)
• , 515 Madison St. in Oak Park
• Jewel, 7036 Roosevelt Road in Oak Park (2 machines)

Find more local Redbox stations here