The record-breaking government shutdown has spurred a wild spike in downloads of a mobile app that helps people manage their food stamp benefits.
Fresh EBT — which enables users to check their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds balance and see where their grocery benefits are accepted — broke its record for single-day downloads on both Wednesday and Thursday, the 26th and 27th days of the shutdown.
The Brooklyn-based app has been downloaded more than 630,000 times since the beginning of the shutdown, with 31,500 downloads on Wednesday and 53,000 Thursday, according to Apptopia. That has made it the most popular finance app on the Google Play store, the app-tracking firm said.
The frantic activity comes as furloughed federal workers and contractors have missed as many as two consecutive paychecks. Many were lining up at DC-area food banks this week to help make ends meet.
Jimmy Chen, founder and CEO of Propel, the tech startup behind the Fresh EBT app, mainly attributes the spike to SNAP recipients searching for information in a period of uncertainty.
“These people have a lot of questions,” Chen told The Post. “They want to know what is happening with their benefits in the coming months.”
He added that it does not seem as if furloughed federal workers were directly behind the increased app downloads, noting that his team hasn’t seen “any significant geographic trends in changing usage” lately.