Microsoft Rewards Adds Helpful New Feature

Microsoft has rolled out an update to its Microsoft Rewards program that looks to help users earn more Microsoft points. While it began hitting Rewards dashboards back in March, more Microsoft Rewards users should see the new support measure showing up for them.

Microsoft Rewards encourages users to use Microsoft products by doling out points for things they do online on a near-daily basis, like searching with Bing or Edge, playing games on Xbox systems or the Xbox app, and purchasing things from the Microsoft store. These points can be used to enter sweepstakes for Microsoft products, purchase Microsoft gift cards, or even make a monetary donation to a nonprofit organization. Rewards users also receive a daily list of personalized actions on their Rewards dashboard that they can complete to earn bonus points. By completing their daily activities, users build up a streak that earns them more points the longer they can keep it going, but missing one day resets the streak and the bonus points entirely.

But, as it happens, sometimes life gets in the way of a good streak. Back in March, the official Microsoft Bing Developer account quietly announced in a tweet that Microsoft would begin adding a Streak Protection feature to the Microsoft Rewards dashboard. Users can activate the feature if they don't think they're going to get to their activities that day for up to 14 missed days per year.

When this was announced back in March, it was still being rolled out to a fairly small group of users. Since then, users like Video Game Tracker's Alan Feely have reported the feature becoming available to more Rewards accounts. User reception to Streak Protection has been somewhat mixed, with most expressing relief that they'll be able to keep their streak even if they happen to go on vacation and can't get to their activities on a particular day.

Anyone who's ever lost a Duolingo streak understands the emotional devastation that comes with breaking a streak. On paper, it seems like