Business Insider’s top pick: Stop texting and start saving! Yes, your smartphone can save you money.

A essential app: Before you even think about buying … RedLaser spits out the best prices available both online and in shops nearby.

In the store use RedLaser, a pre-comparison app that tells you the cheapest price available online and in brick-and-mortar stores nearby.

In the past, the app has shown the price for the item … allowing consumers to comparison shop and find the best price. But now … users can also see a selection of local retailers that have the item in stock and that allow for purchasing it through the mobile app. 

RedLaser … is great for finding items online and in nearby bricks-and-mortar stores. I found myself checking prices on everything from watches to collapsible water bottles, sometimes just for the heck of it.

[American Express] is forging an official partnership with eBay-acquired RedLaser to offer consumers on-the-fly comparison shopping options, and to boost buying through its online rewards store, shopAmex.

Ever want to challenge a retailer to back up their claims to match their competitors’ prices? RedLaser scans the ordinary bar code on any product and shows you all the prices of that product in your area. Take it to those big-box stores and show ‘em who’s boss!

Overtime, the app has only improved, and it’s now a multi-functional scanner that works on QR codes, too. When shopping, scan any item with a barcode, and RedLaser delivers detailed information about the product, including whether you can buy it at a better price nearby.

Featured in “The Rich Girl’s Money Rules to Live By”: “RedLaser: Wave your iPhone in front of any item’s bar code. The app scans websites and nearby stores to tell you if it’s available for less elsewhere.”

It’s free and it’s a pretty darn good tool to use whenever you go shopping. And it’s yet one more reason why you would only get me to give up my iPhone by prying it from my cold dead fingers!

RedLaser … has been downloaded over 15 millions times. All that you have to do is to hold the phone steady over the code, align the code in the box and scan.

You can use Red Laser to comparison shop (you hopeless romantic, you) … — the gift that says “I love you enough to beg our friends for money.”

If you only have one shopping app on your iPhone, this is the one to have.

RedLaser exploits every part of your iPhone to turn your phone into an indispensable shopping companion.

“I was ready to spend whatever I needed,” [Ben Aldern] said, but on a hunch, he fired up RedLaser — and found the same model for less at Amazon.