Users browsing with Microsoft's new Edge browser are rewarded with bonus points. The program is similar to that for Bing, where users are awarded points when they search with Microsoft's Bing search engine. Searches yield Bing Rewards that can be redeemed in the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft has now renamed the program to Microsoft rewards and will also award points for Edge usage. Edge users that actively use the browser and use Bing as search engine can earn bonus points for each hour with a maximum of 30 hours per month. The browsers has to be actively used which is defined as moving the mouse, mouse clicks, key strokes or watching video.
It's also required that users are logged in to their Microsoft account on Windows 10. The Browse and Earn program collects the amount of time that Edge is used to reward the points and adds them to the Microsoft account. Also collection of telemetry data can't be disabled in order to be eligible for receiving points. Currently only North Americans can collect and redeem points.
Giving rewards to Edge users seems to be another attempt to increase the popularity of the browser. Where Windows 10 has hundreds of millions of users, the number of users of the default browser of Windows 10 is very low. Recently released browser statistics show that the browser has only about 5% of the browser market.
