In today's world, more and more customers are using mobile applications for shopping purposes. These apps support them at various stages of the digital customer journey – pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase. Mobile applications are also an essential channel for customers who prefer multi- channel shopping, such as those who make a product reservation via a mobile app but pay on-site. The key advantages of shopping through mobile applications, compared to websites, lie in the fact that apps offer a simple and convenient way to make purchases and payments with just a few clicks, all from the comfort of home or while on the go. Additionally, they provide efficient access to information, easy price and product comparisons, archive previous purchases, and store all documents in digital format, such as receipts. Mobile applications encourage greater customer engagement through various functionalities like personalized offers, push notifications about recent special deals, loyalty programs, prize competition games, discounts, and coupons. Therefore, the trend of shopping through mobile applications has led to significant changes in consumer behavior, which retailers must adapt to in order to meet the expectations and needs of their customers and remain competitive. For this reason, retailers are increasingly turning to the development of mobile applications due to their potential to create customer satisfaction and foster loyalty. It has been proven that these functionalities can have a significant impact on the buying experience and customer satisfaction. Despite the existence of literature describing the functionalities of mobile applications, there is little empirical research on mobile apps from the perspective of their impact on the buying experience and customer satisfaction, although it is present. The aim of this paper is to determine the role of mobile applications in enhancing the shopping experience and customer satisfaction using the example of the rent-a-car industry. A primary study was conducted on an appropriate sample of 105 respondents, customers of the rent a car service. The results showed that mobile applications have a significant impact on the buying experience and customer satisfaction. According to the research, the features that have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction are: convenience, simplicity and intuitiveness, digital storage of reservation summaries and documents, easier access to offers and vehicle comparisons, the ability to pay online and make purchases in one click, and design.