Want to earn free cash from your phone and earn it quickly? This list of 101 money making apps allows you to do just that.
By using the apps outlined in this article, you can easily make a few extra thousand dollars per year straight from your smartphone.
This article is quite long, so we’ve decided to get right to it for those who want to skip the long list of reviews.
Here’s a quick shoutout of our top 5 favorites:
Not only that, but each section also includes a detailed description of how to use the apps and also tips for maximizing your income.
Click on the links below to jump straight to that section.
Not to worry.
The majority of the apps on this list also have a desktop version so you can access them from any web browser.
Keep in mind that most of these apps only work in the US.
Furthermore, the majority of the apps on this list work for both iPhone and Android devices.
You can also purchase this article in eBook format on Amazon. With that said, let’s dive right in.
Now you can earn cash back on alcohol, electronics, online purchases, and even prescriptions. The type of receipt scanning app determines how you earn cash. From what I’ve seen, there are 4 different types of receipt scanning apps:
The great thing about receipt scanning apps? They can be deal-stacked, meaning you can use the same receipt for multiple apps to double or even triple your cash back amount.
Furthermore, be sure to include as much information on the receipt as you can when taking a picture. In order to avoid not having the correct information, we suggest simply taking a picture of the entire receipt to avoid any confusion.
For those interested to hear more details on receipt scanning apps, check out our top 10 list for apps that pay you to scan receipts.
Although you’re required to match both the product and the store, with Ibotta you don’t have much to worry about. There are plenty of offers available and they’re always adding more. You’ll soon find that you’ll be able to earn cash back from almost any common-name store.
Ibotta was originally intended to give you cash back for just groceries, but they’ve expanded. Now you can earn cash back on electronics, alcohol, dining out, shopping through other apps, and much more. Earn anywhere from $.25 to $5 in cash back per offer.
Read our Ibotta Review
Shopkick since then has expanded greatly. Now you can earn points for linking your credit cards, shopping online and also scanning receipts.
Keep in mind that when scanning receipts with Shopkick you need to buy a specific product at a specific store. They also have a referral program that gives you a bonus of $.25 cents per referral.
Due to the variety of tasks you can complete with this app, it’s definitely not one you want to pass up.
Read our Shopkick Review
Since they’re a fairly new app they don’t have many offers available. Yet the cash back amount they offer is quite good compared to the other receipt scanning apps on this list. Expect to earn anywhere between $.25 and $2 per offer. Keep in mind you can scan more than one offer per receipt to increase this amount.
Right now you get a $1.50 sign-up bonus when you use the promo code HH3MN and scan your first receipt. Although the offers are quite limited right now, they are expanding quickly. You only need a minimum of $3 to cash out for a gift card.
Aside from all of their great offers, what I really love about this app is its filtering system. For example, if you’re looking specifically for dairy-free products, you can filter all of their dairy-free offers. They’ll even tell you where you can buy them nearby.
Out of all of the apps that pay you to scan receipts, BerryCart is great for health nuts.
What’s unique about Checkout 51 is that they have quite a few fruit and vegetable offers. This is something that I haven’t seen on many other receipt scanning apps. Even though they don’t offer a registration bonus, you can still find quite a variety of unique offers.
Expect to earn anywhere from $.25 to $5 per offer. New offers are updated and available every Wednesday night. It doesn’t matter where you purchase your product, just as long as it’s on the receipt.
In addition to this, SavingStar now offers cash back for certain groceries at certain stores, and their payout is one of the highest on this list. The only downside is that they don’t tend to have many offers available.
What I personally like is that you can frequently earn cash back on fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, there isn’t a sign-up bonus with this app. We suggest checking it out for its other features as well as receipt scanning capabilities.
This app doesn’t care where you purchase the product, just as long as it shows up on your receipt. Expect to earn anywhere from $.10 cents to a few dollars per offer.
One unique thing about MobiSave is that they have a lot of offers that I don’t typically find with other receipt scanning apps. Earn cash back on baby items, prescriptions, beauty and health products.
The downside of ReceiptPal is that the payout of this app is quite low. You’re going to have to scan a lot of receipts before you’re able to cash out. Is it worth it? If you’re comparing it to other apps on this list, probably not. But it’s a great one for deal stacking.
Unfortunately, there’s no sign-up bonus as of yet. Keep in mind that sometimes they don’t accept new users.
Each spin can be used to play one round of hog slots. The payout is much better than ReceiptPal, and you should be able to cash out fairly quickly provided that you scan enough receipts.
There isn’t a sign-up bonus, but sometimes they have short surveys to earn extra points or spins. Keep in mind that they sometimes don’t accept new users. If this is the case, check back in a couple of weeks to see if you can join.
Not only that, but you’ll also find a lot of mom and pop locations you can earn cash back from with this app. Although you won’t earn as much as with Ibotta or Checkout 51, many of their partner stores won’t be found on other apps.
This is the only app on this list that cares about where you buy a product, but not what you buy. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing they don’t include a sign-up bonus.
Shopmium is great for some of those more uncommon grocery items. For example, you might find cash back offers for beef jerky or 5-hour energy.
Use referral code KKKFFCEX to get an offer for a free Lindt candy bar. Like most of the apps on this list, you get paid for a specific product and it doesn’t matter where you buy it.
For those of you interested, Shopmium also has a French version since it was originally developed in France.
Scan your receipt with this app after any Walmart purchase and Walmart will check competing retailers nearby for a better price on any one of your products. If a store has a cheaper price, they’ll reward you the difference in Walmart gift cards.
Even if you don’t know if your product is found somewhere else at a better price, you might as well scan your receipt anyways. It could just so happen that they find a cheaper deal without you knowing about it.
With so many survey apps claiming you can make hundreds within a short amount of time, it’s difficult to determine what’s scam or legit. That’s why we’ve sorted through them for you.
All of the apps on this list are ones that I’ve personally used. They’ve all paid me on time and have paid me the correct amount.
The reason survey apps are able to pay you is because they use the information that you submit by selling it as market research. Companies take this data and use it to improve products and services that consumers like you and I use on a daily basis.
Furthermore, even if a survey app has a lot of surveys, the amount of high-paying ones is most likely limited. For example, PointClub is one of my favorite survey apps, but I’m not going to participate in all of their surveys.
This is because PointClub has a limited amount of high-paying surveys at a time. I might take a few that pay at a rate of $10 – $15 per hour. Once these run out, I’ll go to the next app and repeat the same process. Eventually I’ll come back to PointClub at a later time and see if there are new, high-paying surveys that I can take.
Let’s get started with some of the best survey apps out there.
Each time you take a survey you’re also automatically entered in a prize drawing. Win cool prizes such as an MP3 player, gift cards and more.
Ipsos also rewards you for taking a lot of surveys. For example, when you take your first 5 surveys you’re automatically given 5 points. The more surveys you take, the higher up their rewards ladder you’ll move. Points can be redeemed for a gift card of your choosing.
Most of the surveys cater to your demographics as well as products that you frequently use. As a result, I find the surveys a bit more interesting than with most survey apps.
The only downside with Pinecone Research is the amount of surveys they have available. While I can sometimes receive one or two a week, there have been periods in which I’ve only received one or two a month.
Sign-up for email notifications to find out when a new survey is available. Cash out once you reach a minimum of $10 for gift cards, physical prizes or direct deposits to PayPal.
YouGov acts more like a community than the other survey apps on this list. Once you complete a questionnaire, you instantly know how other people answered the same question. This gives you further insight as to what the general public thinks when it comes to political issues.
The minimum payment threshold is set at $5, and I can usually reach this amount quite quickly. The $2 sign-up bonus definitely helps with this.
The only downside with this money making app is that sometimes it can take weeks before you receive your payments.
YouGov has a great referral program. Each time you refer a friend, you both receive a $2 bonus.
The more surveys you take with MySurvey, the more you’ll be rewarded. They reward frequent survey takers with more surveys and also higher-paying ones.
What I really like about MySurvey is their poll system. Answer a daily question and receive a couple of points for it.
MySurvey is available in the US, Australia and the UK. Points can be exchanged for gift cards, direct deposits to PayPal and also charitable donations to UNICEF.
The surveys are a bit higher-paying with Toluna, which is great since you don’t have to weed out the lower-paying ones. Expect to earn anywhere from $1 – $5 per survey, and each one taking roughly 5 – 20 minutes each.
What I also like about Toluna Opinions is that they are great about telling you whether you’re ineligible for a survey a not. I usually find this out just answering the first question of a survey.
Not only that, but out of all of the apps on this list, I find that they tend to have some of the best hourly rates when it comes to taking surveys.
They also have a bonus program. For ever 5 days that you log-in consecutively, you get a 10% bonus of all of your survey earnings. You can keep increasing this amount until you reach a maximum bonus of 100%. However, if you forget to log-in for one day, your bonus will reset back to zero.
With the bonus applied, I usually earn at a rate of $10 – $15 per hour with the high-paying surveys. The surveys are also very easy to complete, and are typically more enjoyable than other survey apps on this list.
Unfortunately, this one is only available for Android users. If you still want to give PointClub a try without an Android phone, you can always take surveys using their desktop version.
You need a minimum of $25 in your account to cash out for either gift cards or direct deposits to PayPal.
QuickThoughts also gives you an opportunity to earn cash by completing small tasks in your area. Get paid to report prices in local supermarkets or scan barcodes on store shelves.
The larger your city, the more tasks you are likely to have. This is definitely one money making app you don’t want to pass up. Overall, I commend this app for its easy-to-user interface and functionality.
The surveys with NiceQuest typically have great payout rates. With NiceQuest, there are plenty of prizes to choose from, and this includes physical prizes as well as gift cards. Unfortunately, at this time there’s no cash out option directly to PayPal.
This is definitely one survey money making app that you want to add to your list. For those who want to spend less shells in chance of earning greater rewards, they also have drawings for items such as MacBook computers.
Since they don’t offer that many surveys, I highly suggest signing-up for their email notifications. Your first time cashing out you need a minimum balance of $25. The $2 sign-up bonus definitely helps in reaching this amount a bit more quickly. After you cash out for the first time, you only need a minimum of $1.
What I’ve noticed is that with MySoapBox the surveys are typically longer due to their high payout rate. While it may seem like a downside, it’s a great way to prevent burnout. In other words, there’s no need to be constantly searching for new surveys.
Each time you refer a friend using your referral link, you get a $1 bonus and your friend receives $2.
Some users have reported difficulties with registering. If this is the case for you, simply wait a few hours or refresh the page. In 2014 they awarded over 32 million USD in prizes to their members.
They have a long-standing reputation and pay out in both gift cards and PayPal deposits. What I also like about GlobalTestMarket is that you usually know within the first couple of questions whether you’re eligible to continue a survey or not. Many survey sites drag you halfway through a survey only to tell you that you can’t continue.
You’re awarded in points each time you take a survey. These points can be exchanged for gift cards to popular retailers such as Best Buy and Macy’s. Valued Opinions states that they can take up to 48 hours to deliver, but generally I receive rewards within 24 hours.
From my personal experience, surveys tend to take around 10 – 20 minutes each to complete. Earn more with the Valued Opinions badge system. The more surveys you take, the higher you will move up in ranking, and thus earn more per survey.
Typically you’ll receive a survey with a high payout that takes a short amount of time to complete. Not only that, but they guarantee you’ll get $6 for your first survey!
Zap Surveys is quickly making its way up this list as one of the best survey apps out there – highly recommended.
Read our full Zap Surveys Review
When you sign-up, you automatically get a $3 bonus after taking a short 3 – 5 question survey and linking your Amazon account. Once this is complete, leave the app installed on your phone and take a short survey at the end of each month about your Amazon shopping experience.
You earn $3 at the end of each survey, and all payments are made in the form of Visa gift cards. These gift cards can either be used online or in stores.
Instead of keeping this commission for themselves, they give it back to you in the form of cash back. The amount of cash back you receive depends on the portal and also the store you’re shop at.
Sound confusing? It’s a bit difficult to understand how shopping portals work at first, so that’s why I suggest reading our full portal guide. Here’s a quick example of using one of the more popular shopping portals, Ebates.
They also frequently have specials in which they increase their cash back amounts. This often occurs during the holidays or during special occasions.
My favorite part about TopCashBack is that when you choose to redeem for gift cards instead of PayPal you get a 3% bonus added to your total withdrawal amount.
The best cash back rates for this portal is usually found around the holidays. You’ll usually find that they often promote special deals, such as double cash back, often beating out any of the other shopping portals.
What I personally love about the Ebates app is their great referral programs. Refer one friend and receive $5. However, refer 2 friends and get a bonus of $25, and 3 friends for a total bonus of $75.
When you sign-up for BeFrugal, you get a $10 bonus and an additional $15 bonus when you refer a friend. Like any other portal on this list, you’ll find that the best deals usually occur around the holidays season.
Similar to TopCashback, BeFrugal also gives you a 3% bonus when you choose to redeem for Amazon gift cards instead of PayPal.
One thing that I’ve noticed with this ShopAtHome is that you’ll find a lot of stores on here that other shopping portals don’t have.
Not only that, but for more unique stores, ShopAtHome tends to have the highest cash back rates. It’s definitely a great portal to add to your list.
While the rates aren’t typically as high as the other portals on this list, sometimes you’ll find special deals that beat out the rest.
Extrabux isn’t technically considered a mobile app, but we still included it since you can install it as a browser extension in your browser. The big difference? Their referral program. Earn 5% of your friends’ total savings.
This is because the cash back you receive can only be toward future purchases on Jet.com. This website was originally created to be a direct competitor with Amazon. Knowing this, you’ll often find great prices.
Take a look around on the Jet.com site and see if you think you’d be willing to buy something. If that’s the case, it might be worth using their portal to earn Jet Dollars.
Some stores you can get as much as 40% off. Due to their high cash back rates and their great cash back rates as a credit card, we can’t recommend this credit card enough.
Not only that, but with this card you get 5% cash back on categories that rotate quarterly and 1% on all other purchases. Your first year you get double the amount of all your cash back, meaning you can earn anywhere from 2% – 10% back.
A lot of these activities are things you most likely already complete on a daily basis, such as surfing the web or reading emails. While most of these apps ask you to complete tasks directly from your phone, there are a few that ask you to go out to local retailers and gather information.
As with all of the other apps mentioned on this list, take note of how much you’re earning and also their payout structure. Most of the small task apps pay in both gift cards and direct deposits to PayPal.
For those looking for more information on short task apps or sites, feel free to read our list of the top 50 short task sites.
Swagbucks comes with a great referral bonus. For any friend that you convince to sign-up using your referral link, you earn 10% of their earnings for life.
One of the most popular ways to earn cash with Swagbucks is by watching videos. The best part is that you don’t have to hit next to watch the following video. In a sense, you’re earning a passive income since all you to do is kick back and watch your screen.
When it comes to taking surveys, I usually find that I can earn a quick $5 within 30 minutes. If you’re looking for fun, go ahead and play one of their games.
Not only that, but this is one of the few small apps that pays you to read emails. All you have to do is open them and skim through them. Take a few seconds of your day to earn a bit of extra money.
In comparison to other small task apps on this list, all of the other tasks are more or less the same. They also give you a 10% bonus on all referrals for life. The $5 sign-up bonus is definitely a great way to convince your friends to sign-up.
Apart from reading emails, the tasks that I recommend are watching videos and taking surveys. They don’t come out with many high-paying surveys, but when they do they tend to pay somewhat well. As for watching videos, this task is great for lazy days.
I typically find the best way to earn with EarningStation is by watching videos and taking surveys. The payout rate doesn’t tend to be as high as Swagbucks or InboxDollars, but it can definitely help when you run out of surveys or videos on these sites.
What I really love about EarningStation is their excellent referral program, as it’s definitely one of the best on this list. You get 10% of their earnings for life, plus an additional $5 when your friends earn their first $5. You only need a minimum of $1 to cash out to either PayPal or for Amazon gift cards.
Increase your earnings by referring your friends. Each time a friend signs-up using your referral link, you earn a bonus of $.20 cents and they get $1.
For those that are looking for highest potential earnings, CashCrate has surveys that have payouts that range anywhere between a few cents and $30. However, the ones that pay this amount are quite rare.
ClickWorker is a bit strict about who they let into their program, and their great payout rate helps back this up. You must be a native English speaker, and in order to prove this you need to take a small assessment.
Expect to earn anywhere from $10 – $20 per hour. There are a lot of small-paying tasks with this app, but there are plenty of high-paying tasks to go along with it. Earn an additional $5 when you refer a friend.
The majority of the cash is going to made by downloading other apps. This requires you to install the app and open it at least once. In order to ensure that my account gets credited with the proper amount of points, I try and leave the app open for at least a minimum of 30 seconds. From there you can uninstall the app and keep your earnings.
Expect to earn anywhere between $.50 cents and $2 downloading apps with GrabPoints, which is great considering that this process doesn’t take a lot of time. However, there are only so few apps to go around. I tend to check back once a week for new offers. If you’re looking for other tasks to complete, watching videos is the second best way to earn cash with this app.
Refer a friend and you both get $1 bonus as soon as your friend reaches 1,000 points in earnings.
There isn’t a large sign-up bonus associated with GiftHulk, and you only get $.60 cents each time you refer a friend. However, it’s still a great app to keep in the back of your head in case you run out of tasks on other small task apps.
Keep in mind that each task you complete awards you with a certain amount of Hulk Coins. These coins can be exchanged for deposits to PayPal or for a gift card of your choosing. To make the most of your earnings, focus on the apps, offer wall, and GiftHulk TV sections.
However, there are many other ways to earn with this money making app, which is why we consider it a small task app.
Earn cash watching videos, playing games, shopping online, completing surveys, downloading apps and more. Refer friends for a $.50 cent bonus plus a percentage of their total earnings.
This app is very similar to Points2Shop, in which it was originally created as a cash back portal but has added additional tasks. Earn money watching videos, shopping online, playing games, taking surveys and more.
They also have an excellent referral program. For each friend you refer, you get $.25 cents plus $10 when they make their first $20. Not only that, but you also get 10% of all of the points that they earn – definitely the best referral program on this list!
Get a $.50 cent sign-up bonus when you sign-up using the promo code XZQBIU. If you want to make the most of your time, stick to watching videos and downloading apps.
Expect to easily earn around $3 – $4 within your first 15 minutes with CashPirate, but don’t expect to earn at this rate 100% of the time. I find that I can usually eat least earn $1 a day.
Watching videos with this small task money making app can net you about $2 per hour. While it isn’t much, it’s a lazy way to earn some extra cash.
When it comes to surveys, expect to earn around $.30 cents for a minute of your time. The payout is great, but you can only take a maximum of 2 surveys per day.
The great thing about Spare5 is that you’re automatically paid to PayPal, and there’s no minimum payout. This means that even with as little as $.01 cent in your account, you’re still going to get paid the following Friday.
Expect to earn a a rate of around $10 – $15 per hour. You can get paid to complete other tasks, but most of the time you’re earning money completing surveys.
We suggest mostly focusing on downloading apps, since this is where most of the money is made. To complete these tasks, simply download the app and open it. Once your account is credited, you can delete the app.
App Karma has a very generous referral bonus. For each friend that you refer, you get 30% of their earnings.
Most of the tasks found on these apps tend to take a bit longer due to their payout rate, typically ranging anywhere between $2 – $20 per task. While they don’t usually come with a sign-up bonus, spending a lot of time on these apps can be well worth it.
Keep in mind that mystery shopping apps are going to be more effective in larger cities. However, if you live in a small town, you still might be able to complete a few tasks here and there for some extra cash.
EasyShift works by assigning you “shifts” in the area around you. This typically includes talking taking a photo of a menu or a certain dish and taking a small survey afterward. Most of the time these tasks take just under a few minutes.
There’s no sign-up bonus, but the payout is quite high compared to other apps that pay. The great thing about EasyShift is that once you complete a task, they award you within 48 hours to your PayPal account. Expect most tasks to pay at least a few dollars, with a maximum payout of $12 per task.
The earnings potential for GigWalk is a bit higher than its counterpart EasyShift, in which you can get paid up to $20 per task. However, in exchange most tasks tend to take a bit longer. I personally prefer this since I can focus on one task at a time.
There’s no registration bonus with this money making app, but it’s definitely worth it. It gets you out of the house and it tends to pay quite well. For those living in smaller cities, it’s going to be a bit difficult to find many gigs, but I suggest at least trying.
Again, tasks are going to be a bit more time-consuming than the other apps on this list, but you can earn a lot more. With Field Agent, they always give you an estimation of approximately how long a task should take. This is especially useful for managing your time and determining whether a task is worth it or not.
Some users report making up to $100 per day using Field Agent. Keep in mind that this usually only occurs in larger cities. There’s no minimum payout rate and you can cash out to PayPal at any time.
You need a minimum of $10 in your account before you can cash out. The cash you earn can be exchanged for magazines, books, gift cards, direct deposits to PayPal and other physical prizes.
I’ve been able to earn roughly $80 with this app alone in the past three months. While most tasks don’t require you to purchase anything, they do pay you back if this is a requirement. What makes this app especially unique is that you may be asked to shoot a short video or record some audiog..
The great thing about these apps is that they can be stacked with one another. This means that you can easily install two or three different apps to double or triple your earnings. The more you install, the more you earn.
Passive income apps typically work by collecting data about how you use your smartphone such as what apps you have installed and how long you typically talk on the phone. Keep in mind that all data is sent encrypted and anonymously, making it incredibly difficult to track any information back to you.
The amount of devices you can install the app on depends on your location. They accept a specific number of devices from any given area. Once they reach this amount, they stop taking on new users. Therefore, if you live in an area that’s no longer accepting new users, it’s best to try back in about a month or two.
For every device you have, expect to earn up to $50/year in passive income. You can also install the app on desktop devices, but keep in mind that you won’t earn cash this way. If you decide to go the desktop route, you’ll be entered in monthly drawings to earn up to $1,000 at a time.
It’s difficult to determine exactly when you’ll be able to cash out and when you’ll receive cash. From my personal experience they pay about once or twice a month. Points can be exchanged for both cash and gift cards.
Smart Panel gives you bonuses along the way for keeping the app installed. For example, leave it installed for 1 year to earn a total of $110, but leave it installed for 2 years for a total of $230.
Users report a 1% – 5% reduction in battery life and data usage of anywhere between 2MB – 5MB per month. In short, the drag in phone performance is almost negligible. Before you can cash out for that $5 bonus, you must leave the app installed for a minimum of 30 days.
Once you install the app on your first smartphone and register your device, you receive a $50 bonus. Keep in mind that it takes an additional month to actually process this bonus.
Leave the app installed and the internet meter running to earn $170/year. They also give bonuses every few months, so you actually have the potential to earn a bit more. The more devices you have registered, the more likely you are to increase this amount.
When you become a member of SavvyConnect, you’ll be given exclusive access to the higher-paying surveys on the SurveySavvy website. Simply complete your profile to get these surveys sent to your inbox.
One of the best ways to earn with SavvyConnect is to invite your friends. For each friend that you invite that completes their first project, you earn anywhere between $5 – $15. And it doesn’t stop there. For any friends that your friends refer, you can earn anywhere between $2 – $6. Unfortunately, they only pay by check.
I haven’t noticed any slowdown on my phone on this app. Aside from earning cash prizes, you’ll also be awarded tokens that can be used to enter cash drawings.
The one downside about MobileXpression is that they require you to install a VPN to your phone. Keep in mind that certain rewards apps may suspend you if they find out if you’re using a VPN.
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite money making apps due to its passivity.
This money making app can be run on multiple accounts per household, but you can only have one phone per account. By leaving the app installed continuously you should be able to earn roughly $6 per month or $72 per year.
This app is currently only available for Android phones. Points can be exchanged for a gift card of your choosing.
The app can be installed on a maximum of 3 devices, with each device earning $2 per month. In total, you can earn $6 per month or $72 per year. You can increase your earnings a bit further with the use of the VPN. However, as mentioned above, other rewards apps on your phone might not permit the use of a VPN.
Keep in mind that you will need to wait a minimum of 48 hours after signing-up before your account is verified. When active, you’ll notice a green check and a statement that states that your phones are currently earning cash.
What I particularly like about the Panel App is their referral program. Most passive income apps don’t give you any sort of rewards for convincing your friends to sign-up. Earn 10% of your friends’ points and an additional 5% of any points that their friends earn.
You need a minimum of $5 in your account before you can cash out, so you’ll need to wait 5 months before you receive any type of compensation. If you wait until you earn 15,000 points, you can cash out for $25 – a much better deal.
There’s also the option of earning additional cash through surveys. However, the payout is so low that I don’t even consider this as an option.
I’ve personally never been able to get them to buy it from me since I didn’t link all of my accounts. Yet if you can get it to work for you, it’s definitely worth it. You have the potential of earning up to $150 per year with this passive income money making app.
At the time of this writing, the app is only available to iOS users without any expectation to expand to the Android platform.
Keep in mind that you must turn on your location in order for Sweatcoin to determine whether you’re moving or not. Refer a friend an earn a bonus of 5 Sweatcoins.
I don’t have a lot of personal experience with this app since it’s fairly recent. However, I’ve heard some pretty good reviews, especially since it’s incredibly easy to use.
Each time you register a device, you get a bonus of $2, for a maximum sign-up bonus of $6. The app can be installed on one tablet, one mobile device and one desktop device.
For each device that you have registered, you can earn a total of $1 per week. With all 3 devices using this money making app, that calculates out to a total of $12/month in passive income. You need a minimum of $25 to cash out for a gift card of your choosing.
A great way to earn with this app is to leave it open when you’re charging your phone or when you’re sleeping. Instead of earning directly with cash, you earn in BitCoin or Satoshi (a smaller unit of BitCoin).
When you enter the promo code KIEV9L you get a 2,500 Satoshi bonus. You also get the same amount when you refer a friend.
Each time you unlock your phone, an add will appear. You can swipe in one direction to make the ad disappear and be redirected to your home screen. Swipe in the other direction to engage in the add. For the majority of the lock screen apps, you’ll be rewarded whether you engage in the ad or not. In other words, use your phone like you normally would and get paid.
It’s quite difficult to determine exactly how much you can earn with lock screen apps. Each app has their own unique algorithm, and unlocking your phone more won’t necessarily result in more cash each time you unlock your phone.For this reason, I suggest using your phone like you normally would.
The one downside about these apps? At the time of this writing, they’re only available for Android devices. Sorry iPhone users.
While it does take a few extra seconds to reach your home screen, the earnings will add up that much more quickly. Let’s get right into our list. To get more information on these apps, feel free to read the post on the top 7 lock screen apps that pay.
Although the payout isn’t much (maybe around $10 – $15 per month), you’re basically earning free money for no extra work.
I find that I can earn anywhere between $10 – $20 per month with Adme, averaging roughly $.02 cents per swipe. Payments are made directly to your PayPal account, and you need a minimum of $10 to cash out.
As mentioned above, you get paid whether you engage with an ad or not. This is one of the lock screen apps that probably pays the most consistently.
This is one of the apps that pays you whether you decide to engage with an ad or not. The one huge difference between Slidejoy and other apps like this is that it’s incredibly difficult to determine when they pay you for unlocking your screen.
You need a minimum of $2 to cash out for direct deposits to PayPal or for a gift card of your choosing. When you refer a friend, both you and your friend both get a bonus of 100 points. New users get a $.25 sign-up bonus.
The lock screen app isn’t the greatest earner, but it can be a nice addition to your perk collection since all of the points go to the same account. For example, if you earn points with the Perk TV, points from both accounts will be automatically joined into one account.
Refer your friends for a $.50 cent bonus. Don’t expect to make more than $5 – $10 per month with this lock screen app.
What makes this app a bit different than the rest is that you only get paid when you engage with ads. If you swipe ads away 100% of the time, you won’t earn a dime.
What I personally love about Fronto is that they provide other ways to earn money aside from unlocking your screen. You can also earn cash downloading apps to your phone.
Combining both the tasks of unlocking your phone screen and downloading apps can net you a result of around $20 per month. Points can be exchanged for popular gift card retailers, and referring a friend gets both you and your friend a $1 bonus.
The downside? You can’t earn any more than this am. This is much less than what you’d typically earn with other lock screen apps. However, it’s great for those who don’t utilize their phone that much since it’s not dependent on phone use.
At the moment they do not have a referral program, but they do have a survey program to earn some extra cash.
The one downside is that the payout isn’t as high as other apps, and they don’t payout as frequently. They do have other offers to earn some extra cash such as taking a survey or downloading apps.
Use bonus code BQ17924 to earn a bonus of $.30 cents when you sign-up. When you refer a friend, both you and your friend get a bonus of $.30 cents.
When it comes to earnings, MooCash is definitely at the bottom of the list . No matter how many times I seem to unlock my screen, I can’t seem to earn more than $3 – $5 per month at most. If you’re going to choose just one lock screen app, this one should be last on your list.
Keep in mind that all of these apps do require your social security number, as with all brokerage firms. You will be sent a tax statement each year based on your gains or loses.
The one thing that these apps don’t have, however, is the ability to trade options.
You get a $5 bonus for registering as a new user. While most robo-advisor apps charge a $1 fee per month, Acorns gives college students a membership at no cost for a maximum of 4 years.
Acorns advises you based on your risk level, giving you the choice to invest anywhere from a very conservative portfolio to an extremely aggressive portfolio. They give you plenty of guidance on which one to choose and will even suggest you one based on your net worth and other financial factors. Each time you refer a friend, you get a bonus of $5 up to a maximum of $100.
WiseBanyan is also the only app on this list that supports Roth and traditional IRA accounts. You’ll find additional features that they have that other apps don’t have such as optional tax-loss harvesting.
It would seem that WiseBanyan trumps all of the other apps. However, there is a bit of a learning curve. Refer a friend and you and your friend earn a bonus of $20.
When you register with Clink you’re automatically granted a $5 registration bonus. They also have the option to automatically deposit a fixed-dollar amount over a certain period of time. For example, you can automatically have your bank deposit $5 per week.
What I love about Clink (similar to Acorns) is that you can also link your credit card. Choose a percentage of your spending and set it aside for investing. For example, you can choose to have 10% of the total spent on dining out go toward your Clink account. They’re currently 100% free, but this may change in the near future. With Clink you can only register via your Facebook account.
Like the other robo-advisor apps, Betterment chooses a portfolio based on your income and risk level. Keep in mind that Betterment charges a 0.25% annual fee of your total investment amount. At $5,000, this is only $1.
Like the other apps, there’s no commission fees and no transfer fees. Betterment also allows you to open up your 401k and IRA accounts with them. Google is even using it for their employees. From what I’ve read, Betterment is one of the better robe-advisor apps out there.
Wealthfront does a great job of finding the right portfolio based on your risk level. As with all of these apps, you don’t pay any commissions or any sort of trading fees.
Wealthfront also allows you to open a 401k, Traditional IRA or Roth IRA. Take advantage of their tax-loss harvesting feature, in which they estimate you can save an extra 1.55% each year. Keep in mind that you need a minimum of $500 to invest with Wealthfront.
However, most of these apps are not like this, meaning you will have to be someone active. We’ll be sure to note if you need to be attentive to your phone or not.
Want to learn more? Check out 15 apps that pay you to watch videos.
Where you could once leave the app running 24/7 for a complete passive income, now you’re required to press a button every 1 – 2 hours to show that you’re actually watching videos.
With that said, you can still earn some decent cash. If you install the app on a maximum of 5 devices, expect to earn around $50 – $75 per month with Perk. It used to be the case that you could earn $150 or more, but these days are far from over.
The best part? It’s completely passive, meaning you can just let the phone run and let videos play endlessly. Even though this is the case, I suggest checking-up on the app once in a while to make sure it hasn’t frozen. This will happen if you leave the app running for days at a time.
EarnHoney gets even better. When you refer a friend, you get 10% of all of their earnings. This is a great way for you and your friends to earn some extra cash.
The downside? There’s a limit to the amount of videos that you can watch each day. For that reason, expect to only earn around $15 – $20 per month.
You can earn some extra cash with some other tasks such as completing short surveys or doing a daily check-in. However, if you want to make the most of your time, we suggest just sticking with videos.
You can select to watch either video trailers for up-and-coming apps or for new movie releases. We suggest sticking to video trailers since they tend to be shorter and all videos pay the same amount at 5 points each.
The best part about App Trailers? There’s no limit to the amount you can earn, so you could essentially earn all day if you wanted to. 10 points is equal to 1 cent.
When the “V” symbol appears on the app, that means that the app is detecting some sort of audio and you’re earning cash.
In between each TV show, ads will play to help you earn even more cash. The rewards are a little bit different than most of the apps on this list. Cash out for physical prizes such as t-shirts and water bottles.
When you sign-up with Drop, you’re asked to pick 5 retailers in which you want to earn cash back at. Each time you make a purchase using your linked card you earn points.
These points can be exchanged for a gift card of your choosing. The best part about this app is that once you set it up, there’s almost no work on your part other than cashing out.
You can also earn bonuses through specific offers such as a bonus of $80 for signing-up with one of their partnered credit cards. Use promo code frugal4less to earn a $1 bonus when you link your credit/debit card.
They analyze your savings or checking account and tell you where you can save money. Without you even noticing, they slowly stash away spare money into your Digit savings account that’s FDIC insured up to $250,000.
The best part? They give you 1% interest on all of your savings. While this may seem low, it’s actually higher than the interest rates of most banks at this moment. Refer your friends and receive an additional $5 bonus.
You can make a maximum of $7 per week depending on the plan that you commit to. However, keep in mind that if you miss a goal you can lose the same amount of money. That’s why this app is only for those who are serious about their exercise goals. Even if you a complete a target and forget to track it in the app, you’ll still lose money.
Deleting the app does not make you exempt from paying, so be sure to cancel your account if you want to opt-out of paying.
For workers, create a listing with your available skills and your hourly rate. If employers in your area need a task done, they might reach out to you. Do a great job to keep earning positive reviews so that future employers reach out to you.
For employers, search for workers in your area that are looking for jobs. Be a nice employer to have workers leave good reviews on your part so that future workers are willing to work with you again. Keep in mind that for both parties wages are negotiable.
YooLotto has expanded to other types of tasks that can help you make money. In fact, the best way to earn money with YooLotto is by watching videos. Keep in mind that you don’t have to click a “next” button to play a succeeding video, meaning you can let the app run automatically while still earning money.
This is a great passive income money making video app. Other tasks that you can complete to earn cash include playing games, referring friends, and participating in the YooLotto mobile lottery game. Use promo code 49R0RE to get the sign-up bonus.
By linking your online shopping accounts with your Paribus account, they help keep track of your purchases. If something goes on sale within a month of purchase, they contact the store for you on your behalf and ask for refund.
Paribus is 100% free to use.
Keep in mind that all those who wish to work as task workers must complete a background check. The amount you earn per task depends on how much the person who’s looking for help is willing to pay.
TaskRabbit is available in 19 major cities across the US.
Qmee has partnered with thousands of retailers across the web. Each time you make a search query, they check to see if one of their retail partners has an ad related to what your searching for. If there’s a match, ad appears and you get paid to click on it.
What’s great about Qmee is that you always know how much you’re getting paid each time you click on an ad at anywhere from $.03 to $.07 cents per click. Qmee now offers surveys for extra cash, and you get $1 each time you refer a friend.
Job Spotter was created in order to help people know where help is needed. You can also use the app to find out where people have taken pictures so that you can apply for jobs at these same places.
You most likely won’t be making a lot due to the sheer fact that there aren’t that many help wanted signs around. However, the work you have to do is minimal, so you’re actually earning at a great rate.
The money that’s in your account can be used to purchased gift cards through the app at a discount. The gift cards are all from popular retailers, and sometimes you can get up to 15% off.
When you register, you get a $2 bonus. Each time you refer a friend that links their card, you get an additional $2 bonus.
In order to earn cash, all you have to do is download the perk browser and make searches from it. You can exchange the points that you earn for gift cards or for gift cards.
Even if you’re not interested in earning money with the Perk Browser, I suggest checking them out solely for their ad blocker. If you earn with one or more Perk apps, all of your points go toward the same account.
You can also earn cash on your desktop by installing their browser toolbar. We estimate that you can earn about $20 – $25 a month. While it’s not much, surfing the web is something you’d probably be doing anyhow.
You can cash out once your account reaches 525 points for a $5 gift card. Refer your friends to earn points more quickly.
The only requirement to join is to be a fluent English speaker. Expect to earn $10 for every hour that you teach.
What I really love about this app is that they pay you by the minute. This means that if you only want to do a short 15-minute lesson, you’re still going to get paid 15 minutes. Use promo code RU3N2Ra to get the $10 bonus upon registration.
The reason Qriket is able to pay you is because after each spin a 30 second video ad will play. This is one of the best apps that can help you earn free cash in a short amount of time.
Want to earn even more cash quickly? Bet with other players from across the world. Choose how much you’re wiling to gamble and try and guess the correct color. However, if your opponent wins, they win what you bet and you lose that same amount.
Be sure to create a sound classroom environment to receive positive reviews and attract more students. Don’t show up for a class and you’ll receive a penalty. If you do cancel, just be sure to give enough notice.
If you want to earn even more cash teaching English, use these 5 apps and turn them all on at the same time. This way you’ll constantly be receiving offers to teach new classes.
When you download an app, all you have to do is open it. Once your credits are showing in your account, you can delete the app from your phone. Exchange your points for gift cards to popular retailers such as Amazon.
You can easily earn $5 – $10 within your first 15 – 20 minutes on the app since it comes with so many initial offers. After that, you might be able to make $1 – $2 per day depending on how many apps they have to offer.
Unfortunately, you probably won’t receive that many questions since this is such a high payout for the amount of effort you’re actually putting into the app. You might get one question every 2 months, or even less than that.
Be sure to setup notifications to remind you of new questions. If you don’t, a question could pass you by; you definitely don’t want this to happen since there are so few of them.
It would be great if we could convince everyone to start using this app. That way we could get paid for the thousands of messages we send each month.
The payout is quite low, but it’s better than nothing since you’re essentially not putting any extra work into it. Expect to only earn a few cents at a time.
If one of these codes matches with your purchase, the code is automatically applied. Expect to get one or two promotional discounts when you have this app turned on.
The videos you make are usually centered around a specific product that you’ve purchased. You’ll most likely be asked to shoot a video regarding what you think about the product and how you used it.
If you make a really great video, ProductTube may ask you to make another one and give you more money for it. Make sure that the video is clear and is audible. Cash out for Amazon gift cards and other prizes.
Each time you download an app, expect to earn anywhere from 36 to 150 points. Every 3 points is worth one cent, so you’ll be making anywhere from $.12 to $.50 cents per download.
You can easily make an extra $10 – $15 per month if you check back roughly once a week. Earn more cash by entering in their sweepstakes or by referring your friends.
Earn points with GasBuddy by entering in correct gas prices near you. The more prices you type in, the more chances you have to win one of their prize drawings.
Even if you don’t use this app to make money, it’s still a great way to save money on gas.
These websites can all be accessed from your smartphone browser or directly from your computer. Let’s take a look at my 5 favorites.
The great thing about FusionCash is their unique ways to make money. Not only can you earn cash taking surveys and filling out free-trial offers, but you can also get paid to listen to the radio and make phone calls, an option that you most likely won’t find with other small task apps.
FusionCash gives you a $1 bonus when you refer a friend and $5 after your friend cashes out for the first time. You also get a $5 bonus just for signing-up as a new user.
You do need a minimum of $50 to cash out, but some of their surveys pay up to this amount alone. It usually doesn’t take long to reach this amount.
I often find that I can at least earn at a rate at around $15 per hour provided that I stick to the higher-paying surveys. This is definitely a survey site that you want to add to your list.
The great thing about Vindale Research is that there’s usually an abundant amount of surveys available. In fact, some surveys you can even take multiple times per day.
Expect to earn around $12/hour on average. Earn up to $5 in extra cash when you refer a friend, and get a $2 bonus just for signing-up.
The great thing about Panda Research is that they pay you automatically the 1st and the 15th of every month provided that you have the minimum balance in your account.
Don’t like taking surveys? Stick to reading emails. All you’re required to do is to open them and you get paid.
By using the apps outlined in this article, you can easily make a few extra thousand dollars per year straight from your smartphone.
This article is quite long, so we’ve decided to get right to it for those who want to skip the long list of reviews.
Here’s a quick shoutout of our top 5 favorites:
- LifePoints (earn $10 – $12/hour taking survey)
- Swagbucks ($5 sign-up bonus – great all around short-task app)
- Ibotta ($10 bonus after you redeem your first offer)
- TopCashback ($10 sign-up bonus – earn cash back on your online shopping purchases)
- Drop ($1 bonus when you link your first debit/credit card – earn cash back by making normal in-store purchases)
Click on the links below to jump straight to that section.
- Receipt Scanning Apps
- Cash Back Portal Apps
- Survey Apps
- Small Task Apps
- Passive Income Apps
- Lock Screen Apps
- Video Watching Apps
- Robo-Advisor Apps
Not to worry.
The majority of the apps on this list also have a desktop version so you can access them from any web browser.
Furthermore, the majority of the apps on this list work for both iPhone and Android devices.
You can also purchase this article in eBook format on Amazon. With that said, let’s dive right in.
A. Receipt Scanning Apps
Receipt Scanning Apps were originally designed to pay you for taking a picture of your grocery receipt using your phone. Yet as of recently they’ve expanded to more than just groceries.Now you can earn cash back on alcohol, electronics, online purchases, and even prescriptions. The type of receipt scanning app determines how you earn cash. From what I’ve seen, there are 4 different types of receipt scanning apps:
- Get paid to purchase specific items at specific stores. These receipt scanning apps require you to purchase specific offers at specific stores. If you don’t match both of these aspects with your receipt, you won’t receive cash back.
- Earn cash back as long as your item appears on the receipt. These receipt scanning apps don’t care where you make your purchase. As long as the product appears on the app, you’re going to get paid. Most of the receipt scanning apps are of this type.
- You earn cash back as long as you shop at a certain store. These apps only care about where you buy something, but it doesn’t matter what you buy.
- Earn cash back for having a receipt. These receipt scanning apps are the easiest to get paid for. It doesn’t matter what you buy or where you buy it. You receive cash back based on the total purchase price of your receipt.
How To Scan Your Receipt
When you do take a picture of your receipt, it’s important to keep your hand steady and keep the receipt on a flat surface. If the image comes out blurry, there’s a good chance the the receipt isn’t readable and your account won’t receive credit.The great thing about receipt scanning apps? They can be deal-stacked, meaning you can use the same receipt for multiple apps to double or even triple your cash back amount.
Furthermore, be sure to include as much information on the receipt as you can when taking a picture. In order to avoid not having the correct information, we suggest simply taking a picture of the entire receipt to avoid any confusion.
For those interested to hear more details on receipt scanning apps, check out our top 10 list for apps that pay you to scan receipts.
101 Free Money Making Apps To Earn Extra Money
1. Ibotta
- Registration Bonus: $10 after claiming your first offer
- Join Ibotta
Although you’re required to match both the product and the store, with Ibotta you don’t have much to worry about. There are plenty of offers available and they’re always adding more. You’ll soon find that you’ll be able to earn cash back from almost any common-name store.
Ibotta was originally intended to give you cash back for just groceries, but they’ve expanded. Now you can earn cash back on electronics, alcohol, dining out, shopping through other apps, and much more. Earn anywhere from $.25 to $5 in cash back per offer.
Read our Ibotta Review
2. Shopkick
- Registration Bonus: $.25 cents
- Join Shopkick
Shopkick since then has expanded greatly. Now you can earn points for linking your credit cards, shopping online and also scanning receipts.
Keep in mind that when scanning receipts with Shopkick you need to buy a specific product at a specific store. They also have a referral program that gives you a bonus of $.25 cents per referral.
Due to the variety of tasks you can complete with this app, it’s definitely not one you want to pass up.
Read our Shopkick Review
3. Fetch Rewards
- Registration Bonus: $1.50 using promo HH3MN and scanning your first receipt
- Read our Fetch Rewards Review
Since they’re a fairly new app they don’t have many offers available. Yet the cash back amount they offer is quite good compared to the other receipt scanning apps on this list. Expect to earn anywhere between $.25 and $2 per offer. Keep in mind you can scan more than one offer per receipt to increase this amount.
Right now you get a $1.50 sign-up bonus when you use the promo code HH3MN and scan your first receipt. Although the offers are quite limited right now, they are expanding quickly. You only need a minimum of $3 to cash out for a gift card.
4. BerryCart
- Registration Bonus: $2 with promo 7xYw14Jb and scan your first receipt
- Read our BerryCart Review
Aside from all of their great offers, what I really love about this app is its filtering system. For example, if you’re looking specifically for dairy-free products, you can filter all of their dairy-free offers. They’ll even tell you where you can buy them nearby.
Out of all of the apps that pay you to scan receipts, BerryCart is great for health nuts.
5. Checkout 51
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Checkout 51 Review
What’s unique about Checkout 51 is that they have quite a few fruit and vegetable offers. This is something that I haven’t seen on many other receipt scanning apps. Even though they don’t offer a registration bonus, you can still find quite a variety of unique offers.
Expect to earn anywhere from $.25 to $5 per offer. New offers are updated and available every Wednesday night. It doesn’t matter where you purchase your product, just as long as it’s on the receipt.
6. SavingStar
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our SavingStar Review
In addition to this, SavingStar now offers cash back for certain groceries at certain stores, and their payout is one of the highest on this list. The only downside is that they don’t tend to have many offers available.
What I personally like is that you can frequently earn cash back on fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, there isn’t a sign-up bonus with this app. We suggest checking it out for its other features as well as receipt scanning capabilities.
7. MobiSave
- Registration Bonus: $1 after scanning your first receipt
- Read our MobiSave Review
This app doesn’t care where you purchase the product, just as long as it shows up on your receipt. Expect to earn anywhere from $.10 cents to a few dollars per offer.
One unique thing about MobiSave is that they have a lot of offers that I don’t typically find with other receipt scanning apps. Earn cash back on baby items, prescriptions, beauty and health products.
8. ReceiptPal
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our ReceiptPal Review
The downside of ReceiptPal is that the payout of this app is quite low. You’re going to have to scan a lot of receipts before you’re able to cash out. Is it worth it? If you’re comparing it to other apps on this list, probably not. But it’s a great one for deal stacking.
Unfortunately, there’s no sign-up bonus as of yet. Keep in mind that sometimes they don’t accept new users.
9. Receipt Hog
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Receipt Hog Review
Each spin can be used to play one round of hog slots. The payout is much better than ReceiptPal, and you should be able to cash out fairly quickly provided that you scan enough receipts.
There isn’t a sign-up bonus, but sometimes they have short surveys to earn extra points or spins. Keep in mind that they sometimes don’t accept new users. If this is the case, check back in a couple of weeks to see if you can join.
10. PunchCard
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our PunchCard Review
Not only that, but you’ll also find a lot of mom and pop locations you can earn cash back from with this app. Although you won’t earn as much as with Ibotta or Checkout 51, many of their partner stores won’t be found on other apps.
This is the only app on this list that cares about where you buy a product, but not what you buy. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing they don’t include a sign-up bonus.
11. Shopmium
- Registration Bonus: Free candy bar with promo KKKFFCEX and scan your first receipt
- Read our Shopmium Review
Shopmium is great for some of those more uncommon grocery items. For example, you might find cash back offers for beef jerky or 5-hour energy.
Use referral code KKKFFCEX to get an offer for a free Lindt candy bar. Like most of the apps on this list, you get paid for a specific product and it doesn’t matter where you buy it.
For those of you interested, Shopmium also has a French version since it was originally developed in France.
12. Walmart Savings Catcher
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Walmart Savings Catcher Review
Scan your receipt with this app after any Walmart purchase and Walmart will check competing retailers nearby for a better price on any one of your products. If a store has a cheaper price, they’ll reward you the difference in Walmart gift cards.
Even if you don’t know if your product is found somewhere else at a better price, you might as well scan your receipt anyways. It could just so happen that they find a cheaper deal without you knowing about it.
B. Survey Apps
Survey apps are a great way to make some extra cash on the side. I personally make around $300 – $400 per month in extra income just by using roughly 10 of these apps.With so many survey apps claiming you can make hundreds within a short amount of time, it’s difficult to determine what’s scam or legit. That’s why we’ve sorted through them for you.
All of the apps on this list are ones that I’ve personally used. They’ve all paid me on time and have paid me the correct amount.
The reason survey apps are able to pay you is because they use the information that you submit by selling it as market research. Companies take this data and use it to improve products and services that consumers like you and I use on a daily basis.
Use Multiple Survey Apps
I highly suggest using multiple apps. This is because there’s usually a limited amount of surveys on each app. By having multiple apps in your arsenal, you’re able to rotate between them and always have a way to make some extra cash.Furthermore, even if a survey app has a lot of surveys, the amount of high-paying ones is most likely limited. For example, PointClub is one of my favorite survey apps, but I’m not going to participate in all of their surveys.
This is because PointClub has a limited amount of high-paying surveys at a time. I might take a few that pay at a rate of $10 – $15 per hour. Once these run out, I’ll go to the next app and repeat the same process. Eventually I’ll come back to PointClub at a later time and see if there are new, high-paying surveys that I can take.
Let’s get started with some of the best survey apps out there.
13. Ipsos
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Ipsos Review
Each time you take a survey you’re also automatically entered in a prize drawing. Win cool prizes such as an MP3 player, gift cards and more.
Ipsos also rewards you for taking a lot of surveys. For example, when you take your first 5 surveys you’re automatically given 5 points. The more surveys you take, the higher up their rewards ladder you’ll move. Points can be redeemed for a gift card of your choosing.
14. Pinecone Research
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Pinecone Research Review
Most of the surveys cater to your demographics as well as products that you frequently use. As a result, I find the surveys a bit more interesting than with most survey apps.
The only downside with Pinecone Research is the amount of surveys they have available. While I can sometimes receive one or two a week, there have been periods in which I’ve only received one or two a month.
Sign-up for email notifications to find out when a new survey is available. Cash out once you reach a minimum of $10 for gift cards, physical prizes or direct deposits to PayPal.
15. YouGov
- Registration Bonus: $2
- Read our YouGov Review
YouGov acts more like a community than the other survey apps on this list. Once you complete a questionnaire, you instantly know how other people answered the same question. This gives you further insight as to what the general public thinks when it comes to political issues.
The minimum payment threshold is set at $5, and I can usually reach this amount quite quickly. The $2 sign-up bonus definitely helps with this.
The only downside with this money making app is that sometimes it can take weeks before you receive your payments.
YouGov has a great referral program. Each time you refer a friend, you both receive a $2 bonus.
16. MySurvey
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our MySurvey Review
The more surveys you take with MySurvey, the more you’ll be rewarded. They reward frequent survey takers with more surveys and also higher-paying ones.
What I really like about MySurvey is their poll system. Answer a daily question and receive a couple of points for it.
MySurvey is available in the US, Australia and the UK. Points can be exchanged for gift cards, direct deposits to PayPal and also charitable donations to UNICEF.
17. Toluna Opinions
- Registration Bonus: $2
The surveys are a bit higher-paying with Toluna, which is great since you don’t have to weed out the lower-paying ones. Expect to earn anywhere from $1 – $5 per survey, and each one taking roughly 5 – 20 minutes each.
What I also like about Toluna Opinions is that they are great about telling you whether you’re ineligible for a survey a not. I usually find this out just answering the first question of a survey.
18. PointClub
- Registration Bonus: $5
- Read our PointClub Review
Not only that, but out of all of the apps on this list, I find that they tend to have some of the best hourly rates when it comes to taking surveys.
They also have a bonus program. For ever 5 days that you log-in consecutively, you get a 10% bonus of all of your survey earnings. You can keep increasing this amount until you reach a maximum bonus of 100%. However, if you forget to log-in for one day, your bonus will reset back to zero.
With the bonus applied, I usually earn at a rate of $10 – $15 per hour with the high-paying surveys. The surveys are also very easy to complete, and are typically more enjoyable than other survey apps on this list.
Unfortunately, this one is only available for Android users. If you still want to give PointClub a try without an Android phone, you can always take surveys using their desktop version.
You need a minimum of $25 in your account to cash out for either gift cards or direct deposits to PayPal.
19. QuickThoughts
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our QuickThoughts Review
QuickThoughts also gives you an opportunity to earn cash by completing small tasks in your area. Get paid to report prices in local supermarkets or scan barcodes on store shelves.
The larger your city, the more tasks you are likely to have. This is definitely one money making app you don’t want to pass up. Overall, I commend this app for its easy-to-user interface and functionality.
20. NiceQuest
- Registration Bonus: 40 Shells
- Read our NiceQuest Review
The surveys with NiceQuest typically have great payout rates. With NiceQuest, there are plenty of prizes to choose from, and this includes physical prizes as well as gift cards. Unfortunately, at this time there’s no cash out option directly to PayPal.
This is definitely one survey money making app that you want to add to your list. For those who want to spend less shells in chance of earning greater rewards, they also have drawings for items such as MacBook computers.
21. MySoapBox
- Registration Bonus: $2
- Read our MySoapBox Review
Since they don’t offer that many surveys, I highly suggest signing-up for their email notifications. Your first time cashing out you need a minimum balance of $25. The $2 sign-up bonus definitely helps in reaching this amount a bit more quickly. After you cash out for the first time, you only need a minimum of $1.
What I’ve noticed is that with MySoapBox the surveys are typically longer due to their high payout rate. While it may seem like a downside, it’s a great way to prevent burnout. In other words, there’s no need to be constantly searching for new surveys.
Each time you refer a friend using your referral link, you get a $1 bonus and your friend receives $2.
22. GlobalTestMarket
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our GlobalTestMarket Review
Some users have reported difficulties with registering. If this is the case for you, simply wait a few hours or refresh the page. In 2014 they awarded over 32 million USD in prizes to their members.
They have a long-standing reputation and pay out in both gift cards and PayPal deposits. What I also like about GlobalTestMarket is that you usually know within the first couple of questions whether you’re eligible to continue a survey or not. Many survey sites drag you halfway through a survey only to tell you that you can’t continue.
23. Valued Opinions
- Registration Bonus: None
You’re awarded in points each time you take a survey. These points can be exchanged for gift cards to popular retailers such as Best Buy and Macy’s. Valued Opinions states that they can take up to 48 hours to deliver, but generally I receive rewards within 24 hours.
From my personal experience, surveys tend to take around 10 – 20 minutes each to complete. Earn more with the Valued Opinions badge system. The more surveys you take, the higher you will move up in ranking, and thus earn more per survey.
24. Zap Surveys
- Registration Bonus: $6 your first survey
- Join Zap Surveys
Typically you’ll receive a survey with a high payout that takes a short amount of time to complete. Not only that, but they guarantee you’ll get $6 for your first survey!
Zap Surveys is quickly making its way up this list as one of the best survey apps out there – highly recommended.
Read our full Zap Surveys Review
25. ShopTracker
- Registration Bonus: $3
- Read our ShopTracker Review
When you sign-up, you automatically get a $3 bonus after taking a short 3 – 5 question survey and linking your Amazon account. Once this is complete, leave the app installed on your phone and take a short survey at the end of each month about your Amazon shopping experience.
You earn $3 at the end of each survey, and all payments are made in the form of Visa gift cards. These gift cards can either be used online or in stores.
C. Online Shopping Portal Apps
Online shopping portals are websites that are partnered with thousands of retailers across the internet and place all of their affiliate links of the retailers onto one site. This means that if you click on one of these links and make a purchase at a specific retailer, they earn a commission.Instead of keeping this commission for themselves, they give it back to you in the form of cash back. The amount of cash back you receive depends on the portal and also the store you’re shop at.
Sound confusing? It’s a bit difficult to understand how shopping portals work at first, so that’s why I suggest reading our full portal guide. Here’s a quick example of using one of the more popular shopping portals, Ebates.
- Sign-up for the free shopping portal here and enter in your name and email. Most portals give you a $10 registration bonus, and Ebates is no different.
- Use their search bar to search for the retailer you wish to shop at. Let’s use Sephora as an example
- You’ll be told how much cash back you can earn at each retailer. For Sephora, it says that we can earn 8% cash back on all items. Keep in mind there are sometimes exceptions to this; more often than not you won’t earn cash back for purchasing gift cards.
- Click on the “Shop Now” link to be redirected to the retailer’s page. The cash back portal will automatically keep track of your purchase.
- Within 30 days, receive the amount of cash back in your account. However, it usually arrives much sooner than this. Depending on the portal, you can redeem your cash back for gift cards or direct deposits to PayPal.
26. TopCashback
- Registration Bonus: $10
They also frequently have specials in which they increase their cash back amounts. This often occurs during the holidays or during special occasions.
My favorite part about TopCashBack is that when you choose to redeem for gift cards instead of PayPal you get a 3% bonus added to your total withdrawal amount.
27. Ebates
- Registration Bonus: $10
The best cash back rates for this portal is usually found around the holidays. You’ll usually find that they often promote special deals, such as double cash back, often beating out any of the other shopping portals.
What I personally love about the Ebates app is their great referral programs. Refer one friend and receive $5. However, refer 2 friends and get a bonus of $25, and 3 friends for a total bonus of $75.
28. BeFrugal
- Registration Bonus: $10
When you sign-up for BeFrugal, you get a $10 bonus and an additional $15 bonus when you refer a friend. Like any other portal on this list, you’ll find that the best deals usually occur around the holidays season.
Similar to TopCashback, BeFrugal also gives you a 3% bonus when you choose to redeem for Amazon gift cards instead of PayPal.
29. ShopAtHome
- Registration Bonus: $10
One thing that I’ve noticed with this ShopAtHome is that you’ll find a lot of stores on here that other shopping portals don’t have.
Not only that, but for more unique stores, ShopAtHome tends to have the highest cash back rates. It’s definitely a great portal to add to your list.
30. Extrabux
- Registration Bonus: $5
While the rates aren’t typically as high as the other portals on this list, sometimes you’ll find special deals that beat out the rest.
Extrabux isn’t technically considered a mobile app, but we still included it since you can install it as a browser extension in your browser. The big difference? Their referral program. Earn 5% of your friends’ total savings.
31. Jet
- Registration Bonus: None
This is because the cash back you receive can only be toward future purchases on Jet.com. This website was originally created to be a direct competitor with Amazon. Knowing this, you’ll often find great prices.
Take a look around on the Jet.com site and see if you think you’d be willing to buy something. If that’s the case, it might be worth using their portal to earn Jet Dollars.
32. Discover Deals
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Discover Review
Some stores you can get as much as 40% off. Due to their high cash back rates and their great cash back rates as a credit card, we can’t recommend this credit card enough.
Not only that, but with this card you get 5% cash back on categories that rotate quarterly and 1% on all other purchases. Your first year you get double the amount of all your cash back, meaning you can earn anywhere from 2% – 10% back.
D. Small Task Apps
Small task apps allow you to earn cash through a wide range of activities. This typically includes the following:- Take surveys
- Watch videos
- Complete free-trial offers
- Partake in polls
- Play games
- Shop online
- Clip coupons
- Refer friends
- Surf the web
- Read emails
A lot of these activities are things you most likely already complete on a daily basis, such as surfing the web or reading emails. While most of these apps ask you to complete tasks directly from your phone, there are a few that ask you to go out to local retailers and gather information.
As with all of the other apps mentioned on this list, take note of how much you’re earning and also their payout structure. Most of the small task apps pay in both gift cards and direct deposits to PayPal.
For those looking for more information on short task apps or sites, feel free to read our list of the top 50 short task sites.
33. Swagbucks
- Registration Bonus: $.50 – $5
- Read our Swagbucks Review
Swagbucks comes with a great referral bonus. For any friend that you convince to sign-up using your referral link, you earn 10% of their earnings for life.
One of the most popular ways to earn cash with Swagbucks is by watching videos. The best part is that you don’t have to hit next to watch the following video. In a sense, you’re earning a passive income since all you to do is kick back and watch your screen.
When it comes to taking surveys, I usually find that I can earn a quick $5 within 30 minutes. If you’re looking for fun, go ahead and play one of their games.
34. InboxDollars
- Registration Bonus: $5
- Read our InboxDollars Review
Not only that, but this is one of the few small apps that pays you to read emails. All you have to do is open them and skim through them. Take a few seconds of your day to earn a bit of extra money.
In comparison to other small task apps on this list, all of the other tasks are more or less the same. They also give you a 10% bonus on all referrals for life. The $5 sign-up bonus is definitely a great way to convince your friends to sign-up.
Apart from reading emails, the tasks that I recommend are watching videos and taking surveys. They don’t come out with many high-paying surveys, but when they do they tend to pay somewhat well. As for watching videos, this task is great for lazy days.
35. EarningStation
- Registration Bonus: $10
- Read our EarningStation Review
I typically find the best way to earn with EarningStation is by watching videos and taking surveys. The payout rate doesn’t tend to be as high as Swagbucks or InboxDollars, but it can definitely help when you run out of surveys or videos on these sites.
What I really love about EarningStation is their excellent referral program, as it’s definitely one of the best on this list. You get 10% of their earnings for life, plus an additional $5 when your friends earn their first $5. You only need a minimum of $1 to cash out to either PayPal or for Amazon gift cards.
36. CashCrate
- Registration Bonus: $1
- Read our CashCrate Review
Increase your earnings by referring your friends. Each time a friend signs-up using your referral link, you earn a bonus of $.20 cents and they get $1.
For those that are looking for highest potential earnings, CashCrate has surveys that have payouts that range anywhere between a few cents and $30. However, the ones that pay this amount are quite rare.
37. ClickWorker
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our ClickWorker Review
ClickWorker is a bit strict about who they let into their program, and their great payout rate helps back this up. You must be a native English speaker, and in order to prove this you need to take a small assessment.
Expect to earn anywhere from $10 – $20 per hour. There are a lot of small-paying tasks with this app, but there are plenty of high-paying tasks to go along with it. Earn an additional $5 when you refer a friend.
38. GrabPoints
- Registration Bonus: $1
- Read our GrabPoints Review
The majority of the cash is going to made by downloading other apps. This requires you to install the app and open it at least once. In order to ensure that my account gets credited with the proper amount of points, I try and leave the app open for at least a minimum of 30 seconds. From there you can uninstall the app and keep your earnings.
Expect to earn anywhere between $.50 cents and $2 downloading apps with GrabPoints, which is great considering that this process doesn’t take a lot of time. However, there are only so few apps to go around. I tend to check back once a week for new offers. If you’re looking for other tasks to complete, watching videos is the second best way to earn cash with this app.
Refer a friend and you both get $1 bonus as soon as your friend reaches 1,000 points in earnings.
39. GiftHulk
- Registration Bonus: $.25 cent
There isn’t a large sign-up bonus associated with GiftHulk, and you only get $.60 cents each time you refer a friend. However, it’s still a great app to keep in the back of your head in case you run out of tasks on other small task apps.
Keep in mind that each task you complete awards you with a certain amount of Hulk Coins. These coins can be exchanged for deposits to PayPal or for a gift card of your choosing. To make the most of your earnings, focus on the apps, offer wall, and GiftHulk TV sections.
40. Points2Shop
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Points2Shop Review
However, there are many other ways to earn with this money making app, which is why we consider it a small task app.
Earn cash watching videos, playing games, shopping online, completing surveys, downloading apps and more. Refer friends for a $.50 cent bonus plus a percentage of their total earnings.
41. MyPoints
- Registration Bonus: $10
- Read our MyPoints Review
This app is very similar to Points2Shop, in which it was originally created as a cash back portal but has added additional tasks. Earn money watching videos, shopping online, playing games, taking surveys and more.
They also have an excellent referral program. For each friend you refer, you get $.25 cents plus $10 when they make their first $20. Not only that, but you also get 10% of all of the points that they earn – definitely the best referral program on this list!
42. CashPirate
- Registration Bonus: $.50 cents (bonus code XZQBIU)
- Read our CashPirate Review
Get a $.50 cent sign-up bonus when you sign-up using the promo code XZQBIU. If you want to make the most of your time, stick to watching videos and downloading apps.
Expect to easily earn around $3 – $4 within your first 15 minutes with CashPirate, but don’t expect to earn at this rate 100% of the time. I find that I can usually eat least earn $1 a day.
43. Instant Rewards
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Instant Rewards Review
Watching videos with this small task money making app can net you about $2 per hour. While it isn’t much, it’s a lazy way to earn some extra cash.
When it comes to surveys, expect to earn around $.30 cents for a minute of your time. The payout is great, but you can only take a maximum of 2 surveys per day.
44. Spare5
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Spare5 Review
The great thing about Spare5 is that you’re automatically paid to PayPal, and there’s no minimum payout. This means that even with as little as $.01 cent in your account, you’re still going to get paid the following Friday.
Expect to earn a a rate of around $10 – $15 per hour. You can get paid to complete other tasks, but most of the time you’re earning money completing surveys.
45. App Karma
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our App Karma Review
We suggest mostly focusing on downloading apps, since this is where most of the money is made. To complete these tasks, simply download the app and open it. Once your account is credited, you can delete the app.
App Karma has a very generous referral bonus. For each friend that you refer, you get 30% of their earnings.
E. Mystery Shopping Apps
The main difference between mystery shopping apps and the others on this list is that mystery shopping apps require you to leave your home.Most of the tasks found on these apps tend to take a bit longer due to their payout rate, typically ranging anywhere between $2 – $20 per task. While they don’t usually come with a sign-up bonus, spending a lot of time on these apps can be well worth it.
Keep in mind that mystery shopping apps are going to be more effective in larger cities. However, if you live in a small town, you still might be able to complete a few tasks here and there for some extra cash.
Complete Your Tasks Quickly
The best advice I can give when using mystery shopping apps is to complete the tasks as quickly as possible. Sometimes the tasks are only available for a short time. Not only that, but they often limit the amount of users.46. EasyShift
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our EasyShift Review
EasyShift works by assigning you “shifts” in the area around you. This typically includes talking taking a photo of a menu or a certain dish and taking a small survey afterward. Most of the time these tasks take just under a few minutes.
There’s no sign-up bonus, but the payout is quite high compared to other apps that pay. The great thing about EasyShift is that once you complete a task, they award you within 48 hours to your PayPal account. Expect most tasks to pay at least a few dollars, with a maximum payout of $12 per task.
47. GigWalk
- Registration Bonus: None
The earnings potential for GigWalk is a bit higher than its counterpart EasyShift, in which you can get paid up to $20 per task. However, in exchange most tasks tend to take a bit longer. I personally prefer this since I can focus on one task at a time.
There’s no registration bonus with this money making app, but it’s definitely worth it. It gets you out of the house and it tends to pay quite well. For those living in smaller cities, it’s going to be a bit difficult to find many gigs, but I suggest at least trying.
48. Field Agent
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Field Agent Review
Again, tasks are going to be a bit more time-consuming than the other apps on this list, but you can earn a lot more. With Field Agent, they always give you an estimation of approximately how long a task should take. This is especially useful for managing your time and determining whether a task is worth it or not.
Some users report making up to $100 per day using Field Agent. Keep in mind that this usually only occurs in larger cities. There’s no minimum payout rate and you can cash out to PayPal at any time.
49. IPoll
- Registration Bonus: $5
You need a minimum of $10 in your account before you can cash out. The cash you earn can be exchanged for magazines, books, gift cards, direct deposits to PayPal and other physical prizes.
I’ve been able to earn roughly $80 with this app alone in the past three months. While most tasks don’t require you to purchase anything, they do pay you back if this is a requirement. What makes this app especially unique is that you may be asked to shoot a short video or record some audiog..
F. Passive Income Apps
Passive income apps is by far my favorite category when it comes to apps that pay. This is because you don’t have to do anything much other than registration and cashing out.The great thing about these apps is that they can be stacked with one another. This means that you can easily install two or three different apps to double or triple your earnings. The more you install, the more you earn.
Passive income apps typically work by collecting data about how you use your smartphone such as what apps you have installed and how long you typically talk on the phone. Keep in mind that all data is sent encrypted and anonymously, making it incredibly difficult to track any information back to you.
50. Nielsen Consumer & Mobile Panel
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Nielsen Consumer Panel Review
The amount of devices you can install the app on depends on your location. They accept a specific number of devices from any given area. Once they reach this amount, they stop taking on new users. Therefore, if you live in an area that’s no longer accepting new users, it’s best to try back in about a month or two.
For every device you have, expect to earn up to $50/year in passive income. You can also install the app on desktop devices, but keep in mind that you won’t earn cash this way. If you decide to go the desktop route, you’ll be entered in monthly drawings to earn up to $1,000 at a time.
It’s difficult to determine exactly when you’ll be able to cash out and when you’ll receive cash. From my personal experience they pay about once or twice a month. Points can be exchanged for both cash and gift cards.
51. Smart Panel
- Registration Bonus: $5
- Read our Smart Panel Review
Smart Panel gives you bonuses along the way for keeping the app installed. For example, leave it installed for 1 year to earn a total of $110, but leave it installed for 2 years for a total of $230.
Users report a 1% – 5% reduction in battery life and data usage of anywhere between 2MB – 5MB per month. In short, the drag in phone performance is almost negligible. Before you can cash out for that $5 bonus, you must leave the app installed for a minimum of 30 days.
52. Digital Reflection Panel
- Registration Bonus: $50
- Read our Digital Reflection Panel Review
Once you install the app on your first smartphone and register your device, you receive a $50 bonus. Keep in mind that it takes an additional month to actually process this bonus.
Leave the app installed and the internet meter running to earn $170/year. They also give bonuses every few months, so you actually have the potential to earn a bit more. The more devices you have registered, the more likely you are to increase this amount.
53. SavvyConnect
- Registration Bonus: None
When you become a member of SavvyConnect, you’ll be given exclusive access to the higher-paying surveys on the SurveySavvy website. Simply complete your profile to get these surveys sent to your inbox.
One of the best ways to earn with SavvyConnect is to invite your friends. For each friend that you invite that completes their first project, you earn anywhere between $5 – $15. And it doesn’t stop there. For any friends that your friends refer, you can earn anywhere between $2 – $6. Unfortunately, they only pay by check.
54. MobileXpression
- Registration Bonus: $5 (takes a few weeks)
- Read our MobileXpression Review
I haven’t noticed any slowdown on my phone on this app. Aside from earning cash prizes, you’ll also be awarded tokens that can be used to enter cash drawings.
The one downside about MobileXpression is that they require you to install a VPN to your phone. Keep in mind that certain rewards apps may suspend you if they find out if you’re using a VPN.
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite money making apps due to its passivity.
55. Mobile Performance Meter
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Mobile Performance Meter Review
This money making app can be run on multiple accounts per household, but you can only have one phone per account. By leaving the app installed continuously you should be able to earn roughly $6 per month or $72 per year.
This app is currently only available for Android phones. Points can be exchanged for a gift card of your choosing.
56. Media Insiders Panel
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Media Insiders Panel Review
The app can be installed on a maximum of 3 devices, with each device earning $2 per month. In total, you can earn $6 per month or $72 per year. You can increase your earnings a bit further with the use of the VPN. However, as mentioned above, other rewards apps on your phone might not permit the use of a VPN.
Keep in mind that you will need to wait a minimum of 48 hours after signing-up before your account is verified. When active, you’ll notice a green check and a statement that states that your phones are currently earning cash.
57. The Panel App
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Panel App Review
What I particularly like about the Panel App is their referral program. Most passive income apps don’t give you any sort of rewards for convincing your friends to sign-up. Earn 10% of your friends’ points and an additional 5% of any points that their friends earn.
You need a minimum of $5 in your account before you can cash out, so you’ll need to wait 5 months before you receive any type of compensation. If you wait until you earn 15,000 points, you can cash out for $25 – a much better deal.
There’s also the option of earning additional cash through surveys. However, the payout is so low that I don’t even consider this as an option.
58. Data Wallet
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Data Wallet Review
I’ve personally never been able to get them to buy it from me since I didn’t link all of my accounts. Yet if you can get it to work for you, it’s definitely worth it. You have the potential of earning up to $150 per year with this passive income money making app.
At the time of this writing, the app is only available to iOS users without any expectation to expand to the Android platform.
59. Sweatcoin
- Registration Bonus: None
Keep in mind that you must turn on your location in order for Sweatcoin to determine whether you’re moving or not. Refer a friend an earn a bonus of 5 Sweatcoins.
I don’t have a lot of personal experience with this app since it’s fairly recent. However, I’ve heard some pretty good reviews, especially since it’s incredibly easy to use.
60. Cross Media Panel
- Registration Bonus: $6
- Read our Cross Media Panel Review
Each time you register a device, you get a bonus of $2, for a maximum sign-up bonus of $6. The app can be installed on one tablet, one mobile device and one desktop device.
For each device that you have registered, you can earn a total of $1 per week. With all 3 devices using this money making app, that calculates out to a total of $12/month in passive income. You need a minimum of $25 to cash out for a gift card of your choosing.
61. BitMaker
- Registration Bonus: 2,500 Satoshi (promo code KIEV9L)
- Read our BitMaker Review
A great way to earn with this app is to leave it open when you’re charging your phone or when you’re sleeping. Instead of earning directly with cash, you earn in BitCoin or Satoshi (a smaller unit of BitCoin).
When you enter the promo code KIEV9L you get a 2,500 Satoshi bonus. You also get the same amount when you refer a friend.
G. Lock Screen Apps
We can’t say that lock screen apps are completely passive, but pretty close to it. With these apps installed, you get paid each time you unlock your phone. Since it’s something you already do on a daily basis, not much additional work has to go into it.Each time you unlock your phone, an add will appear. You can swipe in one direction to make the ad disappear and be redirected to your home screen. Swipe in the other direction to engage in the add. For the majority of the lock screen apps, you’ll be rewarded whether you engage in the ad or not. In other words, use your phone like you normally would and get paid.
It’s quite difficult to determine exactly how much you can earn with lock screen apps. Each app has their own unique algorithm, and unlocking your phone more won’t necessarily result in more cash each time you unlock your phone.For this reason, I suggest using your phone like you normally would.
The one downside about these apps? At the time of this writing, they’re only available for Android devices. Sorry iPhone users.
Stack Lock Screen Apps For Extra Cash
If you have just one lock screen app installed, you can install more to increase your earnings. Yet keep in mind or each app installed, you’ll have to swipe right or left just that many more times.While it does take a few extra seconds to reach your home screen, the earnings will add up that much more quickly. Let’s get right into our list. To get more information on these apps, feel free to read the post on the top 7 lock screen apps that pay.
62. ScreenLift
- Registration Bonus: None
- Join ScreenLift
- Install the app on your phone.
- Each time you unlock your phone, an app appears. Whether you engage in the app or not, you still get points.
- Cash out when you reach a minimum amount of points.
Although the payout isn’t much (maybe around $10 – $15 per month), you’re basically earning free money for no extra work.
63. Adme
- Registration Bonus: $1 (with promo code bNALpS6gKV)
- Read our Adme Review
I find that I can earn anywhere between $10 – $20 per month with Adme, averaging roughly $.02 cents per swipe. Payments are made directly to your PayPal account, and you need a minimum of $10 to cash out.
As mentioned above, you get paid whether you engage with an ad or not. This is one of the lock screen apps that probably pays the most consistently.
64. Slidejoy
- Registration Bonus: $.25 cents
- Read our Slidejoy Review
This is one of the apps that pays you whether you decide to engage with an ad or not. The one huge difference between Slidejoy and other apps like this is that it’s incredibly difficult to determine when they pay you for unlocking your screen.
You need a minimum of $2 to cash out for direct deposits to PayPal or for a gift card of your choosing. When you refer a friend, both you and your friend both get a bonus of 100 points. New users get a $.25 sign-up bonus.
65. Perk Screen
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Perk Screen Review
The lock screen app isn’t the greatest earner, but it can be a nice addition to your perk collection since all of the points go to the same account. For example, if you earn points with the Perk TV, points from both accounts will be automatically joined into one account.
Refer your friends for a $.50 cent bonus. Don’t expect to make more than $5 – $10 per month with this lock screen app.
66. Fronto
- Registration Bonus: $1
- Read our Fronto Review
What makes this app a bit different than the rest is that you only get paid when you engage with ads. If you swipe ads away 100% of the time, you won’t earn a dime.
What I personally love about Fronto is that they provide other ways to earn money aside from unlocking your screen. You can also earn cash downloading apps to your phone.
Combining both the tasks of unlocking your phone screen and downloading apps can net you a result of around $20 per month. Points can be exchanged for popular gift card retailers, and referring a friend gets both you and your friend a $1 bonus.
67. S’more
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our S’more Review
The downside? You can’t earn any more than this am. This is much less than what you’d typically earn with other lock screen apps. However, it’s great for those who don’t utilize their phone that much since it’s not dependent on phone use.
At the moment they do not have a referral program, but they do have a survey program to earn some extra cash.
68. Whaff Locker
- Registration Bonus: $.30 cents
- Read our Whaff Locker Review
The one downside is that the payout isn’t as high as other apps, and they don’t payout as frequently. They do have other offers to earn some extra cash such as taking a survey or downloading apps.
Use bonus code BQ17924 to earn a bonus of $.30 cents when you sign-up. When you refer a friend, both you and your friend get a bonus of $.30 cents.
69. MooCash
- Registration Bonus: $.02 cents
- Read our MooCash Review
When it comes to earnings, MooCash is definitely at the bottom of the list . No matter how many times I seem to unlock my screen, I can’t seem to earn more than $3 – $5 per month at most. If you’re going to choose just one lock screen app, this one should be last on your list.
H. Robo-Advisor Apps
Want to invest your savings but lack the financial knowledge? Robo-advisor apps give you a way to invest with small amounts of money and without any sort of investment background. They guide you every step of the way, and most only require $5 to get started.Common Characteristics
Each of these apps works a little bit differently, but there are some common characteristics found among them:- They advise you on what to invest in – For the most part, robo-advisor apps are all automated for you. They take your savings and invest it across a wide array of stocks and other securities to diversify your portfolio and help you earn the most for your dollar without too much risk.
- Backed by financial expertise – Most of these apps help you invest based off of recommendations from financial experts and investment management companies with strong reputations. With the Acorns App for example, Nobel Prize in Economics winner Dr. Harry Markowitzs helped contribute to developing these portfolios.
- Only need $5 to invest – Most of these apps require only $5 to get started. In fact, most give a $5 sign-up bonus, meaning you don’t need to pay anything to start investing.
- Wide range of portfolio choices – Depending on your risk level, you can choose anywhere from a conservative portfolio to an aggressive portfolio. Not sure which portfolio to invest in? They’ll help you.
- No commissions – All of the trades you make are 100% commission free, while most brokerage firms charge as much as $10 per trade.
- Little or no fees – Most of these apps require a very minimal fee, such as $1 per month in exchange for them advising you. If you invest $5,000 or more, you will instead be charged .025% of the total in your account. Some apps are 100% free no matter how much you invest.
- Not tax-advantaged – Unfortunately, the majority of these apps do not offer a tax-advantaged account such as an IRA or Roth IRA. There are a few exceptions to this, which we will mention below.
Getting Started
Since most of these investment advisor apps cost only $1 per month and most give you a $5 bonus to get started, you might as well try them for 5 months since you essentially get those months free. If you don’t like them, you can cancel your accounts at any time at no cost.Keep in mind that all of these apps do require your social security number, as with all brokerage firms. You will be sent a tax statement each year based on your gains or loses.
The one thing that these apps don’t have, however, is the ability to trade options.
70. Acorns App
- Registration Bonus: $5
- Read our Acorns Review
You get a $5 bonus for registering as a new user. While most robo-advisor apps charge a $1 fee per month, Acorns gives college students a membership at no cost for a maximum of 4 years.
Acorns advises you based on your risk level, giving you the choice to invest anywhere from a very conservative portfolio to an extremely aggressive portfolio. They give you plenty of guidance on which one to choose and will even suggest you one based on your net worth and other financial factors. Each time you refer a friend, you get a bonus of $5 up to a maximum of $100.
71. WiseBanyan
- Registration Bonus: $20
WiseBanyan is also the only app on this list that supports Roth and traditional IRA accounts. You’ll find additional features that they have that other apps don’t have such as optional tax-loss harvesting.
It would seem that WiseBanyan trumps all of the other apps. However, there is a bit of a learning curve. Refer a friend and you and your friend earn a bonus of $20.
72. Clink
- Registration Bonus: $5
When you register with Clink you’re automatically granted a $5 registration bonus. They also have the option to automatically deposit a fixed-dollar amount over a certain period of time. For example, you can automatically have your bank deposit $5 per week.
What I love about Clink (similar to Acorns) is that you can also link your credit card. Choose a percentage of your spending and set it aside for investing. For example, you can choose to have 10% of the total spent on dining out go toward your Clink account. They’re currently 100% free, but this may change in the near future. With Clink you can only register via your Facebook account.
73. Betterment
- Registration Bonus: None
Like the other robo-advisor apps, Betterment chooses a portfolio based on your income and risk level. Keep in mind that Betterment charges a 0.25% annual fee of your total investment amount. At $5,000, this is only $1.
Like the other apps, there’s no commission fees and no transfer fees. Betterment also allows you to open up your 401k and IRA accounts with them. Google is even using it for their employees. From what I’ve read, Betterment is one of the better robe-advisor apps out there.
74. Wealthfront
- Registration Bonus: None
Wealthfront does a great job of finding the right portfolio based on your risk level. As with all of these apps, you don’t pay any commissions or any sort of trading fees.
Wealthfront also allows you to open a 401k, Traditional IRA or Roth IRA. Take advantage of their tax-loss harvesting feature, in which they estimate you can save an extra 1.55% each year. Keep in mind that you need a minimum of $500 to invest with Wealthfront.
I. Video Watching Apps
There are quite a few money apps that primarily focus on paying you to watch videos. While you can also earn cash watching videos with most of the small task apps mentioned above, the apps listed here usually pay a bit more for this specific task.What Should I Look For In Video Watching Apps
The best thing to do when choosing a video watching money making app is to try and earn a passive income. Some of these apps play videos non-stop, meaning you don’t have to press a button in order to make the next one play. In short, you can start the app and leave it running without the need to do anything.However, most of these apps are not like this, meaning you will have to be someone active. We’ll be sure to note if you need to be attentive to your phone or not.
Want to learn more? Check out 15 apps that pay you to watch videos.
75. Perk TV
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Perk TV Review
Where you could once leave the app running 24/7 for a complete passive income, now you’re required to press a button every 1 – 2 hours to show that you’re actually watching videos.
With that said, you can still earn some decent cash. If you install the app on a maximum of 5 devices, expect to earn around $50 – $75 per month with Perk. It used to be the case that you could earn $150 or more, but these days are far from over.
76. EarnHoney
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our EarnHoney Review
The best part? It’s completely passive, meaning you can just let the phone run and let videos play endlessly. Even though this is the case, I suggest checking-up on the app once in a while to make sure it hasn’t frozen. This will happen if you leave the app running for days at a time.
EarnHoney gets even better. When you refer a friend, you get 10% of all of their earnings. This is a great way for you and your friends to earn some extra cash.
77. CheckPoints
- Registration Bonus: $.25 cents (bonus code jwuerch)
- Read our CheckPoints Review
The downside? There’s a limit to the amount of videos that you can watch each day. For that reason, expect to only earn around $15 – $20 per month.
You can earn some extra cash with some other tasks such as completing short surveys or doing a daily check-in. However, if you want to make the most of your time, we suggest just sticking with videos.
78. App Trailers
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our App Trailers Review
You can select to watch either video trailers for up-and-coming apps or for new movie releases. We suggest sticking to video trailers since they tend to be shorter and all videos pay the same amount at 5 points each.
The best part about App Trailers? There’s no limit to the amount you can earn, so you could essentially earn all day if you wanted to. 10 points is equal to 1 cent.
79. Viggle
- Registration Bouns: None
- Read our Viggle Review
When the “V” symbol appears on the app, that means that the app is detecting some sort of audio and you’re earning cash.
In between each TV show, ads will play to help you earn even more cash. The rewards are a little bit different than most of the apps on this list. Cash out for physical prizes such as t-shirts and water bottles.
J. Miscellaneous Apps
These are money making apps that don’t fall into any of the previous categories.80. Drop
- Registration Bonus: $1 with promo code frugal4less and link your credit/debit card
- Read our full Drop Review
When you sign-up with Drop, you’re asked to pick 5 retailers in which you want to earn cash back at. Each time you make a purchase using your linked card you earn points.
These points can be exchanged for a gift card of your choosing. The best part about this app is that once you set it up, there’s almost no work on your part other than cashing out.
You can also earn bonuses through specific offers such as a bonus of $80 for signing-up with one of their partnered credit cards. Use promo code frugal4less to earn a $1 bonus when you link your credit/debit card.
81. Digit
- Registration Bonus: None
They analyze your savings or checking account and tell you where you can save money. Without you even noticing, they slowly stash away spare money into your Digit savings account that’s FDIC insured up to $250,000.
The best part? They give you 1% interest on all of your savings. While this may seem low, it’s actually higher than the interest rates of most banks at this moment. Refer your friends and receive an additional $5 bonus.
82. GymPact
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our GymPact Review
You can make a maximum of $7 per week depending on the plan that you commit to. However, keep in mind that if you miss a goal you can lose the same amount of money. That’s why this app is only for those who are serious about their exercise goals. Even if you a complete a target and forget to track it in the app, you’ll still lose money.
Deleting the app does not make you exempt from paying, so be sure to cancel your account if you want to opt-out of paying.
83. DayWorks
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our DayWorks Review
For workers, create a listing with your available skills and your hourly rate. If employers in your area need a task done, they might reach out to you. Do a great job to keep earning positive reviews so that future employers reach out to you.
For employers, search for workers in your area that are looking for jobs. Be a nice employer to have workers leave good reviews on your part so that future workers are willing to work with you again. Keep in mind that for both parties wages are negotiable.
84. YooLotto
- Registration Bonus: Under $.50 cents (promo code 49R0RE)
- Read our YooLotto Review
YooLotto has expanded to other types of tasks that can help you make money. In fact, the best way to earn money with YooLotto is by watching videos. Keep in mind that you don’t have to click a “next” button to play a succeeding video, meaning you can let the app run automatically while still earning money.
This is a great passive income money making video app. Other tasks that you can complete to earn cash include playing games, referring friends, and participating in the YooLotto mobile lottery game. Use promo code 49R0RE to get the sign-up bonus.
85. Paribus
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Paribus Review
By linking your online shopping accounts with your Paribus account, they help keep track of your purchases. If something goes on sale within a month of purchase, they contact the store for you on your behalf and ask for refund.
Paribus is 100% free to use.
86. TaskRabbit
- Registration Bonus: None
Keep in mind that all those who wish to work as task workers must complete a background check. The amount you earn per task depends on how much the person who’s looking for help is willing to pay.
TaskRabbit is available in 19 major cities across the US.
87. Qmee
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Qmee Review
Qmee has partnered with thousands of retailers across the web. Each time you make a search query, they check to see if one of their retail partners has an ad related to what your searching for. If there’s a match, ad appears and you get paid to click on it.
What’s great about Qmee is that you always know how much you’re getting paid each time you click on an ad at anywhere from $.03 to $.07 cents per click. Qmee now offers surveys for extra cash, and you get $1 each time you refer a friend.
88. Job Spotter
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Job Spotter Review
Job Spotter was created in order to help people know where help is needed. You can also use the app to find out where people have taken pictures so that you can apply for jobs at these same places.
You most likely won’t be making a lot due to the sheer fact that there aren’t that many help wanted signs around. However, the work you have to do is minimal, so you’re actually earning at a great rate.
89. Seashells
- Registration Bonus: $2
- Read our Seashells Review
The money that’s in your account can be used to purchased gift cards through the app at a discount. The gift cards are all from popular retailers, and sometimes you can get up to 15% off.
When you register, you get a $2 bonus. Each time you refer a friend that links their card, you get an additional $2 bonus.
90. Perk Browser
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Perk Browser Review
In order to earn cash, all you have to do is download the perk browser and make searches from it. You can exchange the points that you earn for gift cards or for gift cards.
Even if you’re not interested in earning money with the Perk Browser, I suggest checking them out solely for their ad blocker. If you earn with one or more Perk apps, all of your points go toward the same account.
91. Bing Search
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Bing Search Review
You can also earn cash on your desktop by installing their browser toolbar. We estimate that you can earn about $20 – $25 a month. While it’s not much, surfing the web is something you’d probably be doing anyhow.
You can cash out once your account reaches 525 points for a $5 gift card. Refer your friends to earn points more quickly.
92. NiceTalk
- Registration Bonus: $10 (promo codeRU3N2Ra)
- Read our NiceTalk Review
The only requirement to join is to be a fluent English speaker. Expect to earn $10 for every hour that you teach.
What I really love about this app is that they pay you by the minute. This means that if you only want to do a short 15-minute lesson, you’re still going to get paid 15 minutes. Use promo code RU3N2Ra to get the $10 bonus upon registration.
93. Qriket
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Qriket Review
The reason Qriket is able to pay you is because after each spin a 30 second video ad will play. This is one of the best apps that can help you earn free cash in a short amount of time.
Want to earn even more cash quickly? Bet with other players from across the world. Choose how much you’re wiling to gamble and try and guess the correct color. However, if your opponent wins, they win what you bet and you lose that same amount.
94. SkimaTalk
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our SkimaTalk Review
Be sure to create a sound classroom environment to receive positive reviews and attract more students. Don’t show up for a class and you’ll receive a penalty. If you do cancel, just be sure to give enough notice.
If you want to earn even more cash teaching English, use these 5 apps and turn them all on at the same time. This way you’ll constantly be receiving offers to teach new classes.
95. AppMan
- Registration Bouns: $5
- Read our AppMan Review
When you download an app, all you have to do is open it. Once your credits are showing in your account, you can delete the app from your phone. Exchange your points for gift cards to popular retailers such as Amazon.
You can easily earn $5 – $10 within your first 15 – 20 minutes on the app since it comes with so many initial offers. After that, you might be able to make $1 – $2 per day depending on how many apps they have to offer.
96. 1Q
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our 1Q Review
Unfortunately, you probably won’t receive that many questions since this is such a high payout for the amount of effort you’re actually putting into the app. You might get one question every 2 months, or even less than that.
Be sure to setup notifications to remind you of new questions. If you don’t, a question could pass you by; you definitely don’t want this to happen since there are so few of them.
97. WowApp
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our WowApp Review
It would be great if we could convince everyone to start using this app. That way we could get paid for the thousands of messages we send each month.
The payout is quite low, but it’s better than nothing since you’re essentially not putting any extra work into it. Expect to only earn a few cents at a time.
98. Honey
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our EarnHoney Review
If one of these codes matches with your purchase, the code is automatically applied. Expect to get one or two promotional discounts when you have this app turned on.
99. ProductTube
- Registration Bonus:$5 (promo code WUERC9172)
- Read our ProductTube Review
The videos you make are usually centered around a specific product that you’ve purchased. You’ll most likely be asked to shoot a video regarding what you think about the product and how you used it.
If you make a really great video, ProductTube may ask you to make another one and give you more money for it. Make sure that the video is clear and is audible. Cash out for Amazon gift cards and other prizes.
100. FreeMyApps
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our FreeMyApps Review
Each time you download an app, expect to earn anywhere from 36 to 150 points. Every 3 points is worth one cent, so you’ll be making anywhere from $.12 to $.50 cents per download.
You can easily make an extra $10 – $15 per month if you check back roughly once a week. Earn more cash by entering in their sweepstakes or by referring your friends.
101. GasBuddy
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our GasBuddy Review
Earn points with GasBuddy by entering in correct gas prices near you. The more prices you type in, the more chances you have to win one of their prize drawings.
Even if you don’t use this app to make money, it’s still a great way to save money on gas.
5 Bonus Money Making Websites
We realize that apps often make updates and change their payout rates, often in an instant. In order to compensate for any outdated information, we went ahead and added some money making websites as a bonus.These websites can all be accessed from your smartphone browser or directly from your computer. Let’s take a look at my 5 favorites.
102. FusionCash
- Registration Bonus: $5
- Read our FusionCash Review
The great thing about FusionCash is their unique ways to make money. Not only can you earn cash taking surveys and filling out free-trial offers, but you can also get paid to listen to the radio and make phone calls, an option that you most likely won’t find with other small task apps.
FusionCash gives you a $1 bonus when you refer a friend and $5 after your friend cashes out for the first time. You also get a $5 bonus just for signing-up as a new user.
103. Springboard America
- Registration Bonus: None
- Read our Springboard America Review
You do need a minimum of $50 to cash out, but some of their surveys pay up to this amount alone. It usually doesn’t take long to reach this amount.
I often find that I can at least earn at a rate at around $15 per hour provided that I stick to the higher-paying surveys. This is definitely a survey site that you want to add to your list.
104. Vindale Research
- Registration Bonus: $2
- Read our Vindale Research Review
The great thing about Vindale Research is that there’s usually an abundant amount of surveys available. In fact, some surveys you can even take multiple times per day.
Expect to earn around $12/hour on average. Earn up to $5 in extra cash when you refer a friend, and get a $2 bonus just for signing-up.
105. Panda Research
- Registration Bonus: $3
The great thing about Panda Research is that they pay you automatically the 1st and the 15th of every month provided that you have the minimum balance in your account.
Don’t like taking surveys? Stick to reading emails. All you’re required to do is to open them and you get paid.
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Earn Money Online