Today, we’re going to share a few side hustles apps that pay you to do all kinds of things (mostly things you already do anyway!)
We spend a lot of time on our phones, so why not use some of that time to make extra cash?
According to recent surveys, on average, we check our phones around 144 times a day!
The same study revealed that people spend an average of five hours using apps and browsing the internet.
Astonishingly, that means the average person spends a third of their waking hours on their phone.
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Since you already spend so much time on your phone, wouldn’t it be great if you could make money from it?
Surprisingly, you can.
There are apps out there that actually pay you, like these 28 money-making apps, and you don’t have to do anything difficult or complex to earn.
Most of these apps let you make money from the things you’re already doing, like unlocking your phone, watching videos, shopping, and browsing the internet.
Sure, these apps won’t make you a millionaire, but they can give your monthly income a nice boost, providing some extra spending money or cash for your savings account.
Table of Contents
Apps that Make You Money
Here are the best apps you can use to earn money.
1. NCP Online (Nielsen Homescan)
Would you like to get paid to share your opinion? Now you can with the National Consumer Panel.
You join the consumer panel and share your thoughts with brands.
Essentially, you tell brands what you think about their products or services, and in return, you earn points that you can redeem for rewards!
All you need to do is scan your purchases, enter some information, and then send your data to NCP.
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You must be a registered member of the National Consumer Panel to use the app.
To register, visit this page.
Once you’re approved, you can start using the app to earn rewards.
Download link:
2. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is one of our favorite apps because making money with it is so easy.
It lets you earn points for doing really simple things, many of which you’re probably already doing anyway, such as:
- Shopping online
- Watching videos
- Answering surveys
- Browsing the internet
- Playing games
For completing these tasks, you earn points called “Swag Bucks.”
Once you’ve accumulated enough, you can redeem these points for cash via PayPal or gift cards to well-known merchants, such as Amazon.
Read our Swagbucks review to learn how you can earn an extra $758.25 per year using Swagbucks.
Download link:
3. InboxDollars
InboxDollars is another app that’s great for making money easily.
InboxDollars works with brands that pay for consumer input, and InboxDollars users provide this input.
With this app, you get paid for doing things like:
- Completing offers
- Shopping online
- Taking surveys
- Watching TV
- Playing games
- Checking emails
And, as an added bonus, when you sign up for InboxDollars, you get a free $5 sign-up bonus.
Download link:
4. Poshmark
Do you have a coat that you rarely wear or a handbag that you no longer use?
Well, using your mobile phone, you could sell your clothes and accessories that you no longer use and get yourself a bit of extra cash.
An app called Poshmark makes selling your old stuff easy.
Poshmark is a fashion-focused app that allows you to buy and sell items like clothing and shoes.
It focuses on gently used items. So, if you’ve got something to sell, consider listing it on the Poshmark app.
The app is incredibly easy to use, and if you do sell something through it, the buyer pays for shipping!
Download link:
5. Bookscouter
Maybe it’s unwanted books, rather than clothing, that have taken up space in your home.
If so, check out Bookscouter.
With this app, you can easily list books for sale and make a profit from your unused library.
Using the Bookscouter app, you can scan the barcode of your book and instantly compare real-time prices from more than 40 book buyback sites.
Download link:
6. Bing/Microsoft Rewards
The Microsoft Rewards program, also known as Bing Rewards, is an app that essentially pays you to browse the internet.
With Microsoft Rewards, you earn points for using Bing and Microsoft Edge to search the Internet.
You can also earn points for shopping at the Microsoft and Windows stores.
You can redeem the points you earn for a plethora of rewards, like games, music, and gift cards.
For tips and tricks on how to accumulate points faster, check out our detailed Bing Rewards review.
Download link:
7. Foap
With Foap, you can make money from your smartphone photos.
It’s easy. All you need to do is upload the photos you take with your smartphone. Your photos will then be listed on Foap for people to buy.
Photos sold through Foap cost $10, and you receive $5 each time one sells.
If you’re already taking photos with your phone, as most people do, this is a really easy way to make some extra cash.
This popular app has been featured by major news outlets and publications like ABC News, CNN, BBC, and The New York Times.
Payments are sent via PayPal.
Download link:
8. Ipsos i-Say
8. Ipsos i-Say
With the Ipsos i-Say app, you get paid for sharing your opinion. It’s as simple as that.
Using the app, you can take surveys anytime.
You get access to exclusive mobile surveys and instant survey notifications.
When you take surveys, you earn rewards, which you can redeem for gift cards.
Download link:
9. MobileXpression
MobileXpression is another market research panel app that rewards you.
MobileXpression is a research panel that focuses on studying the trends and behaviors of people using the internet from their mobiles.
If you become an active member of the panel, you can earn rewards.
Download link:
10. Rakuten
More and more people are choosing to shop from their mobile phones, so why not make some money from it?
And when it comes to it, Rakuten is one of the best cashback sites out there.
Shopping through Rakuten can earn you between 1% and 20%, and in some cases, up to 40% cashback.
Using the app, you can shop at 2,000 participating retailers.
And if you invite your friends to use the app, you can earn even more!
For referring a friend, you earn $25.
As an added bonus, you get a $10 Walmart gift card just for signing up!
Download link:
11. Mobee
Mobee is a mystery shopping app.
It pays you to shop and dine at a variety of establishments.
All you need to do is provide feedback to the businesses you visit, and you earn rewards.
The app is incredibly easy to use, and you get to choose which business you visit.
The Mobee app features a map displaying thousands of retailers and restaurants across the United States. You choose the one you want to visit, or a “mission,” as the app calls it.
Once you’ve chosen your mission, all you need to do is answer a few easy questions as you shop or eat.
You earn points for doing this, which you can redeem for gift cards, goods, or cash.
Download link:
12. Google Opinion Rewards
A great Android app that makes you money is Google Opinion Rewards.
It’s a survey app that essentially pays you to share your opinion.
To start earning, download and install the app, then answer a few basic questions about yourself.
Once you’ve done that, the app sends you surveys—on average, surveys are sent once per week, but you could receive them more or less frequently.
The surveys are super simple, so they don’t take long to complete.
You are rewarded with Google Play Credit.
Download link:
13. Receipt Hog
Wanna shop and get paid for it?
This app is for you!
You earn rewards by taking pictures of your receipts.
Receipt Hog is similar to iBotta but with one major advantage. iBotta only rewards you when you shop at certain stores, but with Receipt Hog, you earn rewards for shopping anywhere.
And that’s a major plus.
Imagine how quickly you can rack up points just from your normal daily shopping receipts—gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants are some of the places most of us buy from almost every day.
Download link:
Updates
The apps listed below were part of the original post. Unfortunately, they have since shut down. We are keeping them in this section for archival reasons.
Money Machine
With the Money Machine app, you could earn points for completing simple tasks, like downloading apps and watching videos.
If you invited your friends to use the app, you could earn extra points.
Once you earned enough points, you could redeem them for cash via PayPal.
Tap Cash Rewards
Wouldn’t it be great if you could get paid just for trying free apps and games, and watching videos?
With Tap Cash Rewards, all you had to do was download the apps and games it featured, and run them.
In return, you earned credits, which you could redeem for cash via PayPal or gift cards for places like Amazon, Target, and Google Play.
Logging in daily earned you bonus credits, and inviting friends to Tap Cash Rewards gave you even more.
Clashot
Clashot was a similar app to Foap.
With it, you could earn money from your photographs.
All you needed to do was download and install the app, then upload your photos.
After approval, your photo would be available for sale to millions of buyers. When it sold, you earned a commission. Payments could be withdrawn via PayPal or Skrill.
The best part? You could sell your photos unlimited times, earning money over and over from the same photo.
Loot
Loot was one of the most interesting apps that paid users for sharing and creating content for brands.
By working as a micro-endorser for brands, you could take photos of the products you used and share them on platforms like Twitter and Facebook to earn rewards.
iPoll
If you enjoyed giving your opinion, iPoll was a great app.
It rewarded users with cash, gift cards, and other perks for participating in surveys. You could also earn money for completing missions, such as visiting stores and taking photos.
Smart Panel
If you were looking for an easy way to make money using your phone, Smart Panel was a great choice.
After qualifying through a questionnaire and installing the app, you earned $5 just for signing up. Each month the app remained active on your device, you earned an additional $5. Loyal users even received a bonus every three months.
Rewards could be redeemed for cash via PayPal or Amazon gift cards.
Bitwalking
Bitwalking was a unique app that rewarded users for walking.
For every step you took, you earned “Walking Dollars,” which could be spent in the Bitwalking store. However, this feature was somewhat limited compared to other apps.
ScreenPay
ScreenPay paid Android users to display personalized deals and promotions on their lock screen.
If you liked a deal, you could drag the circle to the ScreenPay logo to explore it further. If not, unlocking your phone functioned as usual.
Payments were issued via PayPal.
SlideJoy
SlideJoy, similar to Fronto, displayed cards on your lock screen containing promotions or news articles.
Engage with the cards by swiping left for more details, or simply swipe right to unlock your phone as normal. Payments could be redeemed via PayPal or donated to charity.
AdMe
AdMe paid users for displaying ads on their lock screen, offering a simple way to make money from your phone.
Once you earned $10, you could withdraw your funds via PayPal.
Fronto
Fronto allowed users to earn money by swiping their lock screen. It displayed articles and promotions on the lock screen.
Users earned points, which could be redeemed for cash via PayPal or Amazon gift cards.
Perk
Perk was a Swagbucks alternative, rewarding users with “Perk Points” for:
- Watching trailers via Perk TV
- Taking pop quizzes
- Shopping online
- Downloading apps via Perk Screen
- Searching with Perk Search
- Watching videos
Points could be redeemed for PayPal cash or gift cards for stores like Amazon and Starbucks.
The Bottom Line
Like most people, you probably already spend a lot of time on your phone, so why not turn some of that time into cash?
With these apps, you can easily make some money to put towards a weekend getaway or simply boost your savings.
Feel free to leave a comment below if you know of any other apps that help you make money!
This is a very interesting list here, some of the apps look very familiar because they are survey sites that I’ve used to work with but I never knew that they had an app.
I used Perk quite a lot a while back since they have a lot of different apps to get points, even an app for watching videos. Sadly overtime the amount of points given out seems to be getting less. I was always a fan of Swagbucks too but I’ve never used the app xD