Yes, it’s really possible to make some extra money fast by spending a few minutes on something that you use daily – your smartphone. With the right money-making apps, you can take surveys, shop in selected stores, snap pictures, play games, or view ads while watching tv or lounging with friends.
You may not make enough money to quit your 9-5 job, but you can supplement your income, fund a vacation or cover some bills with little effort. After all, every dollar counts.
There are tons of money-making apps to suit all sorts of interests, personalities, and lifestyles which make the process of finding the right one daunting.
To make your job easier, we have road-tested and rounded up the best money making apps to earn a passive income.
Earn Extra Cash With Survey Apps
1. Swagbucks
Starting us off is Swagbucks, a popular name in the rewards program field and by far, America’s favorite money-making app. Swagbucks lets you take surveys, play games, watch videos or shop online and earn Swagbucks points.
You can then redeem the accrued points to cash or gift cards. The cashing out threshold is $25 (2500 SB points). After signing up, which is pretty easy, you will receive a $10 sign-up bonus and begin participating in surveys and sharing your opinions online.
The app gives access to several paid survey opportunities from top organizations every day. To learn more about Swagbucks read our review here.
2. Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie is another legitimate app that lets you make money by sharing your opinion. By sharing your opinion on a brand, you will help them deliver better products or services. The app is easy to sign up for and 100 percent free.
It takes less than a minute to sign up and start taking surveys on your smartphone. Compared to other apps in this list, Survey Junkie lets you make money in the least amount of time.
Some surveys in this app will take you under 5 minutes to complete, and you can earn up to $50 per survey. After completing a survey, you earn points.
The points are converted to cash. You can choose to be paid by either Amazon Gift Card or PayPal. To receive a payout, you need to accumulate points equivalent to $10.
Making Money Shopping Online
3. Ibotta
Online shopping has been around for some years now. Unlike other best money-making apps, Ibotta works differently.
It makes shopping fun by giving your money back after making everyday purchases through the app. Yes, you read that right. You can earn some dollars as you shop.
Here’s how it works: before you dine out, travel or shop, check the app. After shopping, snap a pic of your receipt, and the app will refund you the cash.
Ibotta collaborates with your favorite retailers to provide you with fantastic cash-back deals on your smartphone. Notable mentions include eBay, Best Buy, and Safeway.
4. Rakuten
This app works like Ibotta – it awards users up to 40 percent cash back. Rakuten made it to our list of the best money-making apps as it has a whopping 2500+ partner merchants including big names like Amazon and Walmart. The many participating stores mean that you are sure to make some cool money using the app.
The app offers a $10 bonus when you make your first purchase. You can set the app to receive notifications when new coupons become available.
Here is how the app works: when you pick a particular product, the app will suggest to you stores selling the same item and the amount of cash back you are likely to receive from the stores. Ebates is available for both Android and Apple users.
5. Paribus
With Paribus you shop online like you usually do and then Paribus alerts you if you're eligible to get money back. The app analyzes your purchase history and then tracks the prices of the items you bought.
If the price of any item you bought goes down, Paribus informs you and gets a refund for you from the store. The app currently only works with certain online retailers like Target, Walmart, Amazon, and more.
6. National Consumer Panel
Earn points for sharing your shopping opinions. Use your phone to scan barcodes, share your shopping data and redeem your points for gifts and sweepstakes entries. NCP then submits your data to companies that want to know what consumers think about their products.
7. I-Say
Share your opinion about brands and advertising to earn gift cards for your opinion. This app is available to both Android and Apple users. I-Say gives you surveys on various topics, and you get paid for sharing your opinions. You can cash out when you reach 500 points ($5 PayPal money or various gift cards).
8. I Secret Shop
Work as an independent contractor doing secret shopping. This job board lets you look for mystery shopping opportunities that suit you. I Secret Shop is available for both Android and Apple users. You can get paid to shop and dine out, or to do some in-depth online mystery shopping.
9. Top Cach Back
The Top Cash Back app is similar to Ebates, you go to their site, find the online store where you want to shop and click through to make your purchase. This app offers a $10 bonus for signing up and another $10 for each friend you refer.
Making Money To Complete Tasks
10. Money App
Just as the name aptly puts it, Money App is a market research app that pays you for completing simple tasks online. Tasks can include
- playing games,
- offering opinions,
- mystery shopping,
- checking out store displays,
- taking part in free trials,
- and testing services.
Once you complete a task, you earn rewards that can later be converted to cash via PayPal. Unlike other money-making apps in this list, the Money App can pay within 2-3 working days of redeeming rewards.
Most apps take up to a month to pay out users.
11. Shopkick
With Shop Kick you can earn points, in stores or online by doing things like walking into stores, scanning barcodes, browsing online, or making purchases. Points can be redeemed for digital gift cards from retailers like Walmart, Amazon, and Target or for real-world rewards like free Starbucks coffee, Free iTunes gift cards, and more.
12. Field Agent
You act as a mystery shopper with the Feild Agent app, earning money by completing tasks, things like checking the price on an item at a store, or taking a photo of a store display.
You select tasks in the app, and you have two hours to complete it once you claim the task. Earnings can be sent to your bank account or Dwolla.
13. Mobee
With Mobee you search the map to find missions near your location. Answer a few questions after you arrive at the location you have selected and earn rewards that can be redeemed for gift cards and prizes.
14. Gigwalker
Sign up for Gigs through the map or Gig List. Once you're accepted, you follow the instructions and submit your work in the app. Work where you want and when you want.
Earn Extra Money For Watching Videos
15. Cash For Apps
Cash For Apps is a simple to use app that pays you to install apps. Crazy, right? Yes, it’s crazy awesome.
You install the apps advertised on the app’s offer wall, and once you are credited points, you can delete the installed apps, pretty easy huh? 300 points get you a dollar.
You can exchange the earned points for gift cards for stores like eBay, Amazon, Starbucks, and Target to mention a few.
You can make some extra points by referring your friends. Cash For Apps is available on both Android and iOS platforms.
16. Viggle
Viggle lets you earn points for watching tv or live streaming videos, the longer you watch, the more you earn. Points badges allow you to earn bonus points. Choose from over 800 gift card options when you redeem your points.
17. Appdango
You have to love this money making app. Appdango rewards you just for trying out cool apps. Most apps require you to download them and leave them on your phone for a few hours to receive credit.
Redeem your rewards for gift cards from places like Itunes, Amazon, and Target.
18. Checkpoints
Checkpoints lets you earn gift cards from Walmart, Target, Amazon, and many more. Watch videos, take quizzes, shop online, earn rewards, and qualify for giveaways.
Apps That Let You Earn Money To Snap A Photo
19. Receipt Hog
Receipt Hog lets you earn rewards and cash back for your purchases. Take a photo of your receipt after you make a purchase.
You earn virtual coins that you can redeem for Amazon gift cards or cash through a PayPal account.
20. Easy Shift
This money making app lets you snap pictures of products, check prices, and review promotions to get fast, automatic payments through a PayPal account.
Also, don’t worry about finding shifts that work for you – the app will populate a list of nearby shifts that you can choose from.
To sign up, download the app and use your smartphone’s camera to take pictures of products and promotional displays at participating stores. You can also check prices and scan barcodes to see if there are any offers available.
21. We Go Look
Help individuals and businesses validate the information by inspecting, assessing, documenting, and delivering. At We Go Look you get paid to look. I've never done this but it seems like it could be a fun gig.
Related: The 9 Best Apps To Sell Photos
Fitness Apps To Earn Extra Money
22. Sweatcoin
Link your phone’s GPS to Sweatcoin and the app will start tracking your steps. For every 1,000 steps you take, you earn .95 “sweatcoins,” and they can be redeemed for fitness gear, classes, or cash.
You can even purchase high-tech shoes, iPhones, and Apple Watches with your coins.
23. Wag
The perfect app for dog lovers who want to make some money. Download the Wag app and start earning income while walking and house-sitting for your furry friends.
24. Evidation
Get paid for doing healthy things! You can make money for tracking steps, sleep, meals, tweets & more! Sign up for free.
Related: Get Paid To Lose Weight
Apps That Pay You To Play A Game
25. ESPN Streak
This money making app lets sports fans compete to win their share of the $450,000 in prizes. Pick winners from dozens of different sports from around the world.
Earn Money With Passive Income Apps
26. Nielsen Computer And Mobile Panel
Answer a few quick questions when you sign up for the Nielsen app, install the app, and start earning rewards. The app is safe and secure to all of your registered devices.
It won't impact the performance of your devices, and it's noninvasive. Earn even more rewards by downloading the app to multiple devices and staying with Nielsen longterm.
Expect to earn around $50 per year in passive income for each device. How easy is that?
27. Savvy Connect
Earn around $60 per year for leaving this app installed on one device, install on multiple devices to earn more. Savvy Connect pays you just for surfing the internet. Your data is completely protected with the Savvy app.
Earn Cash To Unlock Your Phone
28. Smore
The Smore app pays a flat rate of $.10 per day whether you engage with the ads or not. If you don't spend much time on your phone, the Smore app is definitely for you.
Earn Money With Freelancing Apps
29. Fiverr
Fiverr is an app that lets you sell your services for $5. You can offer a wide range of services on the app, and there are always buyers looking for new and interesting services to try.
To get started, create a Gig on the app and describe what service you’re offering. Once you complete a Gig, you’ll receive a positive review from the buyer, which will help you attract more buyers in the future.
30. Upwork
Upwork is a freelancing platform that lets you offer your services to businesses and individuals around the world. You can create a profile on the app and start bidding on projects that interest you.
If you win a project, you’ll be able to work on it and get paid directly through the app. Upwork takes a percentage of your earnings as a service fee, but you can withdraw your money to your bank account at any time.
31. Uber App
Uber is a ridesharing app that lets you earn money by giving people rides in your spare time. To get started, sign up to drive on the app and start picking up passengers in your area.
You’ll earn money for each ride you give, and you can cash out your earnings to your PayPal account at any time. The Uber app is available in the Google play store and the ios app store.
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Conclusion
If you are ready to start earning some cash on the side to pad your budget, you know how to get started. Pick one or two money-making apps that fit you and your needs to start earning real cash today!
All the apps in our best money making apps list above are very simple to use, and they can easily fit into your daily life. If you enjoyed reading this article, you might like this list of ideas to make free money.
They will be forever grateful to you for introducing them to a new and easy way of making money online through apps.
Have you tried using any of the above apps? Have you tried one of our best delivery app jobs? Did we forget to mention an awesome money making app on our list? Let us and other readers know by sharing your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.