How much time per day do you spend looking at your phone? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could learn how to make money from your phone and get paid for the time you spend using it?
- Inbox Dollars - Get paid to check your email. $5 bonus just for signing up!
- Survey Junkie - The #1 survey site that doesn't suck. Short surveys, high payouts, simply the best.
- Nielsen - Download their app and get paid $50!
I’ve done a little bit of digging to find some cool apps that make you money.
With a little bit of work, you could stop watching Instagram stories of exotic locations and start posting some of your own.
How to Make Money on Your Phone: 17 Different Ideas to Try Out
The ideas below will help you make money from your phone by watching videos, surfing the web, taking pictures, etc.
Sign up for everything that looks appealing! The more apps you download, the more money you can make!
1. Get paid to surf the web and watch videos
Swagbucks is an absolute MUST join and you get $5.00 simply for signing up!
This site offers a smartphone app that enables you to earn Swagbucks (SB) for watching videos, answering surveys, and completing merchant offers.
You can also surf the Web using the Swagbucks toolbar and win additional SB. Once you have at least 300 SB, you can trade them in for Paypal payouts (or gift cards if you prefer).
2. Make $50 by downloading an app
Get a whopping $50 just to download the Nielsen app.
They currently are offering a $5 bonus on top of the $50 you get paid, making the total you can earn here $55!
You’ve likely heard of Nielsen in the past. You know when you hear of a TV show being canceled or renewed for a new season due to ratings?
Well, Nielsen is the company that assigns the ratings to TV shows.
They do this by tracking what their users watch. The more people watching a show, the better the chances are at renewal. If no one is watching, it will probably get canned.
They are expanding into new areas and want to know how people are using their phones.
As a thank you for helping them out, you’ll get paid $50 just to download their app.
It’s non-invasive and how you use your phone will help shape a lot of trends in pop culture.
Pretty cool, yeah?
3. Get paid to submit your receipts
Ibotta Special offer: Get a special $10 welcome bonus when you create your account!
Ibotta was one of the first rebate apps on the market and offers cashback on grocery, apparel, electronics, restaurant, pet, etc. purchases.
The rebate amounts are fairly high (as much as $1.50) and work across a number of stores.
Many qualifying rebates are brand-independent (e.g., $0.50 off any orange juice), while others require that you purchase a given brand at a certain store.
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4. Answer questions and make money from your phone
VIP Voice pays you CASH to answer questions about famous brands.
Plus, they’ll drop money in your account just for signing up.
The more questions you answer, the more money you can make!
5. Invest your spare change
Acorns is an app that offers a cool opportunity that will allow you to start investing your money without even realizing it.
Let’s say you head to Starbucks and buy a latte. The price comes out to $5.25.
Acorns will round up your purchase to $6.00 and take that extra 75 cents and invest it for you.
It’s an incredibly easy way to start saving money and building towards your future. They also recently started offering cash-back on purchases at most major retailers. Now you get your spare change invested, and a little extra.
Plus, you get $5.00 just for creating an account. Win-win.
6. Watch videos
InboxDollars pays you to watch videos on your phone.
It literally does not get any easier than this. Load up the videos you want to watch and your earnings will continue to grow with them.
Cash out to PayPal or in gift cards when you’re ready.
If you were wondering if they have a signup bonus as well, you’re in luck because $5.00 is yours for the taking.
7. Visit stores and mystery shop
Field Agent has you earning money by completing tasks such as checking store displays, taking photos of grocery shelves, finding specific store products, and going through checkout.
You can complete jobs and make money on your phone at almost any major retailer. The assigned job must be completed in a given amount of hours.
Payouts are made via PayPal.
8. Run errands while on your phone
GigWalk is a mobile app that offers you paid tasks while you’re on the go.
These tasks are geo-focused on your specific location and might include checking a street sign, verifying a transportation option, or examining a landmark.
You can make money from home and it doesn't have to be challenging. Click here to see how.
After you apply for an assignment and complete it, your payment is sent to your PayPal account.
Once you prove your worth as a Gigwalker, you’ll be sent higher-paying (i.e., hundred-dollar) assignments.
9. Sell your photos and videos
You likely have a few thousand photos on your device. Here’s how you can make money from your phone and its giant photo gallery.
Upload photos on Foap app and they will pay you $5 a pop every time someone wants to use one of them.
Foap connects publishers with creators and you can make some decent money just by sharing access to your photos.
Keep in mind that simple candids of your cat likely aren’t going to fetch anything, but more creative shots showcasing interesting sights can definitely pull in extra money for you.
10. Test out new products
Survey Junkie is one of the oldest and most reputable survey companies online making this one of the easiest ways to make money from your phone.
You can get to try out new products before they ever hit the shelves.
Answer a few short questions about them and help the company shape the future of their product lines.
You can get paid directly to your PayPal account or cash in your rewards for gift cards.
11. Answer (more) questions
1Q pays you $0.25 or $0.50 for every question you receive and answer in a set amount of time.
You’ll receive a notification that a new set of questions is available to be answered.
For example, you might be asked how many times in the last week you used a foot moisturizing cream.
The number of questions you receive depends on your demographics and geographic location.
Payments are sent to your PayPal account.
12. Make money from your phone by testing websites and apps
Companies will pay you to test their apps before they launch through the UserTesting app.
You do need to successfully complete a sample test with this company, but once that’s done, you’ll be earning $10 for each app you download, test, and review (via voice recording) for UserTesting.
13. Do almost anything and get paid
Earnably pays you for seemingly random things: listening to the radio, completing surveys, viewing videos, and completing online offers.
What’s especially beneficial with Earnably is that the site pays you bonuses and increases your payout options as you advance on the site.
It takes just $2 in collected earnings before you can request a payout through PayPal or a gift card.
14. Listen to new music
SliceThePie allows you to check out new music and get paid for giving your opinions on it.
If you have time to kill and like listening to new bands, this app is absolutely perfect.
There are other ways to get paid to listen to music, but they might involve having to be on your computer.
15. Download free gift card apps
There are apps that you can download on your phone that pay you in gift cards for doing various tasks.
I say “tasks” but some of these involve playing games on your phone.
Go through our list of recommended apps, download a couple, and start earning.
16. Get paid to lose weight
Losing weight is usually a solitary endeavor, but what if you can bet on your success and compete with hundreds of other app users?
DietBet is an app that gives you the financial motivation to lose weight.
It hosts games where participants wager a bet on who can lose 4% of their body weight by the end of the competition period. DietBet keeps a percentage of the pot, but all participants who lose the required percentage split the rest.
Here are other options to get paid to lose weight.
17. Take care of other people’s pets
How to make money on your phone by playing with dogs?
Rover is the answer!
Rover connects pet owners with pet lovers who can take care of their pets while they’re away.
With Rover, you can walk dogs, take care of them during the day in your house, stay with the dogs in their house, or even board the dogs overnight for pet owners.
Providing a safe place for someone else’s pet can be rewarding and lucrative.
Final Thoughts About Making Money from Your Phone
Let’s be real.
You aren’t going to get rich by making money from your phone.
At best, you have the opportunity to bring in some extra cash while you sit on the couch and ignore The Office as it runs in the background.
If you’re looking for more serious ways of making money, I would suggest you look into a work from home job, or browse this list of passive income ideas for ways you can make money even while you sleep.
Do you know of other money-making mobile apps? Share it with us in the comments below.
Awesome post and Lots of great information. thank you for sharing this list of money making resources. We have no excuse nowadays, given that there are so many opportunities to make some extra cash and the beauty of your suggestions is that most of them can be done online.
The nielson suggestion only pays $5, not $50. Ibotta is a pain to have to search for specific products from specific stores, only to get 10 cents back which you cannot cash out until $20 is reached. Along with the $10 sign up bonus (after completing 8 offers, not all on the same receipt), it’s not worth it.
Incorrect. Nielsen pays out $50 per year to install their app. The $5 offer is a bonus ON TOP of the $50. As for ibotta, it’s free money. Hardly something worth complaining about.
you know there is a lot of ways to earn money and your article is cool one. Moreover, nowadays it is really popular to earn via Instagram and I think it is the best way. We can sell something and get money for it on social networks.
Steve, I love side hustling and you picked some great things I haven’t tried. These things sound even easier than the side hustles I’ve tried also. I’ve tried mystery shopping, but my first (and only) time doing it didn’t work out for me. I’ll have to try some of the things you listed.
Right on Tiffany! These are more geared towards fun things you can do in your spare time to pick up some extra cash.
You have got to be kidding. I never realized there were so many things you could do with your smart phone to make money.
I have done some mystery shopping in the past but it looks like mystery shopping is changing now with the wide use of smart phones.
There are some great ideas here but I’m not sure I want to tell my teenagers about them as I will never get them off their phones then.
Thank you though. This is amazing and I am going to save your website to my favorites.
Glad to have helped Rick! These are all nice, easy ideas to make a little bit of cash on the side. Nothing life changing, but some money is better than no money!
Great information for earning some extra bucks by using the mobile phone. I’ve also tried some of them. They are legit. Though one cannot make good amount for a decent living, yet these can help you to make some small amount which are really helpful. Swagbucks is really best and one can earn redeemable points doing various tasks.
Thanks for the information
For sure! None of the above programs are going to make you rich, but it could earn you some extra cash in your spare time and that sure beats playing another level of Candy Crush.
I use my smartphone for 10-12 hrs a day and didn’t know that I can use it to earn some quick money.
Thanks for writing this article. Joined Swagbucks – let’s see how it goes.
Really great post. I love to use my phone for making money, extremely easy. I just started SwagBucks and I love it. Thanks
Thank for sharing this information about how make money from your phone. I agree most people are using their cell phones for a lot of activities now day. I realize there were apps to making money, but not with your cell phone. You have really peek my interest in some of the ideas you providing in your article.
I’ve been a member of Swagbucks, but I really haven’t use this app for making money. I think now is the time to change my mindset. I’ve bookmark your website for future references. Thank for great article.
I know I waste a lot of time on my phone, so there are a few good opportunities listed above to transform that idle, mindless time into something that could bring in a little extra money.
Hi there,
Awesome post and very informative. We have no excuse nowadays, given that there are so many opportunities to make some extra cash and the beauty of your suggestions is that most of them can be done online. The online business is getting more and more popular these days, sometimes we don’t know where to begin. Well done, can you say if some of those online tasks are available in my country, ( Ireland ), please.
Thanks again for a great post
Cheers…Phil Browne
Wow there are tons of options here. I tried out a couple and found they’re not good for the area I’m living in. I guess that’s a huge factor in determining how/if you can make money with these! I wish I lived in a more populated area so I could benefit from this. Thanks anyway!
Wow, I had no idea there were so many ways to make money using your smartphone. Too bad I don’t have one! Do you think someone could make a full time income doing these things? Or is it more of just an extra cash gig? I would assume that for many of these you would have to live in a city. Is the return on time investment good for these apps? Like would the amount of time it takes you to do them be worth the money you make?
These are definitely not full-time income opportunities, but rather something you can do in your downtime instead of playing Candy Crush or the like.
Wow Steve,
thank you for sharing this list of money making resources. I knew of only one, Swag Bucks. Never knew other others even existed. I’ll have to do some further research on them to see which ones I’ll try out. I’m always look-out for good money making opportunities. Thanks again for your info.
Jerome
Sure thing Jerome! Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment!
Lots of great information. There’s so many apps now days that you could make money from. This article helps people looking to make extra income. I’m always looking for ways to make more income. I ‘ve sold online on ebay, poshmark, and etsy. Now I’m blogging about my experience. I need to make more money!!
Thank you for writing this interesting article! I had no idea that there were so many ways to make extra money with my phone! I’m beginning to make plans for long term travel, and while I do have money saved, it would be helpful to generate a little bit of extra cash here and there. Your post gave me a lot of ideas and something to consider as I continue making plans!
Sure thing Audrey! Always glad to help. I do wish you safe travels.