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How I Make Money with Apps That Pay You Real Money (And so can you!)

Best apps to make money fast on your iphone or android! Do you need ways to make money fast on your phone? These apps are perfect for earning extra cash or even starting a serious side hustle! #waystomakemoney #makemoneyonline

Want an easy way to earn extra money? We’ve got the best apps that pay you real money to help you upgrade your wallet!  

If your days are anything like mine, you spend a lot of time waiting…in the car pick-up line, sports practice, or waiting for your grocery pick-up.

And you know how I spend that time? Usually on my phone…browsing Facebook, feeling a slight bit of jealousy as I scroll through all the insta-worthy family photos or play games.

While it’s nice to have some downtime, wouldn’t it be great if you could turn all those hours into extra cash just by using your phone?

That’s why I’ve been doing some research to find the best money-making apps that actually pay.

I’ve put together a list of apps that pay you through Paypal, Amazon gift cards, or cash back from your purchases.

Whether you’re looking for iPhone apps that pay you money or Android apps that let you earn extra money, this is a complete list of the best apps that pay you real money!

Apps that Pay You Real Money

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I’ve found 20 of the very best money-making apps that you can download and start earning extra money via gift cards or Paypal cash.

Here’s what you need to know about making money with apps…this should be considered extra money, not money that can pay your rent or your mortgage. I make between $50 – $100 per month in extra cash and gift cards from taking surveys, playing videos, and using these apps.

It’s not a lot of money, but over time that money can really add up! Imagine having $600 – $1000 of extra money at the end of the year. You could use that money to pay for Christmas, start a savings account that earns you interest, or invest that money to start a business! ????

PRO TIP: One of my favorite ways to earn extra cash without doing anything is to join apps that pay you for signing up! Cashing in on bonuses is a great way to get some extra money in your pocket fast.

Best Apps to Make Money Fast

Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie is one of my favorite ways to make money with surveys.

The app makes it super easy to sign in and take surveys where ever you go…waiting at practice, the car pick-up line, you know…all the places we end up waiting our life away.

You can earn points even if you don’t qualify for the surveys. The surveys that you do qualify for pay well, and when you reach $20, you can cash out to a Paypal account.

Nielsen App

Are there really apps that pay you to have them installed on your phone? Yes!

The Nielsen app is the same company that tracks TV ratings, and they are interested in finding out how much time people are spending online.

They want to pay you to download their app to your phone, and that’s all you have to do!

Talk about passive income that’s easy!

Swagbucks

What are Swagbucks?

Swagbucks are points that you earn from taking surveys, completing tasks, playing games, watching TV, and shopping.

Turn your points in for cash or a gift card to your favorite online stores.

Join now and get a $10 bonus just for signing up!

Check out this savvy Swagbucks user…

MyPoints

MyPoints is another app that pays you to make money just for signing up. You can earn a $10 bonus just for downloading the app to your phone.

Then make money by shopping like normal. Start from the MyPoints app and click your favorite retailer. Earn points for shopping and trade them for gift cards or Paypal cash.

InBox Dollars

Remember back in the day when you would either play Minesweeper or Solitaire ♠️?

You can actually get paid to play games with Inbox Dollars!

You won’t become a millionaire with these games, but you can earn a couple of hundred dollars throughout the year by opening emails, playing games, and taking surveys. It can take a while to earn, and in my experience, most surveys don’t pay as much as my favorite survey company. If you’re killing time anyway, it doesn’t hurt to make a few bucks!

Inbox Dollars will give you a $5 Bonus just for joining!

Pinecone Research

Pinecone Research has one of the best payouts because every survey has a flat rate of $3 per survey. It’s easy to use and they are pretty good about matching you to surveys that align with your interests.

I think the payout for Pinecone Research makes it one of those survey apps that are worth your time.

QuickThoughts

QuickThoughts is a fun app that lets you share your opinion, earn rewards, and do local missions for free iTunes gift cards.

Each survey earns up to $3, and local missions earn up to $5.

Have fun, share your opinions, and get rewarded! 

Top Cash Back Apps

Rakuten

Ebates will help you save money with online shopping at your favorite retailers.

All you have to do is log in to Rakuten (formerly Ebates) and click through the site you want to shop. You can earn between 1% – 12% cash back on your purchase, depending on where you shop.

Ebates also has a pretty amazing referral system that allows you to earn $25 per friend that you refer! They also do special incentives that let you earn even more.

Check out these tips and tricks for earning more with Rakuten.

Ibotta

Get cash back on your groceries? Yes, please!

Now you can save even more on groceries without having to use coupons. Just scan your items and take a picture of your receipt. Then download it to the Ibotta app to earn cash back on your groceries.

Ibotta offers a bonus for signing up!

You can cash out when you reach $20 to gift cards or directly to Paypal!

Find out all the ways you can earn with Ibotta.

Paribus

Paribus (now a part of Capital One Shopping) wants to get you a refund on your online purchases.

Paribus searches your email to find price drops of your recent purchases. Then they request a refund from the stores to get you the refund.

It’s so nice because once you have Paribus set up, you don’t have to do anything else to get the refund. Paribus does the work for you and is 100% free! 

Start getting refunds on your online purchases, and sign up now for Paribus!

Get the details about Paribus in this review.

App that Pays You to Exercise

HealthyWage

Is there really an app that pays you to exercise? Make money and lose weight…sign me up!

HealthyWage is a new app that pays you to walk, exercise, and get healthy!

Everybody who wants to lose weight usually starts out motivated, and then after a week or two you’re back to your old habits.

But betting on yourself to lose weight is a simple way to stay motivated and earn easy extra money!

I just filled out the initial calculator to see how much money I could earn for losing weight. I had to lose 10% of my body weight over 6 months and bet $30 per month with the potential to earn $20 at the end of the challenge. That’s an 11% return on the money I would invest! You can calculate your own bet here.

Shopkick

Can you really make money just walking into a store?

Shopkick is an app that pays you to walk into stores. That’s it! It’s one of the easiest money-making apps to use.

You can also earn points for scanning items in the store, and scanning your receipts, and some purchases count towards points.

You can cash out your points for Target Gift Cards, Amazon Gift Cards, and Paypal cash.

When my kids were younger, we would need to get out of the house and get some energy out. I had just found the Shopkick app, so I decided to take the kids to a mall that is about 5 minutes from our house. We would go early in the morning and walk around the entire mall. Every time we walked passed a store that is on Shopkick, we would earn points! I ended up using all those points to help pay for our Christmas that year.

Highest Paying Apps that Pay You to Do Small Tasks

These are some of the highest-paying apps that you can use to earn money from your phone.

UberEats

UberEats is becoming one of the most popular ways to earn money from your phone. It’s a flexible job that you can work around your busy schedule. Choose to work while the kids are in school, at night, on the weekends, basically whenever it is convenient for you.

In your downtime between deliveries, you can take a few surveys while you’re waiting for the next delivery.

You decided how much you want to work, choose to take the next delivery or take off for a few hours. It’s totally flexible and up to you!

Get paid to deliver food and earn a tip after your delivery.

See how this busy mom made UberEats work for here…

Lyft

Earn a $300 Bonus! when you sign up to drive with Lyft.

Need a ride to the airport? Need a ride home from the game? Who are you gonna call?

Probably a Lyft driver! Driving for Lyft has become one of the best ways to make extra money because it is a flexible job that can be done around your schedule.

As long as you live in a busy area, there should be plenty of work available.

Right now, new drivers with Lyft can take advantage of their latest promotion that allows you to earn a $300 bonus when you complete your 100th drive

Instacart

Do you love shopping?

Instacart is a flexible job you can do from your smartphone.

Accept a shopping gig and head to the store to fill the order. Some Instacart shoppers have said that filling the order is kind of like playing a game. You’re trying to find the items on the list as fast as possible, checkout, and deliver the order to the customer’s home.

Most people earn about $15 per hour, which is based on factors like drive time, delivery, number of items purchased, and tip.

Decluttr

Decluttr is one of the best money-making apps for selling your electronics, DVDs, CDs, Blu-Rays, video games, consoles, and other electronics.

It literally doesn’t get any easier than selling online with Decluttr. All you have to do is scan the barcode of the items you want to sell, and Decluttr will give you an instant cash price.

You know upfront how much you can get with the items without worrying about listing fees, auctions, or shipping fees.

When you’re ready to send off all your items to Decluttr, they will send you a prepaid shipping box. It really is so easy to use!

One of the things I like best about Decluttr is that they give you that instant price upfront. So you can be a savvy seller and choose to sell on eBay or other auction sites if you think you can get more or decide to be done with the junk and get it out of the house.

Poshmark

Do you have a closet overflowing with name-brand clothes?

Clean out your closet and start selling clothes, shoes, and accessories on Poshmark. You can do everything from your phone, including taking pictures, posting to Poshmark, and selling your items.

Poshmark is kind of its own little world. So you have to spend some time learning how to take really good pictures of your clothes, how to make posts that create sales, and how to grow your business.

If fashion and shopping are kinda you’re thing, then you could do really well-selling items on Poshmark!

More Apps that Make Money

There are so many ways to make money with apps on your smartphone. You can make a few extra bucks for a serious side hustle, depending on which apps you use to make money.

Your best bet is to try out a few different apps and find the ones that work best for your schedule. Then stay consistent with the apps that you use. The more consistent you are, the better chances you will have of making money, especially when it comes to surveys. Survey companies tend to reward regular users with better-paying surveys.

I’d love to know what apps you are using to make money with your smartphone!

What are your favorite apps that pay real money?

SmartCents Mom