From companies looking for data to available rebates on grocery purchases, you could be making money via your cell phone with very little effort on your part.
Many apps offer a few dollars here and there in exchange for completing simple tasks like surveys.
Instead of playing Candy Crush Saga all afternoon, check out these ideas for using your phone to make a few extra dollars in your free time!
Sell Your Photos
Almost everyone loves to take pictures with smartphones. Why not make money on something you’re already doing? The app Foap lets you sell your photos for money. You get $5 each time someone buys a photo of yours, and you can sell them as many times as you want. Think about how many pictures you see online each day; most of those are stock photos that the company bought. Who knows? You could make a killing on some seriously adorable cat pictures!
Get Rebates on Groceries
The app Ibotta offers hundreds of grocery rebates at most popular grocery stores across the country. You simply click on the rebates you want to redeem (sometimes you watch a video or answer a survey question, but usually it just has you scroll through a recipe or some information), then go shopping. Once you’ve checked out, use your camera to scan the barcodes of the products you bought, take a picture of your receipt, and get cash from Ibotta.
You have to reach $15 or $20 before you can get a gift card or cash out via PayPal, but given the wide number of rebates available (and they change regularly), it’s not hard to hit that number, especially if you’re shopping for your whole family. Make sure you have a phone with a high-resolution camera, like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with its 16MP back camera, for accurate bar code recognition.
Take Surveys
Some survey apps give you points to take surveys, but Surveys on the Go offers you cash instead. Many Fortune 500 companies and entertainment companies want opinions, and the Surveys on the Go app lets you answer simple surveys for a cash value. New surveys are available a few times a month, and the app protects your information. You’ll answer questions about television shows, shopping experiences, and more.
Visit Places
Several apps will give you cash for visiting places and verifying information. Download the GigWalk app to take on small jobs around your city. They usually have to do with verifying information or checking something out for a retailer. The app displays a map of your area with available gigs and how much they pay. If you have some extra time on nights and weekends, want to make extra cash, and want to do some exploring, try out this app.
Shopkick will give you points (called kicks) just for visiting stores you were going to shop at anyway. If you link up a credit card and use that card to make purchases at the store, you’ll get even more kicks. You can redeem your kicks for gift cards at a range of business that include big-box retailers and coffeehouses alike.
Sell Old Phones
What do you do with an old-model cell phone once you’ve upgraded? Sell it for extra cash. Lots of companies buy and refurbish used cell phones. The sooner you do this after upgrading, the more money you can get for your old model. The longer you wait, the more out-of-date it becomes. You’ve got several options when it comes to cashing in on your old cell phone. Retailers like Best Buy sometimes take old phones, and your service provider might buy them back as well. Or check out a few websites like Gazelle: Even if your phone is damaged, you can usually find someone willing to buy it.
You’re probably not going to be able to make a living with these ideas and apps, but you can certainly make the cash to get the concert tickets or the new Xbox One game you’ve been eyeing. Think about what you do the most in your daily life, then download the apps that will cost you the least effort!