How to Make Money on Your Phone: Real Amounts and the Catches

You can make real money on your phone, but most apps pay a few dollars a month. Selling things you already own is usually the biggest earner. Survey apps pay from 10 cents to about a dollar per survey, walking reward apps pay well under $10 a month in reviewers' tests, and micro task sites paid a median of about $2 an hour in one large study.

Key Takeaways

• Selling things you already own usually pays more than any app; eBay's fee for most categories is 13.6% of the sale plus $0.30 or $0.40 per order.
• Google Opinion Rewards pays $0.10 to $1.00 per survey, sent to PayPal on iPhone each time you reach $2, and surveys arrive only when Google invites you.
• Walking reward apps pay little: reviewers estimate about $0.24 a month for Evidation from walking alone and about $1.75 to $3.00 a month for WeWard at 10,000 steps a day.
• Sweatcoin has no cash-out to PayPal or a bank; its coins go to marketplace offers, charity or a crypto token.
• Micro task workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk earned a median of about $2 an hour in a 2018 study, and only 4% earned more than $7.25 an hour.
• Read the cash-out rules before you put in hours: minimums, payment methods and waiting periods, such as WeWard's 14 days before your first cash-out.

Here is what each option pays, how the money reaches you and the catch to know before you start.

The options at a glance

Selling things you already own

One sale can beat a year of app rewards. The Budget Diet estimates WeWard at $10 to $40 a year from walking, so a single $50 sale of a jacket or an old phone can match a year of steps.

eBay is the widest market. For most categories its final value fee is 13.6% of the total sale up to $7,500, plus $0.30 per order of $10 or less and $0.40 per order above $10. The total includes the shipping the buyer pays and sales tax. So on a $50 sale with no shipping or tax added, about $7.20 goes to eBay and you keep about $42.80 before any postage. You get 250 free listings a month.

Facebook Marketplace suits bulky items and local buyers. For shipped orders, Meta's seller policy lists a selling fee of 10% per order, with a minimum of $0.80, charged on the full amount including shipping and tax. Check the fee shown when you list, since Meta has changed it before.

Tips that raise what you keep:

• Price against sold listings, not asking prices.
• Take photos in daylight, and include any flaw.
• Bundle small items so one per-order fee covers several.

Survey apps

Survey apps fill idle minutes, and the pay matches. Google Opinion Rewards says it pays between $0.10 and $1.00 per survey. On iPhone it sends money to PayPal each time your balance reaches $2; on Android it pays Google Play credit. Surveys come only when Google sends you one, so you cannot sit down and earn on demand.

Survey Junkie is a common second app. Its help center lists a minimum of 500 points to cash out $5, according to a review by VISU Network, which found no official per-survey rate.

The catch with all of them is screening. You can spend a few minutes on questions, then be told you do not match. Count your time when you judge one.

Walking reward apps

These pay you for steps you already take, so the money is small but the effort is close to zero. The numbers below come from the companies or from reviewers who tested the apps:

• WeWard: reviewers report about 2,050 Wards for $15 by PayPal or Venmo in the US. RunMatch estimates $1.75 to $3.00 a month at 10,000 steps a day, and you cannot cash out in your first 14 days.
• Evidation: 10,000 points equal $10, paid by PayPal, direct deposit, gift card or a charity gift. It is open to US residents aged 18 and over. RunMatch estimates about $0.24 a month from walking alone, and Bitletics reports $3 to $8 a month once surveys are added.
• CashWalk: about 1 coin per 100 steps, up to 100 coins a day, paid in gift cards only. The Budget Diet estimates about $7.50 of coins a month at the daily maximum.
• Winwalk: the same 1 coin per 100 steps and 100-coin daily cap, gift cards only. The Budget Diet estimates about 200 days to reach a $10 card.
• Sweatcoin: 1 sweatcoin per 1,000 verified steps, minus a 5% commission. There is no cash-out to PayPal or a bank, and DollarSprout puts the passive value at about $0.30 a month.

Our full guides cover these in depth: apps that pay you to walk, how much you can earn by walking, walking apps that pay cash and Sweatcoin alternatives.

A different model asks you to put money down on your steps. StepBet, for example, takes a bet of usually $40 for a game of about six weeks. Finish and you get your bet back plus a share of the bets lost by people who did not, after a 15% cut in standard games, paid out by PayPal. Miss and you lose the bet. That is a commitment device more than an income, and our comparisons hub and Steppa vs StepBet set out how these games compare. The get paid to walk guide covers both models.

Micro tasks

Micro task sites pay small amounts for short jobs: tagging images, checking search results, writing a line of text. Amazon Mechanical Turk is the best known. A study presented at CHI 2018 recorded 2,676 workers doing 3.8 million tasks and found a median wage of about $2 an hour. Only 4% of the workers earned more than $7.25 an hour.

The gap comes from unpaid time: searching for tasks, tasks that get rejected, and tasks you start and drop. Check whether a site's tasks work on a phone before you sign up, and track your real hourly rate for a week.

How to pick what is worth your time

Match the option to the time you have:

1. If you have things to sell, start there. One afternoon of listing can beat months of app rewards.
2. Install one walking reward app for steps you take anyway, and check its cash-out minimum first.
3. Add one survey app for idle minutes, and stop if your real rate falls below what your time is worth to you.
4. Try micro tasks only if you can work at a computer often, and track your hourly rate from day one.
5. After a month, delete every app that paid less than you expected.

Be wary of any app that promises large sums for little effort, and read the payout rules before you put in the hours.

This is Steppa's blog, so one note on our own app. Steppa runs step challenges on iPhone: you pay a stake up front, hit one daily goal every day, and the finishers split the whole pool. Miss a day and your stake stays in the pool. You can lose your stake, and winnings depend on how many people finish, so do not count on it as income. Steps come from Apple Health and typed-in steps never count. For most players a service fee of $0.50 plus 4% of the stake is shown before you pay. Paid play is for adults where available under its Terms.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the easiest way to make money on your phone?

Selling things you no longer use is the easiest way to make a real sum, because one sale can beat months of app rewards. Take photos, list on eBay or Facebook Marketplace, and price against sold listings. For small extra money, a walking reward app pays for steps you already take, and a survey app such as Google Opinion Rewards pays $0.10 to $1.00 per survey.

Do apps that pay you to walk really pay?

Some pay real money, but the amounts are small. Reviewers report WeWard paying about $15 by PayPal or Venmo for about 2,050 Wards in the US, and estimate $1.75 to $3.00 a month at 10,000 steps a day. CashWalk and Winwalk pay in gift cards only, and Sweatcoin has no bank or PayPal cash-out. Treat them as a small bonus for walking you already do.

How much can you make from survey apps?

Usually a few dollars a month. Google Opinion Rewards says it pays between $0.10 and $1.00 per survey, and on iPhone it sends money to PayPal each time your balance reaches $2. Survey Junkie's help center lists a minimum of 500 points to cash out $5. The catch is time: surveys come only when you match, and you can be screened out partway through.

What are the catches with money-making apps?

The common ones are caps, minimums and ads. Walking apps cap how much you earn each day, many pay only in gift cards, and some make you wait before your first cash-out, such as WeWard's 14 days. Micro task sites leave you unpaid while you search for work. Before you start, check the cash-out minimum, the payment method and how long payouts take.