The Best Money-Making Apps

Are you looking to make some extra money? As with almost everything else, there’s an app for that. With many of them, you can start work right away, and you’ll be paid as soon as you complete the job.

Apps that can make you money? It sounds too good to be true, but money-making apps do actually exist. While these apps won’t make you rich, they can earn you some respectable pocket money or pay for your monthly mobile phone bill. Something to keep in mind is that among research market moneymaking apps, be wary of potential scams that ask for a fee to register (stay away) or over-exaggerate the potential earnings. Check the app ratings and go through the user reviews. You can also check with the Better Business Bureau to see the business’s rating and any registered complaints. 

How to Get Started

You may be able to apply directly on the app or you may need to register online before you can use it. Most apps have iOS and Android versions that you can download to your device. Once you’ve downloaded the app from the App Store or Google Play, follow the instructions to get started. Some apps use PayPal, so you’ll need to set up an account to get paid. Others will pay directly to a checking account or use another payment service.

Read the fine print before you register, so you know how much and when you can expect to be paid.

Apps You Can Use to Make Money

These are apps which can be used for earning quick cash. For some jobs, you’ll need a specific skill set. For others, you simply need to have the time available to complete the task.

Quick Gigs: You won’t become very rich by earning from these apps, but you can make money quickly. How much you’ll earn depends on the job, and you’ll be paid shortly after you complete the task.

BlueCrew
BlueCrew provides flexible W-2 employment for hourly workers in a broad range of industries such as warehousing, logistics, e-commerce, events, delivery, and hospitality.
Get the App: BlueCrew

EasyShift
Easily sign up to complete simple and fast jobs at local stores. For example, taking pictures and checking promotions. Payment is by PayPal, and for most jobs, you’ll be paid within 24 hours.
Get the App: EasyShift

TaskRabbit

Taskers performs small jobs like cleaning, delivery, shopping, organizing, and running errands. Sign up online, then attend an information session where you’ll be instructed on downloading the app. When you’re set, you will be able to view jobs in your area on the app, select the one you want, then confirm with the client. After the job is done, you’ll submit an invoice to get paid via direct deposit to a checking account. Note: there is a $20 registration fee.
Sign up: Become a Tasker

Wonolo

Are you ready to go to work? Wonoloers work on immediate local hourly or daily jobs. Once you have signed up, open the app to get notifications of new jobs, and click to accept it. Payments are processed by Stripe and typically take three to five days from when the job was approved.
Get the App: Wonolo

Build, Repair, and Move: If you have a knack for fixing things, assembling furniture and other products, or helping people move, you can use an app to find jobs to work on at your convenience. Once you apply and have been approved, you’ll be able to select tasks that fit your schedule.

• Amazon Professional Services
• Bellhops
• Dolly
• Handy

Drive People: If you’ve got reliable transportation and appropriate car insurance, and enjoy driving, ride-share driving is a way to make extra money during your spare time. Driving jobs have an online application process that includes a background check, so be prepared to wait for approval to get started.

• Uber
• Lyft
• Juno
• Wingz

Shop and Make Deliveries: One of the easiest ways to make extra money is to provide delivery services. With some apps, like Instacart and Shipt, you will shop and deliver. For others, you’ll pick up and deliver orders. Some services will pay right away. For example, Uber drivers can sign up for Instant Pay and get paid up to five times a day. The payment is made to your debit card.

• Amazon Flex
• CitizenShipper
• DoorDash
• Grubhub
• Instacart
• LaserShip
• PostMates
• Roadie
• Shipt
• UberEats

Take Care of People and Pets: If you’re interested in caregiving, for either humans or pets, you can sign up to provide care services when you’re available.

• Care.com
• Rover
• Wag

Apps for Providing Professional Services

As with most app-based gigs, the schedule is flexible and you can work at your convenience. The credentials you need to get hired depend on the role you’re interested in. Payments are made directly and promptly by the site or a payment service, rather than the client.

With most services, it’s easier to sign-up online and then go to the app to find jobs.

Monetize Your Skills: With skills-based gig apps, there are opportunities to work as little – or as much – as you’d like. You can take on side gigs or make freelancing your full-time job. Some sites like Upwork, offer different types of opportunities for gig workers while others focus on a specific niche.

• editorr is an on-demand service that hires online editors with an academic or professional background in English, journalism, copywriting, creative writing, or similar fields.

• Fiverr is a platform for freelancers to showcase their creative services in more than 200+ categories. Freelancers post the services they provide and set the price for the gigs, which begin at $5.

• Thumbtack allows professionals to find jobs doing almost anything. Pros post their business, and customers reach out to those they are interested in working with.

• Tutor to Go is online tutoring service. Professors, teachers, professionals with industry expertise provide tutoring services when they are available.

• Upwork is a platform for freelancers to find jobs and projects, connect with clients, and get hired quickly.

• Wyzant provides one-on-one tutoring services for school and university students. There are more than 12,000 subject areas and a stringent vetting process for applicants.

Provide Health and Fitness Services: As artificial intelligence changes the medical landscape, there are opportunities for health care providers to practice virtual medicine, communicating with patients on a smartphone or tablet. There are also opportunities for fitness instructors to provide virtual training. For services that need hands-on care, massage therapists, for example, can deliver in-home massages arranged by the app.

The application process starts online and services may be provided or arranged via the company’s app.

• DoctorOnDemand hires employee and independent contractor physicians, psychologists, and psychiatrists.

• Teladoc provides opportunities for primary care physicians, dermatologists, and behavioural health providers who handle routine, non-emergency medical problems by video or phone.

• LiveKick hires personal trainers and private yoga instructors for sessions conducted over live video.

• Soothe is an app where massage therapists join the Soothe professional network to provide in-home, office, or hotel massages.

Money App

The Money App is a market research app that lets you earn rewards just by completing tasks like offering opinions, checking store displays, mystery shopping, playing games, testing services and participating in free trials. You open an account on the Money App and start completing tasks to accumulate rewards, which you can, in turn, redeem for cash using a PayPal account. The beauty of this app is that you can get paid within two to three working days of redeeming rewards.

What’s more, the app scores highly (4.8 out of 5) on both Google Play and iTunes. One reviewer wrote: “I got my first 10 dollars within 5 days. That’s pretty good for not getting up off the couch.” Couch potatoes, rejoice; you now have options.

Foap

Foap is a money-making app that allows both professional and amateur photographers to make extra money selling photos taken on a smartphone. It’s a pretty genius. Basically, it’s a crowdsourcing platform for brands and advertising and marketing agencies to find and purchase images from Foap’s registry of more than 2.5 million photographers around the world. 

You register an account, upload your high-quality photos with clear tags, and the photos get rated by the registered community -- the higher the rating, the higher the photo’s visibility. For each sale, you earn $5, and you can earn up to $100 per sale. There are also "missions," where brands and agencies will make specific requests for images. And recently, those missions have expanded to include videos. 

The app is well-rated on both iTunes (4.3 out of 5) and Google Play (3.8 out of 5). One reviewer wrote: “I love this app! It's entertaining, a new place to share my photos and I have the opportunity to earn money from them.” 

Fluid Market

Not everyone has a vehicle and many of us own vehicles that sit idle for the majority of days. Good news: This sharing economy app, Fluid Market (available for iOS and Android), allows you to rent out your cargo van, box truck, pickup truck, car and/or SUV by the hour, day or week.

According to the company’s website, you can make up to $24,000 per year by renting your truck on Fluid. You can also rent out your tools, such as drills, saws, hedge trimmers, as well as items that fall into the “Other” category, which have included miscellaneous things, such as platform shoes, a rowboat and a tandem two-person bike. 

Users generally like the app. It’s rated 4.5 out of 5 on iTunes and 3.5 out of 5 on Google Play. I make money letting my neighbours use items that just sit around my house. It’s so easy and I get peace of mind with the insurance.” The vehicle rental system is set up for convenience for both parties. You, the rentee, can set up a lockbox on your vehicle so you can rent out your car and not have to be present to hand over the keys. 

Swagbucks

You make money as soon as you sign up for Swagbucks (available for iOS and Android) with a $10 sign-up bonus. The boilerplate market research app allows you to accrue points by taking surveys, shopping online or playing games, things you can do as you wait in line or have some downtime on your commute. You can also earn points for watching videos. Swagbucks has been rated 4 out of 5 ratings on both iTunes and Google Play. 

Perks for this app? Unlike other market research apps that aggregates third-party surveys, Swagbucks offers numerous opportunities for surveys, which leads to more opportunities to make cash. Do keep in mind that even though there are many opportunities for surveys, you will be disqualified from doing some of them based on your demographics. Another perk is that you can redeem your points for gifts cards or cash back from PayPal (the cashing out threshold is 2,500 Swagbucks points, worth $25). Users, for the most part, like the app. Who doesn't have time for that? I use the points for Amazon gift cards and have cashed out several times in the last year to spoil myself.”

Slidejoy

Slidejoy (available for Google Play) pays users for their lock screens. Once it’s installed on your phone, you’ll start seeing various ads featuring news or advertisers on your lock screen. You can swipe left to learn more, swipe up for additional ads or swipe right for the home screen. The good news is you earn passive income regardless of whether or not you engage with the ads -- just think about how many times a day you have to unlock your phone. If you wanted to earn more, you could do other things in the app, such as surveys.

You can choose to be paid via Square Cash or PayPal (select “normal” mode), or you can donate your earnings to charity. The catch is that when you first sign up, you have to wait approximately three months before you can cash out. After that, it’s a monthly cash-out payment.

It’s rated a highly respectable 4.3 out of 5 stars on Google Play. 

Bookscouter

The Bookscouter app allows you to earn money by selling out your new and old books. Once you download the app, it’s easy to register (using your email address or through Facebook or other social networks). Then, start scanning book barcodes (using your phone’s camera) and see an aggregation of buyback prices from book-buyers, with the highest buyer at the top. Shipping is free. 

Reviewers have given Bookscouter their endorsements on iTunes (3.3 out of 5) and Google Play (3.9 out of 5). However, keep in mind, not all the books scanned will produce price codes and some of the offers to buy your books disappear when you follow up. However, as one reviewer said, “Getting paid even $15 for books I was going to give away seems worth it to me! Clear clutter AND get some cash.”

Toluna

Toluna is a market research app that stands out in the crowd because users can get paid in cash using PayPal, and also the app offers rewards for more than just taking surveys -- you can also create your own surveys that can earn you bonus points. 

Registration is simple, and to get a feel for how you can make the most out of Toluna, you can watch a webinar on ways you can milk the app. (Look for the next webinar in your notifications, on the upper-right-hand side of the screen, which tells you about new surveys available.) 

The app is rated 3.8 out of 5 stars on iTunes and 3.3 out of 5 stars on Google Play. 

“Be patient and persevere! I've been here just a bit over a year and it's been wonderful. When you get enough points, go to the rewards centre and choose what you like! If you go for the cash, I like the PayPal advantage over waiting on a paper check,” wrote one user on the Toluna community blog. 

Userfeel

The Userfeel app allows you to participate in usability tests, meaning you get paid to visit and explore new websites, perform various simple tasks on the site and offer recorded feedback and critiques. 

Each test lasts 10 to 20 minutes, and you're paid $10 a test in cash via PayPal or Payoneer. 

One of the standout features of this app is that you take an initial “qualifications test,” which records your voice and your screen as you walk through given tasks. This is a version of what you’ll be doing, but it’s unpaid and meant to not only test whether the app is working, but also to give you a rating by the user feel team. 

The app scored 3.2 out of 5 on Google Play. One UserFeel reviewer wrote, “I had few issues uploading my video, but their support team was able to help me recover it, and I got paid for my test. Very easy way to make some extra money. I can’t wait to [do] another test.” Some of the reviews mentioned the app crashing as the user was trying to upload the test video, however, the Userfeel support team was responsive in trying to resolve these issues.