Curious Cat review: is the survey app legit, and what do its own pages say?

We build PaysFair, an earning app that competes with this one. Judge our bias accordingly, and check every number below against the sources at the bottom.

Curious Cat is a real survey app: On Device Research Ltd in the UK runs it, and it pays to PayPal from 100 points, about £1, in 16 countries. Its catches sit in its own help pages: an automated rating that support can't override, points that can lapse after 90 days, and location data it can share.

We have not used Curious Cat ourselves. No account, no install, nothing cashed out. On October 23, 2026, we read its terms, privacy policy, home page and 24 of its help articles from a US server. We also read its App Store and Google Play records and its Trustpilot page.

This page covers the survey app. CuriousCat, the anonymous question site, shares only the name.

Who runs Curious Cat?

Its terms for survey respondents, last revised March 19, 2026, name On Device Research Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 07329573. The App Store lists the same company as the seller. Your PayPal deposits show as "On Device Research", its help center says.

The terms follow English law, and the English courts decide disputes. On Device Research's liability for any survey is capped at that survey's reward.

Where does Curious Cat work, and who can join?

You must be 18 or older, with your own mobile number or email address, and sign up in your country of residence. Apple and Google Play both rate the app 17+.

Its help center lists 16 countries: the UK, the US, Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Spain, Mexico, France, Italy and Brazil. You can't cash out while you're away from your home country.

You get one account per person, and a phone number can hold only one account. Login codes come by text.

How does Curious Cat pay you?

You can cash out from 100 points, which is £1 or "roughly $1.30/€1.20", its home page says. PayPal works in every region. Thailand adds TrueMoney, and Indonesia and Thailand add OVO, ShopeePay and DANA.

You have to verify both your registered email and your PayPal email first. Payments "normally reach your receiving account" immediately, but "on occasion, it can take up to 24 hours", its help center says.

What does Curious Cat pay for?

Surveys, polls and questionnaires. Most of its "best tasks" are matched to "online advertising you may have seen", and they don't last long, so it suggests opening the app at least 4 days a week. Other tasks are matched to places you've visited, if you turn on location.

A screen-out pays nothing. "If you're screened out, the task quota is reached or the task expires," you "won't be eligible for points", its help center says.

It also runs two invite-only passive panels: MAX in the UK, and AMPD in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. They use your phone's accessibility mode "to look for certain types of text on the screen", such as an advert caption on YouTube or Facebook. MAX pays 100 points to join and 17 points for each day the app stays connected.

What is Curious Cat's system rating?

It's a score the app gives you, "based on information from our survey partners, fraud detection systems, and other checks". It's "entirely automated". If it falls too low, you can get an empty task wall, permanently fewer tasks, a delayed cash-out or a locked account.

Support can't fix it for you: "our support team are unable to override your system rating". Its advice for keeping the rating healthy starts with "Don't take too many surveys".

Accounts also lock for a second account, a phone the stores think is incompatible, or a cash-out from abroad. To unlock one, you open a ticket for an account review, answered "within 48 hours".

Using other survey apps is allowed, but the same survey can show up in several apps. Taking it twice may screen you out or lower your rating, its help center warns.

Staying away has a cost too. Its terms let it void your points after "over 90 days" without a survey.

What does Curious Cat do with your data?

Location is optional. If you turn it on, its privacy policy says that "When this app is in use (or running in the background)" it collects and shares with business partners your precise location, nearby "WiFi signals or Bluetooth Low Energy devices", your device's advertising ID and app names.

It names uses from measuring ads to research on "aggregated human foot and traffic patterns". The data may go to "advertising and data companies, brands, and analytics, non-profit, financial, government and research organizations". Its Google Play form lists approximate and precise location as shared, for advertising among other things.

You can stop sharing your location at any time, its help center says. It also says your phone number is "only ever used to create your account and let you login".

What do Trustpilot and the app stores say?

Trustpilot showed a warning instead of a score on October 23, 2026: "This company's rating is unavailable due to a breach of our guidelines." Under "Breach of guidelines", it added: "We've removed a number of fake reviews for this company." Recent low reviews there include "Can't withdraw to paypal" and complaints about months without tasks.

Who is Curious Cat for?

It suits an adult in one of its 16 countries who wants very small, quick cash-outs and doesn't mind sharing location for better-paid tasks. It also pays to local wallets in Thailand and Indonesia.

It doesn't suit anyone outside those countries, anyone who travels and wants to cash out abroad, or anyone who wants a person to review a low rating. Our Google Opinion Rewards alternatives page compares it with five other survey apps.

Is Curious Cat worth it? Our verdict, October 23, 2026

Curious Cat's money side is easy: £1 to PayPal or a local wallet, usually at once. Its 16 countries reach into Southeast Asia, the Gulf and Latin America.

Its rules are the catch. An automated rating decides your tasks and your cash-outs, and support can't change it. Points can lapse after 90 days. Location data can go to business partners while the app runs in the background. And Trustpilot showed no score for it, citing a breach of its guidelines.

We build PaysFair, which competes with Curious Cat, so weigh that. PaysFair pays out as a gift card by email, from $1.00.

What we couldn't check about Curious Cat

We didn't use the app, so there's no payout time or task count of our own here. We read Trustpilot's page twice that day, through a web page reader. We don't know which reviews it removed or why. Most of Curious Cat's help articles were last changed in November 2023.

We'll check all of this again by January 23, 2027.