How to make money with your phone: what each app pays, and what it takes

You can make money with your phone by testing apps, answering surveys, scanning receipts or selling what you own. Each way pays in its own form, from PayPal to store credit. We also read what ten earning apps tell Google Play about your data, and seven say they share some of it.

We build PaysFair, an earning app that competes with the apps below, so check their numbers yourself. PaysFair is for people 16 and over.

What are the real ways to make money with your phone?

Each of these pays money or credit by rules its own pages publish. We read every one on October 23, 2026.

Test apps. UserTesting pays for recorded tests. You speak your thoughts aloud while it records your screen and audio, and sometimes video. You'll answer screening questions first to match with tests. A phone needs Android 10 or later or iOS 14 or later, 400MB of free space and 20% battery. You'll also need a microphone for the practice test. Pay varies by test, payments are usually sent 14 days later, and PayPal is the only way it pays.

Answer surveys. Google Opinion Rewards sends market research surveys to users over 18. Its Android help pages list 39 countries, and on Android it pays in Google Play credit. Each credit expires one year after you earn it. On iPhone it pays PayPal cash instead, $0.10 to $1.00 a survey, sent each time your balance reaches $2.00. Our Google Opinion Rewards review puts both phones side by side and covers what the credit can buy.

Scan receipts. Fetch gives points toward gift cards and other rewards for the receipts you snap. Paper receipts must be snapped within 14 days of checkout, and most rewards need 3,000 points. Your first reward has to be worth $10, $25 or $50. Fetch's FAQ also says what else it does with your receipts: it uses them to help brands, retailers and restaurants "understand what people are purchasing and when."

Sell what you own. Selling pays money, minus fees. eBay lets you list up to 250 items a month without a listing fee. When something sells, eBay keeps 13.6% of the total in most categories, plus 30 cents on orders of $10 or less and 40 cents above. In its own example, a used smartphone sells for $400 with free shipping. The seller keeps $341.59 after fees, about 85% of the price, before paying for shipping.

Trade in an old phone. Trading in pays differently. Apple Trade In gives credit toward a purchase or an Apple Gift Card. It takes some Samsung and Google phones as well as its own. If your device isn't eligible, Apple recycles it for free.

Play games. Games that pay are a form of advertising. AppsFlyer, a company that measures app ads, calls the model cost per engagement. Advertisers pay "whenever a user takes a specific desired action within the app," such as "completing a certain level in a game." Such campaigns often reward the app's users, it adds. Our page on games that pay real money explains who funds those rewards and why your hours are capped.

Earning apps like ours. PaysFair pays for surveys, games and campaigns. Its smallest cash-out is $1.00, sent as a gift card by email, and the first one is checked by hand. What there is to do depends on your country. It runs on the web and as an Android app on Google Play, and tasks done over a VPN or proxy don't count. Its own Data safety section says it shares user IDs and other personal info, plus approximate location, for app functionality and fraud prevention.

What does a money app take from your phone?

On Google Play, an app's Data safety section says what it collects and shares. The developer provides it, and Google describes shared data as data "that may be shared with other companies or organizations." We read the sections of ten earning apps on October 23, 2026. We counted the shared data in Google's own categories, such as location or personal info.

Two entries stand out. Survey Junkie's lists the data it shares, including precise location, voice recordings and web browsing history, and then says "No data collected." AttaPoll's lists race and ethnicity, political or religious beliefs and sexual orientation as optional data it may collect.

All ten say data is encrypted in transit and that you can ask for it to be deleted. Every section also says practices "may vary based on your app version, use, region, and age."

Permissions matter too. The FDIC warns that scammers make fake apps that contain malware. It says to be careful of apps that ask for suspicious permissions, such as access to your contacts, text messages, stored passwords or credit card information.

Can you make money on your phone for free?

You shouldn't have to pay to get paid. UserTesting says contributors don't pay to join. The FTC's advice for any job offer is blunt: "Never pay anyone to get paid, or to get a job. That's a sure sign of a scam."

What you do spend is time, some battery and storage, and often some of your data. That's why the Data safety section is worth a minute before you install.

Do money making apps really work?

The ones we read publish how they pay, and those rules decide how fast and in what. UserTesting usually sends payment 14 days after a test. Fetch's first reward has to be worth $10 or more. Google says some Opinion Rewards surveys pay nothing, such as the setup questions.

Most people don't spend much time on it. In the Fed's survey for 2024, 20% of adults did some gig activity in the prior month. Selling things was the most common, at 13%. Four percent did short tasks they arranged through an app or website, such as ride-sharing or delivery. Of the people doing gig activities, 70% spent less than five hours a week on them.

How can you make money from your phone right now?

You can start today. List something you don't need, answer UserTesting's screening questions, or scan today's paper receipts within Fetch's 14-day window.

Be wary of anything that looks faster. The FTC says task scams usually start with an unexpected text offering online work. Real employers will never contact you by generic, unexpected texts or WhatsApp messages about jobs, it says. It also warns against anyone who says they'll pay you to rate or like things online: "That's illegal and no honest company will do it."

What do other guides on this leave out?

We read four guides on this question on October 23, 2026, and two more wouldn't let us in. None of the four mentions what an app collects or shares from your phone. None mentions VPN rules, and none suggests selling or trading in an old phone. Two name the FTC.