Offer not credited? Why it happens and what to do

If an offer didn't credit, the report that you finished most likely never reached the app. The game couldn't tell who sent you: an old install, tracking switched off, a VPN. Wait out the offer's stated time, then contact the company that ran the offer, once.

We read the help pages Freecash and Swagbucks publish on this, and Apple's and Google's own pages on phone tracking, on 26 September 2026. We build PaysFair, an earning app that competes with the apps below, so check their words at the sources. PaysFair is for people 16 and over.

Why didn't my offer credit?

A game offer pays through a chain. Freecash describes four steps: your device, the game company, a measurement company, then Freecash. If an earlier step fails, the report that you finished never arrives.

The reward app is the last link, and often the one that knows least. Swagbucks says it generally can't see these decisions. They're made between the advertiser and its tracking company.

That's why prevention matters more than the ticket. Swagbucks says it generally can't pay for activity that didn't track, because the advertiser didn't pay it either.

Why might tracking fail for a game app offer?

Freecash and Swagbucks publish nearly the same list. We lined them up with Apple's and Google's own pages:

Freecash repeats the first row in five of its help pages. Swagbucks says many game offers are only for new users. Freecash says an earlier install on any device counts, even if you've since deleted it.

Some guides tell you to delete the old copy and start fresh. That doesn't make you a new player. Both apps say the offer won't track if you've installed that game before. Pick a different game.

A VPN is worse than a failed offer. Freecash lists doing offers through a VPN, proxy or VPS as fraud. It can take back a reward for that up to 90 days after it credited.

Why can't I turn on Allow Apps to Request to Track?

On an iPhone, a game has to ask before it may track you. If you tap Ask App Not to Track, Apple says the game can't read your ad ID, called the IDFA. Apple tells game makers it then reads as all zeros.

Freecash says that if you didn't allow tracking the first time a game asked, the offer won't track. Swagbucks tells you to always tap Allow on offer games.

Some people can't allow it at all. Apple says the Allow Apps to Request to Track switch can't be turned on in cases like these:

• the Apple Account is under 18 by birth year, or it's a child account
• a school or a business manages the Apple Account
• the phone has a profile that limits tracking
• the Apple Account was made in the last 3 days

While that switch is off, no game can read the IDFA. Put those facts together, and a game offer on a 16 or 17-year-old's iPhone may never track, however far they play. If that's you, check that the first step tracked before you put hours in.

To check the setting, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Tracking. Turn on Allow Apps to Request to Track, then tap Allow when the game asks.

On Android, Google puts the ad ID under Settings, then Privacy, then Ads. If you delete your ad ID there, Google says apps get a string of zeros instead. Freecash asks Android users to keep ad personalization turned on.

How long does it take for an offer to credit?

Each app we read publishes its own wait. These are the ones on each company's own pages:

A wait isn't a refusal. Freecash says it can't speed up crediting, and asks you not to open a ticket before the wait has passed.

Credited isn't the end either. Freecash, for one, can hold a reward as pending, and can take one back up to 90 days after it credited. Our page on why your balance is still pending covers that part.

In PaysFair, a finished task shows as pending as soon as its completion reaches us. It becomes yours once its check period has passed, 30 days by default, and the company behind the task has paid us for it.

I finished a survey but got nothing. What happened?

Surveys fail in a different way. Swagbucks and ySense both say many surveys look for a specific group of people. If you don't fit, the survey ends as a disqualification, not a completion.

Read the last screen before you close it. Swagbucks and ySense both say that message tells you whether you completed the survey or were screened out.

A half-done survey pays nothing. InboxDollars says that just attempting a survey doesn't earn any credit, full or partial.

Some finished surveys credit late. Swagbucks says a survey may warn you at the start that crediting can take up to 7 business days.

Before you start, write down the Survey ID. Swagbucks and ySense both suggest it, and ySense asks for it in any ticket.

In our own records, a screen-out that carries no reward writes no earning. The report is still logged, so we can see it arrived. If you're screened out often, our page on why surveys disqualify you explains the reasons.

Who do I contact about an uncredited partner offer?

It depends on who ran the offer. Freecash and Swagbucks both show two kinds: their own offers, and offers from partner companies, which Swagbucks calls offer walls. Freecash names who provides an offer in its description.

Freecash sends partner offers to the partner, after 72 hours. It asks you to include your Freecash ID, the offer, the date and screenshots. It warns a partner can take up to 35 days to answer.

Swagbucks says it can't look into offer-wall offers, because it can't see your activity with them. Contact the offer-wall company first. If there's no fix in 10 business days, send Swagbucks their ticket number and it will follow up.

The app's own offers go to the app's support. Freecash puts a ticket button next to each started offer. Swagbucks has you open the ticket from that offer's entry in your Ledger.

Freecash, Swagbucks and ySense ask for much the same details:

• your user ID on the app
• the offer's name, or for a survey its provider and Survey ID
• the exact date you finished
• screenshots of your progress or the final screen
• your device type
• for a sign-up offer, the confirmation email

Send it once, to the right company. Freecash greys out its ticket button while a ticket for that offer is already open.

Why can't the app just credit it by hand?

Because the money comes from the advertiser, and the advertiser didn't count you. Swagbucks says that since it wasn't paid for activity that didn't track, it generally can't pay you for it.

Some cases are final. Freecash says support can't override a missed deadline. It also can't release a held offer early by hand.

Others do get fixed. Freecash says its support team reviews tickets by hand when a technical fault missed someone. That's where your dates and screenshots come in.

We see the chain from the app's end too. PaysFair keeps every completion report it receives, with what we did with it, including reports that paid nothing. So we can tell whether a report arrived at all, which is the first question a missing reward raises.

Does uninstalling and reinstalling the app affect tracking?

Yes, and it can't be undone. Freecash says it loses tracking when you uninstall a game, and downloading it again won't fix that. Swagbucks says reinstalling may interfere with tracking.

Keep the game installed until the reward is credited. If your phone is short on space, Freecash suggests doing one game offer at a time.

The same goes for switching devices halfway. Freecash's own example: don't reach level 5 on an iPhone and carry on to level 10 on an iPad.

Do free Robux apps actually work?

Two different things get called free Robux apps. Roblox's help page is blunt about the first kind: "Any offer of free Robux, subscriptions, or valuable items is a scam." Roblox says there's no such thing as free Robux offers, tricks or codes.

A site that asks you to install apps or do offers to unlock Robux is one of those. No Robux is coming, however many offers you finish.

The second kind is a reward app that pays points for surveys and offers. Some let you swap points for a Roblox gift card: Swagbucks lists a $10 Roblox card for 1,000 SB. Those offers can fail to credit for every reason on this page, and the fixes are the same.

Our page on free Roblox gift cards from surveys lists which apps offer Roblox cards and at what age. The free Robux scams page covers the fake kind.

How can I make sure offers track correctly?

Most of this happens before you tap the offer. Both apps' help pages boil down to the same steps:

1. Pick a game you've never installed, on any phone or tablet.
2. Turn off any VPN, iCloud Private Relay and ad blocker before you click.
3. On an iPhone, turn on Allow Apps to Request to Track, then tap Allow when the game asks. On Android, don't delete your ad ID.
4. Start from the offer's own link, then install and open the game in one go. Swagbucks lists getting the game any other way as a cause of failure.
5. Stay on one device, and keep the game installed until you're paid.
6. Note the deadline. Freecash says a late finish won't credit.
7. Check that the first step tracked before you play for hours.
8. For surveys, write down the Survey ID and read the final screen.

Step 7 matters because of a rule Swagbucks spells out. Swagbucks says to stop and contact support as soon as a step is missing from your Ledger. If you carry on, it won't credit anything further on that offer. Freecash shows a Last synced time on game offers for the same check.

If the first step still hasn't tracked after about 15 minutes, Freecash suggests leaving that game and starting another offer. It says a small share of games don't track, for reasons it doesn't know.

Once you're set up, our pages on earning with games and earning with surveys explain how those tasks work in PaysFair.