Guest post from Anna of Real Ways to Earn Money Online
From the day I got my iPhone, it became one of my “can’t live without it” possessions. My excitement over my new toy only increased when I learned that in addition to playing games, tracking calories, and organizing my grocery list, I could also use it to earn money and redeemable points!
There are several different apps out there you can use for these purposes, but the following five are truly exceptional:
1. Field Agent:
Field Agent is for iPhone users only. You get paid for using your phone to do things like take pictures of store displays and answer short surveys. Most jobs pay between $2 and $8 each. Payment is made with Paypal.
2. Gig Walk:
The Gig Walk app is also just for the iPhone, and it is very similar to Field Agent. You get paid cash for doing little odd jobs which normally involve taking pictures with your phone while you’re out and about.
The app is limited for use by people in certain geographic areas which currently include the San Francisco Bay area, Chicago, Los Angeles, South Florida, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Payout is via Paypal.
3. Check Point:
The CheckPoints app is my favorite! I use it almost every time I go shopping. You just open the app, find the products listed in the store, and scan the item barcodes with your phone.
You’ll get redeemable points for each item you scan, and you can use these to get gift cards to your favorite stores (including Amazon)! You can also earn points for downloading and trying out apps.The Checkpoints app is available for iPhone and Android users.
4. WeReward:
The WeReward app will award you points for taking pictures of yourself with different products, checking in at various places of business, and for trying out new apps. Every point you get equals one cent and most “jobs” pay anywhere from 10 points to 500 points.
You can cash out with Paypal once you have $10 in your account. This app is open to iPhone, Blackberry, and Android users.
5. ShopKick:
Using the ShopKick app is a lot like using the Checkpoints app — you scan products while you shop and earn points that you can redeem for gift cards.
You can also use the app to take advantage of special in-store offers exclusive to Shopkick users. These offers are easily redeemable right at the cash register — you just let the cashier scan your phone. The app is available for iPhone and Android users.
These smartphone apps are all FREE to download and use. Just do a search for them in your app store, install, and start getting rewarded for things you do every day!
Anna Thurman researches various online money-earning opportunities and work at home jobs. Her findings are published via her website, Real Ways to Earn Money Online.
Does anyone get spam when they use these apps?
@Lisa – I have personally never gotten any spam from them. CheckPoints does email me sometimes when they have something important to share, but that’s not even every week I don’t think.
I downloaded the Nielsen app on Android and get points every month. The points are added every month and really add up fast. They have tons of “prizes” but the best things are the gift cards. Amazon, CVS, and Home Depot to name a few.
I never have to do anything. They just keep track of how I use my phone to navigate online and such.
i really do like the CheckPoints App. It doesn’t take that long to earn rewards & that I essentially the only reason I do it! If you are interested in signing up, it is free & you kinda become addicted, if you can remember to pull up the app when you are in the store shopping! Feel free to use my bonus code: “roosterjr” if you sign up & you’ll get 300 points for the sign-up.
Thanks Missy! I was hoping someone would post their bonus code =] I used it!
Glad it worked for you, Cassie. Have fun earning points!
Thanks for this info, can’t wait to try a few of these apps. I already downloaded checkpoints!
Who knew you could use your smartphone to earn a little extra cash? As an android user I’m looking forward to using the Check Point application and start earning points.
I always seem to have trouble getting the ShopKick coupons (and also the Target ones) to scan at the register. Does anyone else have this problem or know how to fix it? I have the Droid X.
This Chicago Tribune article describes what it’s like to do GigWalk:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-18/features/ct-mre-1120-save-gigwalk-20111118_1_gigwalkers-matt-crampton-iphone
Thanks for sharing! I am in a very small town (12,000 people), but there are three jobs on Field Agent that are worth $8.50/each within 11 miles from me.
Woohoo!
I’ve tried some of these apps recently and haven’t had a ton of success. Unless you are super diligent, spend a lot of extra time, live in very big city, and go out shopping all the time, I think it would be difficult to make back even a $15/month data plan. I do live near a city with lots of shopping, but, even so, FieldAgent (which I check daily both near work and near home which are 45 minutes away from each other) only has had opportunities that would require driving 30 minutes out of my way. I’ve been using ShopKick and have accumulated some points scanning things at Target, but it takes a lot of points to get even a $5 giftcard. Target and Giant Eagle are the places near me where there are scans available. However, once you can scan everything at a store you can’t return the next day and scan the same thing again. You have to wait until there are more scan available. I’ve tried Checkpoints and it’s similar to ShopKick. I’ve also tried WeReward but generally you have to purchase something in order to get the reward.
This is a great post! I look forward to trying these money-making methods on my iphone. I would love to see more apps like these get more press coverage. Keep up the good work, Crystal!
Is there any windows phone apps lol
@Anna – I honestly think you could if you really buckled down and used them all to the fullest. Like some mentioned above, it’s very easy to forget the apps are there. Like the CheckPoints app — I always intend to use it when I shop, but there are times when my kids are so rambunctious and loud in the grocery store that all I want to do is get out of there, lol.
But I do have some readers that have let me know they are able to make a couple hundred per month using apps like Field Agent & Gig Walk. But with those apps I think your chances are better at having jobs to do if you live in a bigger city. My area is sort of rural and while there are occasionally jobs, I don’t have them all the time. And then the gift cards you could get for Amazon and other places through things like Check Points would also benefit.
There are also other apps that are coming out you can get rewards with. There’s one called App Reward where you can profit from trying and downloading apps, and there’s another called iSecret Shop that’s like a mystery shopping app. I’m not sure how much your data plan would cost, but I honestly think if you really tried, you could possibly make enough to cover it.
thanks for the reply! that helps to know it might work out to cover my data plan. the data plans start at $15 for me so hopefully that’s doable =)
If you get an android phone and use the swagbucks app, you can make that back in about 2 weeks worth of letting the phone watch videos while you work or sleep. The rest of the month would be profit. Just plug it in, connect it to wifi, and let it go. I earn a $5 amazon card every 4.5 days. You could easily earn paypal cards too.
what??! I didn’t even know they had an app. I will definitely check it out.
It’s the Swagbucks TV Mobile App in the Marketplace. They’ve been working on an iPhone app for a while but no word on where they are on it or when it’ll be ready.
awesome I was thinking android anyway to be honest! this makes it a better deal. =)
Have you used the isecret shop app and website? I just signed up after reading this, and they have a good shop in my area. But, I don’t want to give them my social security number if they’re not a valid company. I can’t find any information on the companies; isecretshop isn’t listed on BBB and one of their companies to contract with has an F rating. Any info would be great. I’m just trying to be cautious.
One of my readers is using the iSecret Shop app and recommended it to me. However, I don’t have a lot of luck with mystery shopping overall because there are rarely shops available close by that wouldn’t require me to drive a good distance.
I think the iSecret Shop app is legit, but by all means, don’t give out your personal details if you’re not comfortable doing so. I know that a lot of mystery shopping companies do require you to submit your SS# number because they don’t deduct taxes from your earnings and if you earn more than $599 in a year’s time, you’ll have to report them at the end of the year. Sometimes you can get around this by leaving the field where they ask for it blank, unless it’s a required field.
But if you’re not comfortable with the app or the info they ask for, by all means don’t use it.
There’s another mystery shopping one called “Zapiddy” that I’m planning to look into and maybe do a review on soon. You can donate some of your earnings for it to the Children’s Miracle Network.
I do like the idea of mystery shopping via smartphone apps because it would make the process a lot easier since you can do pretty much everything with your phone.
I wonder if you can make enough money doing these things to pay for a data plan? My husband has an iPhone for business reasons and we can’t really justify paying for the data for me to have a smartphone other than I want one. I wonder if I could make enough “extra” with these apps to offset the data charge? Any one know?
Thanks for the list! A few I’d never heard of. I do use checkpoints & swagbucks mobile though and really like them. It’d be great if I could remember to use checkpoints when i’m shopping! LOL
I have check points and field agent but they haven’t done anything for me lol. Check Points asks me to scan stuff the store doesn’t carry and field agent never has anything closer to me than 30 miles 🙁
I keep hoping though when it pops up a $7 job is available nearby lol.
I just downloaded Field Agent. What are surveys like? Easy? Basic questions? Any quick examples!?
Thanks.
Amanda, since using the app, I have not gotten that many surveys. I do remember getting an invite to one that they claimed would only take 10 minutes to complete, but I didn’t qualify for it. The survey sounded easy though, it was regarding hair products or something like that.
The majority of what I see when I visit the app are jobs and not so much surveys. But — this may have to do with my demographics. Other people might have surveys available much more often. I would honestly really like to see more surveys because I could do these from anywhere 🙂
I use field agent and alot of the recent jobs/surveys have been checking turbo tax displays to see if the signage is correct. Sometimes they want a photo and 1-3 questions answered, other times it’s just a few questions. Super easy, not high pay but, of you are heading to that particular store anyway, why not?
WeReward does not have an app for Blackberry. No Blackberry apps 🙁
I’m sorry, Kristen 🙁 I actually wrote this post back in August and I think they did have an app for BlackBerry at that time. They must have done away with it since though.
I’m wondering what they do with the pictures and information. Are they tracking where you are, etc.? Just curious
I’m sure it’s mostly to track consumer behavior and to promote brand awareness. Also, if you’ve ever done any mystery shopping, some of the jobs through places like Field Agent and GigWalk might be a little similar to that. They often want you to check that a store has a certain product and then take a picture of the display, or to find out the hours of a business and take a picture of a sign displaying it, things like that.
I noticed today that sometimes, after scanning, I got a ‘special offer’ with a coupon, and then a question about what would persuade me to buy the product or if I’d previously known about the product, so I figured it was mostly about marketing. I’m guessing there are studies supporting the more you see, notice, touch a product, the more likely you are to buy it.
Crystal,
Not trying to be critical at all- I love your site- really, just a thought/suggestion! But, I recently read an article about trying to promote your website via and specifically for Pinterest, and when I pinned this article, I totally saw the value of it. Have you thought about adding a title within and on the pictures so that when people pin articles, it’s easy for others to see what the articles are about? It would only take a quick minute to edit the pictures by adding text. I think it would really help promote your site for Pinterest!
Nice article, Anna. I don’t have a smart phone yet…but this sounds like a good reason to get one!
Thank you 🙂 My first thought when I got mine earlier last year was, “Now how can I make some money with this thing to help earn back what it cost?” Fortunately, I did find a few ways. It does seem like there are more and more apps popping up for it all the time that you can profit from, too.
@Crystal — Thank you so much for the opportunity to guest post on your blog! I’ve been following you for a while, so it’s very exciting to see my post here.
I love my Samsung Epic Galaxy II android phone. Until they finish the iphone app, android devices are the only way to earn a $5 Amazon gift card every 4.5 days using the Swagbucks Mobile Video app by doing nothing but let your phone play short videos until you reach the max limit 🙂
Cool! Can’t wait till they finish the iPhone app. I love Swagbucks!
I was wondering why this one was missing from the post. I was so excited about this app, and after the rave reviews a month or two ago about smartphones, I took the plunge. This app alone almost covers my $37.25/mo bill!
Oh I love this app! I’ve made $40 in a short period of time. The only downside is that they only let you get a $5 gift card 5 times in a month, and it is cheaper to buy lots of $5 amazon gift cards than to save up for a $25 one. 🙁
How do you download this app, I’ve been with swagbucks for quite sometime and wondering how I missed this one.
Search Swagbucks in the Android market. It’s only available for androids, I believe. There are 2 apps in the android market – one for the videos (swagbucks TV mobile) and another to add a toolbar to your home screen to allow you to search through SB like you do on your computer. Enjoy!
Thanks!…got that.
Wow! This is awesome. I just got an Android phone… so pumped to try these out!
I am super excited to learn about these!
That’s cool, I had no idea! I’m wondering though, can you use an ipod touch instead of an iPhone?
I think you could if the ipod has a camera and access to wifi. I have the 2nd gen ipod touch so it definitely can’t
Some you can, it just depends on if they have a camera since most of these apps do require a camera as Saph said. Good luck!
Thanks! I’m saving for a touch – and it will definitely have a camera! 🙂
Can’t wait to try these. I just got an iPhone so hopefully I can make a few extra bucks while I’m out shopping.
I love these!!! So glad to see your guest post on MoneySavingMom Anna! I love your site!!! 🙂
Thank you Miranda!! I love yours, too!
I actually posted about this last month. 🙂 We only have an android though. 🙁
Check in To Win is another good one but it’s for iPhone only. http://ci2w.com/
I wish there were more for Android phones.
@Saph — I think that GigWalk is coming soon for the Android! I follow them on Facebook and they said they’ve launched a beta version for it. So you may be able to use that one soon.
Also, try App Redeem. That’s another one I believe you can use for Android.