Apps that PAY YOU to use them!

Want to make some extra cash during those bored moments when you're in the elevator or a doctor's waiting room? Yes, there is an app for that. There are actually many apps for that. I've had the iSecretShop app on my phone for months now, and i've yet to find a secret shop available near me to make even a dime off of the app. I decided to search for other apps that might pay out, and do a test for a week or two to see which (if any) are successful. I started out going by this infographic from topapps.net:

The one I was most interested in was App Trailers, but unfortunately that one is no longer available in the Apple app store. It appears to still be available in the Android market, so I may try that one on my husbands phone. Some of the app reviews had less stars than this infographic shows. I focused on apps that pay through Paypal and only tried to only get the ones with 4 stars or more. One or two of the ones i'm trying currently have 3.5 stars in the Apple app store, and one pays with gift cards which I accepted because it has Amazon available. For this review, I have Rewardable, Shopkick, CheckPoints, Ibotta, OnGo surveys, Npolls, Field Agent, and iSecretShop. If you don't have one already, I recommend setting up a junk email account just signing up for things like this.

This app is one of many mystery shopper apps out there. After you've enabled your location, it will search for available 'shops' in your area. Most of these show payment of $12-15 after you've completed the shop and it's been accepted. Some of them require you to talk to a representative in the store and ask specific questions. Some stores ask you to purchase a product and return it in order to review each process. Most of them ask for a photo of a product. All of them ask for a review after the shop. I've had this app on my phone for about 6 months and there have been very few shops available in my area. The few i've seen available have been for purchasing and returning at a grocery store, which I just did not want to do. Most of the shops available have been for larger cities that are 2-3 hours away from me. If you live in a large city, this one may be useful, but otherwise you may get a shop only every other month or so. If you're not willing to do a return or talk to customer service, this app is not for you. I could not find any referral bonuses for this app.

Update: I deleted this one as I never used it.

This app is advertised as another mystery shopper app, but there are more shops available where you do not have to necessarily buy an item in order to review it. This app calls the work 'audits' and 'scavenger hunts' instead of a 'shop' as the previous app does. For these, you are required to go to the required store and find and take photos of a specific product listed. You have to complete the work within 2 hours of accepting it. If you do not complete it and let it expire, or you cancel within 5 minutes, your agent score will decrease resulting in less jobs showing available to you. I could not find any referral bonuses for this app.

This one definitely has the best pay outs if you don't mind wandering around a store with your phone looking for things to scan.

So far, ShopKick seems like one of the most promising out of the apps i'm trying. You check in when you enter specific stores and get points just for checking in or scanning a specific item in that store. Some stores have teamed up with ShopKick to offer additional kicks (points) when you have spent a specific amount in their store. For example, Best Buy currently has an offer showing that for spending $75 you will get 350 bonus kicks, and if you spend $150 you will get 800 bonus kicks. The kicks you earn can be redeemed for gift cards for places like Target, Starbucks, Lowes, and Best Buy.
What I really like about this app is that you don't even have to go into a store to earn points. Each store has a few mini-ads that you can click through and then get 1 point. I've had this app for 2 days now and I already have 56 points! This app does offer a bonus for referrals, but only if you have at least 3 referrals that actually sign up. You get 2,000 kicks for each 3 friends that register. The points you can redeem range from 500 kicks for a $2 Target gift card, to 6,250,000 for an around the world cruise on Princess Cruises.

 Upon last update, this link gives you 50 free points: Please use my referral link to register: http://get.shopkick.com/violet20633

Update: I've forgotten to check in to most places and mostly just scanned through the daily ads for points. I'ts been 4 months and i've made it to a $10 gift card.

This app is very similar to ShopKick, but you have to do a little bit more work to earn points than just checking in at a store. This app is also slower than the others, but that may be because it has more options available. While the little yellow guy spinning his hula hoop while loading is cute the first few times, it gets annoying after a while. You may not get points just for walking into a store and checking in, but you can earn points a couple different ways. Scanning specific products once you're in the store will earn the points listed under each product. You can also view coupons in this app, which can be useful if you're already using it to scan a product while you're there. If you are willing to gamble your points, you can use 12 points to spin for the chance to win more. You can earn 1 point for each trailer you watch, but you are actually viewing a commercial and then a trailer each time, and then you must rate the trailer a thumbs up or down in order to get the point. Since I like to watch movie trailers, and I couldn't download App Trailers, I like this option! What I do not like about the trailer option is that you must wait for the commercial to finish before you can back out to the app. There are a lot of options for 1 point for signing up for different subscriptions, registering your Facebook account, or purchasing something from the company or game listed. As I am not willing to provide any additional information or sign up with my Facebook account, I have not used any of those.

I was able to earn a few points when i first downloaded this app just by being a new member. It gave me 10 points for registering, plus you can get bonus points if you are using a referral. There are so many blogs and coupon codes saying you can get 300 bonus points by using their referral code, but this is not true! Right now, the app shows me someone can get 70 points by using my code, but looking around online it is normally around the 50 point range. It may be 70 because i'm new, or it may just be a promotion.

You can redeem your points for gift cards or specific items.  Redemption points start at 300 points for donations to different charities, or 335 points for a $1 Amazon gift card, to an Xbox one for 165,000 points.

Please use my referral code to get an additional 70 points when you sign up! Code: usckitty

Yet another mystery shopper app. I don't have much to say about Rewardable as yet again there has been nothing in my area that is available. The closest shop is 72 miles away from me. The app lists that they range from $.50 to $12 for each shop, but ALL of the ones I can see that range from 72 to 175 miles away are for $4-$5 only. The shops ask you to take photos, interact with associates, and post a review. There are a few mobile tasks available for $1.50 to $.50 each, but you have to be willing to give personal information, purchase something, or link to your Facebook account for most of them. There are a few games you can download and write a review about for $.50 without having to give additional information. You can withdraw your earnings once you have reached $5 on this app, unlike the $10 most others cap you at. I could not find any bonuses for referrals on this one. While you may be able to earn a few dollars with the game downloads, unless you live in a big city, this one is probably a bust.

If you like surveys like I do, this may be a fun app to make a few extra bucks with. After you register, there are 6 different surveys for $.25 each that ask for information to help you get chosen for future surveys. Each one of these is 1-2 minutes long. After that inital $1.50 however, it's a waiting game for new surveys. The app states that it lists new surveys 1-2 times a week. I will have to revist this one in a few months, but I'm guessing you might be able to cash out $10 every other month or so. At least this app pays out directly to Paypal instead of gift cards! There was no referral bonus listed for this app.

Update: I rarely get these and i'm only up to $3.25, but since it isn't really bothering me I leave it on for the once in a while survey.

Npolls is another way to earn extra cash by taking surveys. You have to be able to find a survey in order to make anything, and that's the difficult part. After just signing up and entering my information, I have no polls available to me. It does give you the option to create your own polls as well. This may be useful if you're in marketing or just curious what others think, but this seems like a waste of time for the average app user. This app lets you cash out with Paypal once you reach $10. There are no referral bonuses available. I will revisit this one later to see if it ever actually gives me a poll.

ibotta is more of a rebate type of application as you can only earn money after the product has been purchased. You can search by a specific store, restaurant, or movie theater, and then it will show you a specific product. Each product offers a certain amount of money that you can receive underneath its image. You must click on the image of the product and then there are different options of ways to earn money from that product. The options that may be available are to play trivia, take a poll, get a recipe, learn a fact, or post to Facebook or Twitter. Most of the products give you 2-3 options for $.25 each. Think you're done? Think again. After you've completed those, you must click redeem underneath the product and scan your receipt to show the purchase.
While this app has many steps for you to complete before you can redeem your payment, this could be quite useful if any of the products listed are something you were already planning on buying. There are only 2 products listed that I already buy, so over time that will total enough for me to cash out, it just may take a few months. Once you've reached a total of $10 you can cash out to Paypal or choose one of the gift card offers.
This app offers a $5 reward if someone who you referred registers AND completes an offer. Each invited friend will also receive a $2 bonus.

Please use my referral link for a $2 bonus: http://ibotta.com/r/tyFUQ


I will post updates after I have had these apps for 1-2 weeks. Have you tried any of these applications? Leave comments below!

2 week update: So far Shopkick and FieldAgent seem to be the best as there are more options to earn points or money. ibotta has had a rebate for milk and bread, but none of the other products were anything I needed. The only OnGo survey i've received was for $.10 for a 2-3 minute survey. FieldAgent has had a LOT of reviews open lately, but most of them are for Family Dollar and Dollar General which I have not gone too. I still rate them high as they are at least offering new reviews every day. Shopkick has its ups and downs. I have been able to get points when I entered Walmart, but in Target I tried to scan in when I was in the store and it did not recognize me. You have to scan within a yard from the front entrance in order to get the points. I also tried to scan one of the products in Walmart for additional points and constantly got an error message about a low signal. It does not save an image for you to update once you're out of the store, so in the large stores that decrease signal strength you're just SOL. 

5 week update: 

I have now been using these apps for over a month and I am ready to delete the ones that are just wasting memory in my phone. Although it has had some issues with scanning, Shopkick is still my favorite. They have a great deal to get points from a purchase if you link your Best Buy rewards card or your MasterCard or visa. What I like the most about Shopkick is that you can still get points each week even if you don't go anywhere. They have little mini shopping flyers to look through that usually show you 5-7 products and then you get a kick at the end. Just looking through these can get you 5-10 points a week. I love browsing anyway , so it's an easy way to get a few points. I reached the $2 mark after 3 weeks but I'm close to $5 now and I haven't gone anywhere the past few weeks. 

FieldAgent still consistently has new opportunities. Ibotta has listed more products, but it's a hassle to get the rebates. I have only gotten 1 other $.10 OnGo survey, and have not received a single poll from Npolls. Rewardable has had a lot of listings for McDonalds for $4 lately, but I don't ever go there. Checkpoints hasn't had any updates. 

Conclusion: I'm keeping Shopkick, FieldAgent, Ibotta, and OnGo for now and deleting the rest. I will probably lose more in the coming weeks as I have been  using Swagbucks more often. Check back soon for my review of Swagbucks.