Having multiple sources of passive income is a useful way to diversify your earnings. There are a variety of passive income apps you can download to start making money right away. None of these apps are going to make you a millionaire, but they are a simple way to get some extra spending cash. Some are even great apps for effortless money.
In this article, we cover apps that provide you with passive income, or in some cases, income from doing fun activities you’d enjoy. We’ll note instances where apps require some effort on your part but generally highlight the overall features of each passive income app and what makes it compelling to use.
Table of Contents
Best Passive Income Apps—Top Picks
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Real Estate Investing Platform
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Get 21 Free Stocks
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Primary Rating:
4.3
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Primary Rating:
4.2
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Start with as little as $10
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Commission-free trading.
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Best Passive Income Apps that Give You Money [& Make You Money]
Some notes on the items found in this list of passive income apps:
- Some require investing money and earning passive income from investments purchased in these accounts
- Some apps on this list either don’t need you to do more than download them or will pay you for activities you do anyway.
- Finally, some of these apps can’t work together, so you’ll need to determine which ones work best for you.
However, many can be running simultaneously, meaning even if each is only making a small amount, combined you can earn a noteworthy sum.
Let’s start first with the best passive income investing apps, then move to some favorable banking products that offer attractive interest rates on your assets, followed by the best cash back / savings passive income apps, then look at mobile phone passive income apps and gaming apps and finish with other passive income apps.
1. Fundrise
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: As low as $10 to start
While many of these passive income apps offer the potential to earn decent amounts of money for minimal effort, this app has one of the best opportunities to earn real money for your investment. Fundrise is not a cashback, loyalty, expense trimming, or gaming app. Instead, Fundrise is a online investment platform which enables you to invest in real estate based on your investing goals.
The service offers you real estate investment portfolio options which are prudently selected and proactively grown to build your wealth. This passive income app is among the best to help you take steps to financial independence. The Fundrise app allows you to invest in large real estate projects without needing to own the entire property, exposing you to risk. You can invest small amounts across several projects to diversify your portfolio and not have all of your money tied up in one real estate investment.
As you invest with Fundrise, the app updates you on the progress for each project you invested in inside of your portfolio.
To make the investment platform convenient, there is an iPhone app which gives you access to every feature available on their desktop platform. This accessibility means you can check in on your real estate investments wherever you might be. Some real estate investing apps require you to be an accredited investor to place your money with them for investment. However, Fundrise offers some products which non- accredited investors can access as well.
When you receive passive income from real estate investing on the Fundrise app, it can come to you in the form of dividends. If you don’t need the money and want to leave the funds on the platform, you can reinvest through a “dividend reinvestment program” offered by the company. Fundrise, along with other alternative investment options, are great to consider for growing your passive income.
Consider signing up for an account to learn more.
- Regardless of your net worth, you can now benefit from real estate’s unique potential for generating consistent cash flow and long-term gains with Fundrise starting as low as $10.
- Enjoy set-it-and-forget-it managed portfolios with standard Fundrise accounts, or actively select the funds you want to invest in with Fundrise Pro.
- Diversify your portfolio with real estate, private tech investing, or private credit.
- Low minimum investment ($10)
- Accredited and non-accredited investors welcome
- IRA accounts available
- Highly illiquid investment
Related: 11 Best Fundrise Alternatives [Accredited & Non-Accredited Apps]
2. Moomoo ($30-$30,000 in Free Stock)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free, no trading commissions
- Promotion: 15 free stocks, each valued between $2-$2,000
Moomoo is a commission-free trading platform for stocks, ETFs, and options. While Moomoo is best for advanced traders, offering powerful tools to empower your trading insights and strategies, it takes a different approach from other similarly targeted platforms, favoring simple interfaces and high ease of use. The desktop platform is highly customizable, while the mobile app is straightforward, allowing you to search for stocks and trade with minimal hassle.
Still, Moomoo has more than enough under the hood for advanced traders to get the job done. Its charting system, for instance, includes 62 technical analysis indicators and 22 drawing tools. You can set up alerts based on changes in price, bids, turnover ratio, and more. Free Level 2 market data helps you get a greater understanding of a stock’s value, determine how liquid a stock truly really is, and better time your trades. You can even enjoy 24/7 financial news handpicked by Moomoo’s editorial team.
→ How to get your free stock on Moomoo
You can receive up to 15 free shares (collectively worth anywhere between $30 and $30,000) from Moomoo. Here’s how:
- If you open a new brokerage account with Moomoo and fund it with $100, you’ll earn five free stocks valued between $2 and $2,000 each.
- If you make a net deposit of $1,000 or more in the promotion period, you’ll get a total of 15 free stocks valued between $2 and $2,000 each.
Enjoy these free bonus shares by opening an account with Moomoo through our link and making a qualifying deposit.
- Moomoo is an all-in-one investment app geared toward stock, ETF, and options traders who want to work with real-time market data at the ready.
- The service offers free Level 2 market data, offering more insight into the trading activity below the NBBO surface shown on many financial data sites.
- Use the service's powerful stock charting software capabilities to find trading opportunities.
- Get a great return on uninvested cash: Moomoo currently offers a 5.1% APY from its cash sweep program, though current promo offers 8.1% for a limited time.
- Special offer: Get up to 15 free stocks worth $30-$30,000 when you sign up through WealthUp, for opening a new account and funding it with certain minimums.*
- Free Level 2 market data
- Free powerful stock charting software
- Free paper trading
- Low margin rates
- Fewer features than peers
- No robo-advisor functionality
Related: Top Stock Trading Apps for Beginners to Start With Stocks
3. High-Yield Savings Account (Bread Savings)
While a bank account might not seem like a true passive income app, with interest rates on the rise and yields from banking products following suit, it’s hard to pass up these juicy passive income opportunities that carry zero risk. First, we’ll talk about the most liquid of banking products aimed at paying interest income: savings accounts—specifically, high-yield savings accounts.
High-yield savings accounts are a type of federally-insured savings account which aim to earn interest rates much higher than the national average. In recent years, they’ve not paid much to account holders. But, that’s starting to change.
Depending on where you look and the prevailing market interest rates overseen by the Federal Reserve, high-yield accounts can earn around 5.00% APY or more.
As a comparison, the national savings account average interest rate comes to 0.47% APY—a far cry from the most competitive offers in the market. All things equal, if you hold your money in an account which pays a higher interest rate, your balance will grow faster without any additional effort on your part.
To illustrate the effect of holding money in a high-yield savings account compared to one offering a far lower rate, consider the following comparison. After one year, a savings account balance of $10,000 would earn $10 in an account with a 0.47% APY. If this money had instead been placed in a high-yield savings account offering 5.00% APY, your money would have earned almost 11x more, or a total of $500.
As no depositor has lost a single cent in federally-insured funds since 1933, balances of up to $250,000 are encouraged to be held in high-yield savings accounts.
Consider placing your money in one of the most competitive high-yield savings accounts available on the market through Bread Financial. Read more about it below.
Bread Savings High-Yield Savings Account (formerly Comenity)
- Available: Sign up here
Bread Financial (formerly Comenity) is a financial tech platform offering spending, lending, and savings solutions, including the Bread Savings High-Yield Savings Account.
Bread Savings’ HYSA is a free, FDIC-insured account that offers an extremely competitive APY that currently beats the national average by a decent margin. You’ll also get to save a lot more of your money thanks to Bread’s wallet-friendly fee policies. Bread doesn’t charge a fee for monthly maintenance, online statements, ACH transfers, or incoming wire transfers. You can also make unlimited ACH and mobile check deposits.
Because Bread Savings is a tech service, not a bank, you won’t have access to brick-and-mortar locations. Instead, you access your account via the web or its mobile app, which is available on both iOS and Android. Bread also offers live-chat customer service seven days a week.
Bread Savings requires a $100 minimum deposit. Put your money to work with Bread via our link.
- Bread Savings High-Yield Savings Accounts are free, take just minutes to open, and carry highly competitive rates (currently 4.75% APY).
- Get started with this FDIC-insured account for as little as $100.
- Interest accrues and compounds daily, and is credited monthly.
Related: 10 Best Free Debit Cards for Kids & Teens [Earn, Save & Spend]
5. Certificates of Deposit (CIT Bank)
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) are offered by most banks and credit unions and are easy to open and understand. CDs are risk-free and insured in the United States for up to $250,000. They are another savings instrument like savings accounts but come with longer-term commitments, varying from three months to five years or more. They work by having you lend money to a bank for a set amount of time (the “term length”), with longer term lengths typically involving higher interest rates.
Much like any interest-bearing asset, the longer the term length or commitment, the higher interest rate and return you can expect to earn in exchange for losing access to your money for longer. During the term length, you gain interest on the principal at a rate usually higher than that of a high-yield savings account.
If you take money out during the term length, you’ll have to pay a penalty, so it isn’t wise to invest money you anticipate needing in the near future. The penalty can vary by institution and can range from as little as 90 days’ worth of interest but up to 18 months or more. You’ll need to read the fine print to understand how much you’d have to pay if you terminated your CD early.
Keep in mind that some CDs might have a lower interest rate than inflation and if that happens you may lose money. Depending on your current financial objectives, holding money in a risk-free CD might be one of the best investments for young adults who have short-term financial goals they need to meet.
- CIT Bank is an online bank which offers competitive interest rates on its multiple products
- Earn many times more than the national average interest rate by keeping your cash and other savings in one of CIT Bank's banking products
Related: Best Investing Apps for Teens
6. SurveyJunkie
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free
SurveyJunkie is a paid online survey site—that means using this passive income app requires effort on your part. We mention this here because it’s a quick way to share your opinion and get paid for your thoughts.
As you complete surveys through the site, the company will build a profile that matches you to new survey opportunities. You can redeem your points toward PayPal or e-gift cards at places like Amazon and Target.
You can participate in two offerings through Survey Junkie: (1) core Survey Junkie community attitudinal based market research studies like surveys and focus groups and (2) Survey Junkie Pulse Community to engage in behavioral market research such as sharing browsing activity.
- Survey Junkie lets you get paid for taking surveys and sharing your online browsing history.
- On average, members who take 3 surveys daily and opt-in to share their browsing info earn as much as $40 per month.
- Survey Junkie points can be redeemed for rewards including cash through PayPal or bank transfer and gift cards for Amazon, Target, Walmart, Sephora, Starbucks, Visa, iTunes, and more.
- Minimum cash-out: $5 (500 points).
- Age restrictions: Must be at least 18 years old to participate.
- Pays you for easy tasks
- Offers gift cards from numerous merchants
- Offers cash back
- Some teens can participate (ages 16+)
- Not a lucrative side hustle
Related: How Old Do You Have to Be to Buy Stocks?
7. Branded Surveys
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free
Another survey app worth considering to build some passive, *clears throat*, mostly passive income is Branded Surveys (we’ll remind you that this app doesn’t provide truly passive income, more low effort income through completing paid surveys).
More than three million users earn points through Branded Surveys and the service has paid out over $36 million. Depending on the survey length, users make anywhere from $0.50 to $5 per survey. There are more than 100 gift card options to use your points towards or you can always choose to get cash. Alternatively, you can make a charitable donation.
The surveys available to you will depend on your profile and what research partners currently need. The service tries to match with surveys relevant to our interests, as well.
Branded Surveys promises to keep your personal data safe and it’s highly rated on Trustpilot.
- Branded Surveys, which boasts more than 3 million users, pays you to take surveys to share your thoughts on future products and services.
- You earn points for completing each survey and can redeem them toward cash (paid via direct deposit or PayPal), gift cards at more than 100 merchants including Amazon and Apple, or even donations to your favorite charity.
- Earn anywhere from 50 cents to $5 per completed survey (longer ones tend to pay more).
- Minimum cash-out: $5 (500 points).
- Age restrictions: Must be at least 13 years old to participate. Teens age 13 to 17 must have parental consent.
- Special offer: Get 100 free points (worth $1) for signing up.
- Pays you for easy tasks
- Offers gift cards from numerous merchants
- Offers cash back
- Teens can participate (ages 13+)
- Not a lucrative side hustle
Related: Best Online Jobs for Teens to Make Money From Home Or On The Go
8. EquityMultiple’s Alpine Notes (Accredited Investors Only)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: (free)
Are you an accredited investor looking for a short-term investment with attractive returns? Meet EquityMultiple’s Alpine Note series.
Alpine Notes are a savings alternative with competitive rates of return on three-, six-, and nine-month notes, providing another means of conservative diversification and short-term yield. Compared to the commercial real estate crowdfunding platform’s other investment offerings, these notes are extremely short-term in nature, and thus an optimal choice for EquityMultiple users who want better liquidity.
While the notes aren’t as liquid as a savings account, they do offer maturity dates that tend to be shorter than your typical CD—and significantly higher rates of return. While this product isn’t FDIC-insured, EquityMultiple does add a degree of protection by assuming the first-loss position in case of default. That means EquityMultiple will purchase a small portion of the aggregate notes issued in a series and will only receive payments after all other investors receive their total principal and interest. Such an arrangement puts their capital at risk, adding skin in the game and aligning their interests with yours.
In case you’re wondering what EquityMultiple does with your funds that justifies paying you such a healthy return, the platform takes the capital you provide and uses it as a line of credit to sponsors who bring real estate investments to EquityMultiple’s core investment platform. The credit allows sponsors to receive surety of funding on initial closing, thus attracting more high-quality investments from high-quality sponsors.
With EquityMultiple’s Alpine Note, you’ll need to be both an accredited investor and have at least $5,000 to participate. If you’re interested in accessing higher yields than traditional CDs or money market accounts, the Alpine Note series is one of the simplest and most efficient ways to take advantage of EquityMultiple’s real estate investment opportunities without tying up your money long-term.
- EquityMultiple offers a yield-focused alternative to savings that bear contractual fixed annual interest rates of 6.00%, 7.05% or 7.4% (all of which are higher than rates currently offered by leading high-yield savings accounts and CDs).*
- The savings-like product offers reasonable levels of liquidity, carrying the option to redeem early to invest into other offerings after holding the note for 30 days.
- Interest accrues and compounds on a monthly basis, enhancing the effective annualized rate of return.
- High rates of return
- No fees on investment
- Ability to withdraw funds for other offerings after 30 days
- EquityMultiple assumes "first-loss position," providing skin-in-the-game alongside other investors
- Only available to accredited investors
- Not FDIC-insured, nor are returns guaranteed
9. Public.com (Up to $300 Bonus)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free
- Promotion: Up to $300 + Account Transfer Bonus
Public.com is a newer investing service which offers you the opportunity to invest in numerous types of stocks while also enabling you to connect with other investors as you would on social media.
The service offers themed bundles of stocks where you can invest in several companies which share common characteristics. These items can include topics like environmentally-conscious companies, diversity and inclusion-focused enterprises, produce their goods in America, and many more.
You can also subscribe to their Premium service to learn significantly more about companies of interest, offering you more details to inform your investment decisions. The Premium service makes the investment app a useful stock analysis app.
Also, Public.com offers you the ability to purchase fractional shares in companies that carry higher stock prices without dropping the full share price.
Public.com requires no investing minimum to begin nor does it require any account minimums. Signing up can net you free stocks and make trying it out worth your while.
Public.com offers a generous account transfer bonus for assets you choose to move from other brokers (including covering up to $500 in fees charged from your existing broker):
| Transfer Amount | Bonus |
|---|---|
| $5,000 – $24,999 | $150 |
| $25,000 – $99,999 | $500 |
| $100,000 – $499,999 | $2,000 |
| $500,000 – $999,999 | $5,000 |
| $1,000,000+ | $10,000 |
Read more in our Public.com investing app review.
- Public.com offers zero-commission trading on thousands of stocks and ETFs, available as fractional shares. The app also allows you to invest in cryptocurrency, and it's one of the rare brokerages that allows its users to buy alternative assets.
- Earn a 5.3% yield with Public.com's Treasury Account, which allows you to earn state- and local-tax-exempt income from T-bills.
- Use a social feed where members can share why they believe in certain companies (or don't) and can post comments on others' trades.
- Invest in curated lists of stocks and ETFs for people to aggregate investments by interest area or values.
- Subscribe to Public Premium for features such as advanced company-level data, Morningstar insights, and exclusive audio content from Public.com's expert analysts.
- Special offer: Transfer investments from another broker to Public.com and earn between $150 and $10,000.*
- Fractional shares
- Allows you to trade alternative assets
- No payment for order flow (PFOF)
- Creative social investing features
- Doesn't support mutual funds
- Limited investment research and other tools
Related: Best Fractional Share Brokerages for Buying Partial Stocks & ETFs
Other Top Investment Opportunities to Consider
Check out some of these other investment options for a complete listing of every FinTech-enabled investment opportunity popping up. They might represent some of the best assets to buy for your portfolio.
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Stock Trading App for Beginners
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Online Real Estate Investing
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Blue-Chip Art Investing Platform
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4.5
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4.4
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4.0
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Commission-free trading. Robinhood Gold: Free 30-day trial, then $5/mo.
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Most funds: 0.85% annual fee. Fundrise Innovation Fund: 1.85% annual fee.
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Minimum investment: $1,000
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10. Mistplay
- Available: Sign up here (Android Only)
- Price: Free
Mistplay is a great way to earn money by playing video games, participating in contests, and earning money through a loyalty program targeted to gamers.
While this app requires some effort on your part on a regular basis, we included it on our list because it monetizes something you already may do: playing games.
To make money using the Mistplay app (only available on Android at the moment) you can find new games on the app’s mix list, select ones which interest you and gather points from your play activity.
From there, you can redeem these earned points toward prizes and invite friends to the app to earn more or join competitions to improve your ranking on the Mistplay app.
Additionally, the service offers unit multipliers to earn more points. It is worth trying out games with unit multipliers of 3X and 4X, because this allows you to earn gift cards 8X faster than a game with a 0.5X unit multiplier.
- Mistplay is a loyalty program where you can earn points toward gift cards and PayPal cash by playing video games.
- Mistplay also holds weekly contests and offers an “epic” grand prize in the last contest of each month.
- Currently, Mistplay is only available on Android devices.
- Minimum cash-out: $5 for gift cards, $10 for PayPal cash.
- Age restrictions: You must be at least 18 years old to participate.
11. Rakuten ($10 bonus)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free
Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates) has become one of the most popular apps for offering rewards and savings to users who shop through the app. To take advantage of the shopping savings, you can either shop through their online platform or install the Rakuten Chrome browser extension which identifies potential shopping savings as you browse online retailers.
When you use Rakuten to get shopping savings, the rewards you earn will first go to Rakuten, and then be distributed to users. However, the Rakuten app also provides rewards for other offers in addition to savings earned from shopping.
The Rakuten app is free to users and earns money by keeping a portion of the savings earned from retailers and affiliate links. Rakuten leverages its massive scale to extract affiliate revenue from over 2,500 retailers and then shares this savings with users.
For signing up with Rakuten, you can also receive a $10 bonus and earn as much as 40% cashback on your purchases made through the app.
- When you shop with Rakuten (formerly Ebates) activated, Rakuten automatically identifies potential shopping savings at thousands of retailers, and it pays you cash-back rewards for buying with those merchants.
- Offers available both online and in-store.
- Cash-back rewards add up as you complete offers. Payments are then sent out every three months, via PayPal or check.
- Minimum cash-out: $5.01.
- Age restrictions: Must be at least 18 years old to participate.
- Special offer: Receive a $10 bonus just for signing up!
- Easily earn savings for shopping
- Offers cash back
- Convenient Chrome extension
- Payments only sent out once per quarter
12. Acorns ($20 Bonus)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Acorns Personal: $3/mo. Acorns Personal Plus: $6/mo. Acorns Premium: $12/mo.
Acorns is one of the best micro investing apps which can help you invest your money. Initially designed only to offer “round-ups,” or when the app takes money spent on linked debit card purchases rounded up to the nearest dollar and investing it, it has quickly expanded into other services as well.
One feature, “found money,” is when the app finds additional money to deposit in your account when you shop with companies partnered with Acorns. The service charges a low monthly fee (as low as $3/mo.). This makes the app one of the best investments for young adults.
It’s best to use on mobile, which also appeals to younger demographics. Because the app automatically works on your behalf as you make regular purchases or deposits, Acorns is a good fit for young adults who want to invest small amounts incrementally and see it grow over time.
Additionally, Acorns now also has “Acorns Spend” which is the first checking account with a debit card that saves, invests, and earns on your behalf. Learn more in our Acorns review.
- Acorns allows you to sign up for investment, retirement, and checking accounts for you and your family, learn how to earn more money, and grow your investing knowledge.
- Famous for investing spare change automatically through Round-Ups, this all-in-one financial app helps younger generations start investing earlier.
- Invest in expert-built portfolios made up of diversified ETFs.
- New Premium tier includes perks such as live Q&As with financial experts, a 50% match on Acorns Earn rewards (up to $200/mo.), $10,000 in life insurance, and the ability to pick individual stocks for their portfolios.
- Earn even more with Later Match: Acorns will match up to 1% (Personal Plus) or 3% (Premium) of all new IRA contributions.
- Special offer: Get $20 to start*.
- Robo-advisor with affordable fees (on larger portfolios)
- Fixed fee model
- Round-ups
- FDIC/SIPC insurance
- IRA match (Personal Plus and Premium)
- High fixed fees for small balances
- Limited investment selections
- Must subscribe to Premium for any self-directed investing options
Related: Best Acorns Alternatives: Micro-Investing Apps to Use
13. Swagbucks ($5 bonus)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free
Swagbucks is a great app for making money by doing everyday activities. For example, you can make money by watching videos, playing games, taking online surveys, and more. While Swagbucks requires some activity on your part, because these are fun activities and things you are likely to do anyway, it monetizes your current activity. In a sense, that makes Swagbucks a passive income app.
To get started, you will just need to sign up for a Swagbucks account and begin participating in some routine tasks offered through the app. You will see your earnings grow as you participate in more and more activities.
And for opening an account, you’ll also earn a free $5 bonus. Once you sign up, you can earn extra money by referring friends to the app as well.
- Get paid to answer surveys, watch videos, and shop online with Swagbucks.
- Earn "SB," which you can redeem for PayPal cash, prepaid MasterCards, or gift cards at dozens of retailers, including Amazon, Target, Dunkin', and GameStop.
- Minimum cash-out: $3 (300 SB)
- Age restrictions: Must be at least 13 years old to participate.
- Special offer: New users receive a $10 bonus when you spend at least $25.*
- Pays you for easy tasks
- Offers gift cards from numerous merchants
- Offers cash back
- Teens can participate (ages 13+)
- Not a lucrative side hustle
14. InboxDollars ($5 bonus)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free
InboxDollars allows you to make extra money while you do easy tasks. The cashback program also offers rewards for watching things you like on TV, taking surveys online, or money back from shopping or participating in cash offers.
This app acts as a rewards club for all kinds of activities you do on a daily basis. InboxDollars provides you real cash for shopping, searching for information on the web, watching videos and taking surveys online.
While this passive income app won’t land a ton of money in your pockets at once, InboxDollars is a great way to earn some extra money with a little additional work on your part. And if you’d like to sign up to try the service, they also offer a $5 bonus just to get started.
- InboxDollars allows you to earn cash by taking surveys or reading emails, and earn cash-back rewards for online shopping and even spending on games.
- Minimum cash-out: $15.
- Age restrictions: Must be at least 18 years old or the age of majority in your state or province, whichever is greater, to participate.
- Special offer: Sign up now and get a $5 bonus.
- Pays you for easy tasks
- Offers gift cards from numerous merchants
- Offers cash back
- No confusing points system
- Not a lucrative side hustle
15. Rocket Money
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free. Premium subscription varies from $3/mo. to $12/mo.
Rocket Money (formerly TrueBill) acts as a money-saving and management app dedicated to reviewing your expenses and automating potential opportunities to uncover the true cost of your bills … and lower them.
By working as an automated financial manager, it will proactively work on your behalf to reduce your monthly bills on items like cell service, internet connection, and other utilities and on-going subscriptions.
When you employ Rocket Money effectively, the money it saves in the background causes it to double as a great productivity app.
As another powerful feature, Rocket Money can right-size your subscriptions if you’ve been upsold on services you no longer need. For example, if you subscribed to a service provider’s premium package but haven’t used many of the included benefits, Rocket Money can slash the cost by reverting you to a lower service tier. This saves you money by removing unused service offerings.
Rocket Money can negotiate your bills for you, though the service is an additional charge. You choose a percentage (between 30% to 60%) of the first-year savings as a “success fee” when you submit your negotiation request. And you don’t have to pay if the negotiation is unsuccessful.
Users also choose how much they want to pay (between $3 and $12 per month) for a Premium subscription, which includes features such as Unlimited Budgets, Premium Chat, Smart Savings, and more. Those who pay $3 to $4 per month can choose to be billed annually.
- Rocket Money helps you to manage your finances by optimizing your spending, evaluating your current subscriptions, lowering your bills, and overall staying on top of your financial life.
- Rocket Money provides you a complete picture of your finances and helps you to reach your savings goals.
- Premium subscriptions include features such as Unlimited Budgets, Premium Chat, Smart Savings, and more.
- Free plan available
- Wide range of compatible accounts
- Bill negotiation
- Limited free tools
- Limited customer support
16. Nielson Computer & Mobile Panel
Formed in 1923 and touting an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, the Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel is a reputable source for passive income. On your end, all you have to do is download it.
The app tracks your non-sensitive data, such as which websites you’re visiting. In exchange, you receive $50 per year to keep it downloaded on your devices and you can download it on multiple devices. You’ll also earn entries into the company’s $10,000 monthly sweepstakes.
17. MobileXpression
- Available: Play Store, iOS
- Price: Free
This passive app gives you a $5 Amazon gift card after it runs in your smartphone’s background for a week. MobileXpression is a market research community with the goal of improving the mobile internet.
You get rewarded for sharing your mobile surfing activity with them (meaning it collects your data). Rewards include gift cards for Starbucks, Best Buy, or Amazon.
You’ll likely only earn a reward every month and a half or so, but it is an effortless app requiring zero effort on your end once installed. Not every smartphone is eligible, so make sure to check their website to see if you qualify.
Signing up for MobileXpression is free and only requires you to install the app on your smartphone or tablet. To make sure the app is working in the background for effortless money, you’ll need to open the app periodically to claim the credits you’re earning by using the app.
Each week you run the app will earn you 5 credits and when you have earned 30 credits (5 credits per week * 6 weeks), you can then redeem these credits for a $5 gift card of your choice.
However, if you have more patience and choose to wait longer, you can accumulate 50 credits (10 weeks) and redeem them for a $10 gift card. As a further bonus, just for signing up and installing the app, you’ll receive a bonus.
As far as strategy, it becomes a better deal to wait until you have 50 points earned on your account. If you choose to do this, you can earn ~$50 in gift cards per year ($10 per 10 weeks at 52 weeks per year). What’s better is you can install the app on multiple devices to earn more credits.
Remember, this app provides MobileXpression access to your browsing history and sells it to interested parties. If you don’t mind this, MobileXpression is a great way to make extra money effortlessly.
The service states they do not collect or view your text messages, emails, or other personal content.
18. Airbnb
Airbnb allowed my wife and I to earn enough passive income to cover our mortgage payment for two and a half years when we lived in New Orleans. We had an extra bedroom in a lock off unit behind us which allowed guests to come and go as they pleased with complete privacy.
The arrangement recreated the experience of a hotel where you had an entire space to yourself and never had the worry of running into the host. We made a minimum of $500 per month and up to $2,500 on our busiest months (Mardi Gras).
Of all the apps listed here, it is my favorite because it has the highest earning potential if you have extra space in your house or apartment to rent.
If short-term rentals are allowed in your area, Airbnb is a great option to earn additional cash.
What’s also great is because it made the short-term rental business an acceptable housing arrangement for the masses, you have access to a database of millions of users instantly who can quickly become customers.
It’s possible to get guests the same day you post your listing.
However, this app relies on positive reviews so you will need to do a good job of being a host or you won’t have great success in having your listing get booked consistently. Do well enough for an extended period of time and become an Airbnb Superhost.
If you do well, price your listing accurately, and keep it available, you will have cash flow in your pocket in no time. Turn your extra space into an income-generating asset in no time.
Active vs. Passive Income
Sometimes there is confusion over what falls into the categories of active income versus passive income. Active income is money you earn directly from work you perform. This includes both hourly and salary work. In other words, you’re trading your time or skills for money.
Active income is the most common form of income, which includes standard “day jobs,” freelancing “side gigs,” and activities such as consulting or coaching.
Conversely, passive income is money earned with assets you control and aren’t actively putting work into. This includes sales from products, such as apps or books.
These earnings could also be from rental real estate business profits, investment returns, or affiliate earnings. You can also earn money without spending time through passive income apps.
Many articles and people will describe any easy work, such as taking surveys or watching ads as passive income because it doesn’t involve much mental or physical effort. But you’re still trading your time to do these activities.
Most of the money-making apps I mention in this article don’t require you to do much more than download them and let earnings accumulate.
However, I also include some apps which monetize activities you already enjoy doing. The money might accumulate slowly, but it’s doing so without significant additional effort on your part.
Are Passive Income Apps Safe?
In truth, this question involves multiple considerations and factors. One common theme for these apps is whether they take the necessary steps and precautions to prevent fraud as well as protecting users’ data, privacy and money.
Many opportunities exist for apps to make money passively, which is why you should be selective with the ones you choose. These items should factor into your consideration before signing up for an account.
I chose to create this list of passive income apps to save you time from searching out these opportunities on your own, saving you both time and effort.
When reviewing these passive income opportunities, make sure to check their reviews on the Better Business Bureau, Google Play Store and the App Store. Some apps might promise features which many other users did not find to be the case.
Find out from others whether these passive income apps live up to their promises. Further, use these ratings to plan which you pursue and avoid potential disappointments down the road.
Make Money Online Effortlessly with Passive Income Apps
These passive income apps won’t earn you enough to quit your job. However, they are a great way to make some extra spending money, especially if you use multiple apps. Plus, if you invest the money you earn wisely, it can grow.
Once you get a taste of passive income, you may also be more inclined to work towards passive income sources that are more profitable. Just take a few minutes to set up some apps, sit back, and let them start earning money for you.
