How to Make Money from your Phone: 8 Fun and Unique Ideas

I’m always on the hunt to make extra money, but you might wonder how do you do it without committing to a second job or starting a business?

Believe it or not, you can make money from your phone. It sounds crazy, but you can start investing, declutter, and find freelance gigs by finding the right website or app.

You likely spend a lot of time with your phone in your hand anyway, so see whether any of the following options can help you put your phone to work.

Earning potential: Depends on your shopping habits, but you could earn up to $10 - $200+ depending on how much you spend

This is one of my favorite ways to make money from my phone. Cash back apps help you earn back a small percentage of the money you spend and it only takes a few seconds to activate the offers.

There are many apps or websites you can use to earn cash back on your shopping trips including:

• Ibotta: Earn cash back for your grocery purchases by uploading a receipt, linking your store loyalty card, or shopping online at select stores.
• Rakuten: Rakuten (formerly Ebates) works with 3,500 stores to pay you a percentage of your purchases back. The kicker is that you must shop through the Rakuten portal, not through the store itself to get credit.
• Fetch: Fetch is one of the easiest cashback apps because you can upload receipts from anywhere without activating offers first and earn at least 25 points. They also offer bonus points if you purchase certain items noted in your dashboard.

Earning potential: 15% - 40% of the photo price or $5, depending on the app

If you’re great at taking pictures, you can make money off them by selling them on a few sites:

• Shutterstock: You can upload your pictures to the Shutterstock platform and whenever one of their customers purchases a picture, video, or clip you earn a commission. You can sell your photos as many times as someone will buy them and can earn 15-40% of the photo price.
• Foap: This app gives you the chance to sell your content to brands. Each photo sells for $10 and you make 50% or $5 per photo. You can also join missions which are specific photos requested by companies.

As your portfolio of photos grows, these sites could become a source of passive income.

Earning potential: Varies

Investing doesn’t mean you have to work with a human broker and have thousands of dollars to invest.

When you use your phone, you can download apps that have no minimum investment requirements and may even do the investing for you, such as:

• Robinhood: This investment app that lets you invest in various options, including individual stocks, exchange-traded funds, options, and even cryptocurrency, for as little as $1 through fractional share investing. Robinhood has a $0 minimum investment requirement.
• Acorns: If you don’t have much to invest, consider Acorns, the micro-investing app. Acorns rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and automatically invests the “spare change.” It’s a robo-advisor so it does all the work for you; all you have to do is answer some questions about your goals and risk tolerance to start. Some of your online shopping may even be eligible for bonus investments that add to your Acorns portfolio.

Earning potential: $1 - $50+ depending on what you play

Playing games doesn’t seem like something you could earn money from, but there are several legitimate apps that you can make money playing video games. Keep in mind that typically to use these apps, you must deposit funds, then if you win the tournament, you win cash. It’s a little risky, but if you love playing games like solitaire or bingo.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Solitaire Cash: If you love classic solitaire, this game puts a competitive edge on it. With this app you play timed games and the earlier you finish, the more points you earn. You can pay to play (minimum $5) or use gems earned by playing practice rounds to continue playing in tournaments. But to win cash, you must pay.
• Bingo Clash: Take your bingo game to the next level with Bingo Clash. This isn’t a game about luck, but rather strategy and skill. The faster you dab, the higher your chances are of winning. You can also play free games, but you won’t earn cash for them.
• Rewarded Play: This app pays you in gift cards to play various free online games. It’s their way of helping companies market their new games. You don’t have to pay anything to play, and can earn small gift cards for your time.
• Cash Alarm: Like Rewarded Play, this app pays you small amounts of money to play various free online games. You can earn cash or gift cards and don’t have to deposit money to play.

Before signing up for any game apps, read the fine print, know what’s required of you, including how much you must deposit to start earning cash.

Earning potential: $0.50 - $20+ depending on how many you complete

Taking surveys is another way I love to make money from my phone. Like games, you can do this task anywhere, making money in your free time. When you answer surveys, you help companies and brands know more about what consumers want.

There are many apps that offer surveys, including those that only offer surveys, and some get-paid-to-sites that offer various tasks to earn money:

• Survey Junkie: This popular survey site pays points for every survey you answer, after passing a screener. You can trade your points for gift cards or cash. They also offer Survey Pulse via browser extension or an app which automatically tracks your browsing behavior in exchange for rewards.
• InboxDollars: This get-paid-to-site pays you to take surveys, shop online, read emails, grocery shop and play games. According to InboxDollars, surveys pay between $0.25 and $5, depending on the length. You can fill in the gaps with cash back from shopping, playing games, or reading emails, although only expect a few cents per email (viewing ads).
• Swagbucks: This popular get-paid-to-site offers online surveys, online shopping through their portal, redeeming special Swag codes, and playing games, all of which earn you rewards called SB. You can redeem your SBs for PayPal cash, a check in the mail, or gift cards.

Earning potential: Varies greatly but $5 - $25+/hour depending on the gig

If you have special skills or love doing things like walking dogs or delivering food, you can sign up for a gig app that helps you advertise your services and match with potential clients.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Taskrabbit: With Taskrabbit, you set up gigs to offer services, such as helping people move, assembling furniture, painting, and even marketing or being a personal assistant. You set your rate and hours and all communication and payment goes through Taskrabbit while you leverage their large audience.
• Fiverr: If you have special skills such as data entry, graphic design, content writing, or video editing, you can list your services on Fiverr, and set your own rates. Fiverr keeps 20% of your earnings for using their platform, but you get the advantage of leveraging their large audience.
• Rover: If you love furry friends, you can make money offering dog walking or pet sitting services. You decide what you’ll do and how much you’ll charge. You can match with potential clients on Rover and make money from your phone.
• DoorDash: If you have a reliable vehicle and like to drive, you can make money picking up restaurant orders and delivering them to customers. You decide when you’re available and can even accept or decline specific orders. DoorDash pays drivers a flat fee, plus you keep 100% of the tips earned.

Earning potential: $1 - $50+ depending on what you sell

Resale apps can be an excellent way to put things gathering dust to good use. I encourage you to determine which app will offer the highest price and largest audience as they each cater to different items:

• eBay: Most people have heard of eBay, which lets users choose between auctioning an item to the highest bidder or setting a fixed price. Although listing unwanted items on eBay can be a great way to clear clutter, the site has multiple fees that sellers must pay when listing or completing a sale and works best for rare or vintage items.
• Poshmark: Poshmark offers a similar service for gently used clothes and will help you list your item within the app. Take a photo, add a description, and set the sale price. When an item sells, Poshmark will provide a prepaid, pre-addressed label so you can ship directly to the buyer. Poshmark keeps 20% of the sales price.
• Decluttr: If you have piles of old cell phones, tablets, and other tech, the Decluttr app will pay you for sending items to them for resale. Just enter the product details and Decluttr will offer an instant price, which is good for 28 days. If you accept the price offered, send your old tech to Decluttr using a prepaid label the company sends you. Once Decluttr receives your box and verifies the devices are as described, they will pay you the quoted price.

Earning potential: $1 - $50+ depending on the app

Learning how to make money online doesn’t have to only involve staring at a computer or phone. You can even make money by getting healthy or losing weight:

• Sweatcoin: The free app converts your efforts into Sweatcoins, which you can exchange for goods and services redeemed through the Sweatcoin marketplace. You can even donate your Sweatcoins to a charity through their app or website.
• HealthyWage: If you’re trying to lose weight, you can make a game out of it by joining HealthyWage. You bet on yourself to achieve your weightloss goals and can win cash prizes if you meet them. The downside is you must deposit or wager your own money for a chance to win, but if money motivates you to continue on your health journey, it may be a good option.

None of these options will help you earn a full-time living, but using the ideas on this list can help you earn a little extra money.

Even if earning $0.50 per survey or a few dollars to play a game seems like a waste of time, give it time. The funds can add up quickly, allowing you to reach your financial goals, whether it’s saving for an emergency fund, a dream vacation, or just paying for those extra Starbucks trips throughout the week.

I encourage you to do your research and read reviews before signing up to help avoid scams or apps that don’t pay. And for more ideas, check out this list of the best side hustles.