Top 5 Real Money Earning Apps

I personally earn money from the top 5 apps in this list and will also share with you 5 other legitimate money-earning apps through people I’ve interviewed and testimonials. Out of all the online earning apps I have used and researched, these are the winners.
Today, we are talking about the world’s best 20 Refer and Earn apps, which gives you an opportunity to earn Unlimited money with your smartphone. Some applications are available on the internet which provides you Refer & Earn program that you can earn good amount of money by sharing that app with your friends or family members.

If you are also looking for ways to additional ways to make money from home check out our most popular article, 30 real ways to make money from home part-time. We uncovered the best apps to make money that you may have never heard of with really great earning potential. The 90 Best Money Making Apps of 2021 Apps that Pay You to Play Games 1. Mistplay is one of our favorite apps here at YMG! The app lets Android users easily make money while having fun and playing mobile video games.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. We may receive a commission when you click on them, but this is at no extra cost to you. Read our privacy policy for more information.

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Money making apps are a great way to earn some extra income in your spare time. They provide a quick way to get cash on the go without much extra effort. But you want to know the best way to earn money from these apps? Referring your friends.

Some apps give a specific percentage per referral, and some give a specific cash bonus – as much as $10 per friend referred.

Not only that, but once your friend signs-up using your referral link or code, all of the work is left up to them, meaning you don’t have to do a thing to earn some extra cash.

Here are our top 10 choices for money making apps with the best referral programs (and thanks for using our referral links!). See one that’s not on the list and should be? Let us know in the comments below.

Table of Contents

1. Ibotta
2. Swagbucks
3. Ebates
4. Checkout 51
5. Boom Gift
6. Amazon Shopping App
7. AppMan
8. CashPirate
9. FreeAppsFast
10. Slidejoy

1. Ibotta

If you’ve been following the FFL blog for a while now, you’ve probably heard of Ibotta. Not only is it one of the easiest ways to earn cash back on groceries, but it has one of the best referral bonuses I’ve seen.

Ibotta is available for both Android and iPhone devices and pays you to scan your grocery receipt. If you buy a specific product that matches one of the groceries that Ibotta sponsors, you can get cash back for your grocery purchase.

Earn anywhere from $.20 cents to $10 per item. On average I’d say you can get about $.50 cents per product.

New product offers are presented each week, and I make an extra $10 – $20 per month with a limited amount of effort.

The Referral Bonus

The best part about Ibotta is their referral bonus at $10 per referral – Incredible?!?! When your friend uses your referral link to sign-up and scans their first receipt, you get $10, and your friend also gets $10. It’s a win-win situation.

A great way to spread the word is on Facebook, and since the app is so great anyways it’s usually not difficult to convince them to join under me.

You won’t find an app that gives such a high referral bonus for such a simple task. It’s no wonder we feature this app in our sidebar. There’s no cap to the amount of referrals earned.

2. Swagbucks

If you haven’t heard about Swagbucks from FFL, you’ve probably heard of it across a thousand other blogs on the web. This is one of the best money-making programs out there and it’s not going away any time soon.

Swagbucks makes it incredibly easy for you to earn some quick cash online. You can watch videos, take surveys, participate in daily polls, shop online and much more to earn extra cash.

Each time you complete a task, you’re given points called Swagbucks that can be exchanged for cash prizes such as gift cards or PayPal withdrawals.

Making money with Swagbucks is so easy that we even put together a passive guide to earning $70 watching Swagbucks videos from your phone.

The reason for this is because you don’t need to click anything to go to the next video since they start automatically.

The Referral Bonus

While the referral bonus for Swagbucks isn’t as high as any of the other apps we’ve previously mentioned, it’s still quite good. You earn 10% of whatever your friends earn, and it doesn’t matter how they earn their Swagbucks.

What I personally do is show my friends how easy it is to let your phone autoplay and earn points from Swagbucks videos. They earn points quickly, and I get 10% of that amount. It’s a win-win situation.

I’m not sure why, but I tend to have a tough time getting people to stay with it. It’s most likely because most people think they have to participate in surveys and other tasks to earn cash. I personally only do videos since I see every other task as time consuming.

Friends don’t need a referral code but rather use a link to sing-up under you. Usually I can at least get an extra $.50 cents per friend I refer. It’s a goldmine when they decide to stick with it.

3. Ebates

Some people consider Ebates to be more of a website than a shopping app, but we couldn’t not put it on this list. If it were a more popular phone app we’d probably rank it at #1 due to their incredible referral program.

Ebates is an online shopping portal that gives you money for using their referral links to different retailers that they’re partnered with. For example, Ebates has a relationship with Walmart, so let’s say you want to go shopping there.

Click on the Walmart link on the Ebates page to be redirected to the Walmart website. Buy something and Ebates earns a small commission. Instead of keeping this money to themselves, they give it all back to you in the form of “cash back.” If this sounds a bit confusing (because it is), you can read our full shopping portal guide.

Ebates doesn’t have the best cash back rates around compared to other shopping portals, but depending on the retailer they can have some good rates. Furthermore, they often hold promotions in which they double cash back for certain stores. You also get a free $10 gift card just for registering as a new user.

The Referral Bonus

As mentioned above, Ebates has one of the best referral programs out there. Their program works around a tier-based system, meaning the more you refer, the more you earn. Here’s what you can earn:

Refer 1 friend and get $10
Refer 2 friends and get $40

Keep in mind that if you refer 1 friend, the second friend has to be referred within a 3-month period for you to bump up to a total of $50 in referral bonuses from both. If you refer a 3rd friend it goes back down to $10, the fourth to $40, etc.

Not only that, but for each friend you refer you’ll also be entered in their vacation giveaway. Right now they’re giving away an all-expense paid vacation to Disneyland for two. While it’s highly unlikely you’ll win, it’s still a nice touch.

In order to receive your referral bonus, your friend will have to receive cash back from at least one store. Ebates now has the option to earn cash back in-store as well, one of the only shopping portals that currently provides this option.

4. Checkout 51

It wasn’t until recently that Checkout 51 became a top contender for one of the best money making app referral programs. Until as of a couple of weeks ago, they didn’t even have a referral program. You could use the app all you want, but there wasn’t any incentive to really spread the word.

Like Ibotta, Checkout 51 also pays you to scan your grocery receipts to your phone. The key difference between the two is that while it matters where you shop with Ibotta, you can shop at any store and still get cash back with Checkout 51. Buying bananas at Trader Joe’s, Walmart, or a grocery store no one has ever heard of? Scan the receipt and you’ll still get an extra $.25 cents.

However, Ibotta wins in the sense that they do tend to have a lot more offers. Furthermore, it’s only a slight disadvantage that you have to shop at specific stores when using their since they’re now partnered with a wide variety of different retailers. If most people have heard of it, you should be able to scan your receipt.

The Referral Bonus

Now when a friend uses your referral link to sign-up for Checkout 51, you both earn a referral bonus of $5 after your friend gets validated for scanning their first receipt. This requires almost no effort, and again, since the app is so great it shouldn’t be a problem convincing your friend.

It usually takes 24 hours before your accounts get credited, and there’s no cap on the amount of referrals earned.

There is one minor setback, however. Since this is such a new referral program, Checkout 51 is still in the testing phase.

They had originally planned to stop the program on June 15th, but since it’s been doing so well they’ve extended it until the end of June. Be sure to check back here for updates, as we’ll definitely cover it if they decide to extend the bonus even further (let’s hope they do!).

5. Boom Gift

Not many people have heard of the Boom Gift App (code 6702298 for bonus on sign-up) which is quite unfortunate. It has a high potential for earning from your smartphone, and comes with one of the highest referral bonuses around.

Boom Gift is a mobile app available for both iOS and Android devices that pays you for download apps and trying them out. Usually the only thing that’s required is to download the app and open it.

However, we recommend opening it for a minimum of 30 seconds to ensure that your account gets credited.

Most apps pay anywhere from $.50 cents to $1 per download, and their selection is updated quite frequently. Using this app alone without any referral bonus could net you around an extra $15 – $20 per month. Not bad for simply making a few installations.

All apps can be deleted from your phone once you’ve received your cash. If you don’t receive credit, try reinstalling the app and opening it once again. There are also a few other ways to earn cash such as surveys, daily check-ins and more.

The Referral Bonus

And here comes the best part: the referral bonus. You don’t receive a one-time bonus each time you refer a friend, but rather a percentage of what they earn. You earn 30% of all of your friends earnings when they sign-up using your referral link.

We jus mentioned above that you can make around $15 – $20 a month downloading apps alone from Boom Gift. Just think if you had 10 friends – all of them together would make a minimum of $150 per month. You would get 30% of that, or $45 per month basically doing nothing. All you would have to do is cash out and rake in some easy cash.

The only tough part is convincing your friends to keep using the app. What most people don’t realize is that offers are updated quite frequently. Once they see a shortage they tend to go away and not come back for quite a long time and lose interest. Another downside is that in order to get referral credits, they can’t use a referral link. Instead, they must use a bonus code when they register. Support FFL by using the code 6702298 and also get a sign-up bonus. Thank you!

6. Amazon Shopping App

There’s probably not much explaining that I need to do for what the Amazon App does. It provides a way for you to shop for Amazon products directly from your smartphone, plain and simple. The one difference? You use an app instead of a webpage, and this is where you can rake in some extra cash.

The Referral Bonus

The reason most people don’t know about this program is that a lot of Amazon shoppers prefer to go directly to the Amazon website directly using their PC or mobile phone using a web browser. Yet if you’ve never used the Amazon App before, you get a bonus of $5 in Amazon credit just for installing it the first time.

If someone uses your referral link to install the app, they still receive their $5, but you also get a $5 referral bonus. In order to use this credit, make a purchase on Amazon and it will automatically be applied during checkout. You can use your credit on both their webpage and their mobile app.

Keep in mind that you won’t receive the referral bonus until your friend makes their first purchase using the app, which I have found quite difficult to convince them to do for one reason or another, even though they know they’re guaranteed to earn a free $5 in credit (my sales pitch must not be the best).

Almost everyone loves shopping on Amazon, so a great way to spread the word is to use Facebook or Twitter since it won’t look as much like spam. Tell your friends that they get a free $5 as a new app user.

7. AppMan

AppMan is another app like Boom Gift. You get paid to download apps and try them out. Most of the time the only thing you have to do is install the app. However, sometimes you may have to complete certain tasks on the app, such as getting to a certain level in a game, or signing-up for their email, etc. For this reason, we suggest reading the instructions carefully. before installation.

The offers on here are quite abundant. If it’s your first time installing the app, you can easily make a quick $5. Check back every 1 – 2 weeks and earn an average of $10 per month without any referrals.

One thing we do want to take note of is that if you’re using an iOS device, you must use the Safari browser. Otherwise you won’t be able to use their app.

Another word of caution is that AppMan is very strict about using proxies or a VPN. In fact, they banned my account just for having a poor internet connection. They thought I was using a VPN, but really I was just getting weak signal from using my data. You can email them explaining the situation if this happens. Yet to be on the safe side, try to use the app only when you have a good signal or strong wi-fi.

The Referral Bonus

We love the AppMan referral bonus. They give you a bonus when your friend signs-up, plus you earn a percentage of their earnings. The reason that this app doesn’t rank higher is because it’s not as popular as the other ones, nor are their offers as abundant.

For each friend you refer, you get $5 when they install their first app. Not only that, but in addition you also get 50% of all of their earnings. This means that if your friends only use the app once, you’re still going to get some cash for your efforts.

While the 50% bonus is nice, don’t expect to earn as much from other apps that pay you to download. This is simply because their offers aren’t as frequently updated as with other apps like Boom Gift.

8. CashPirate

CashPirate (code XZQBIU for bonus) is a mobile app that unfortunately is only available for Android devices. Like Boom Gift, you also get awarded for downloading apps and trying them out. Usually this requires you to install it on your phone and leaving it open for a minimum of 30 seconds.

If you no longer wish to have the app installed, you can remove it once you receive credit. When you first install the app you should easily be able to quickly earn the minimum cash out at 2,500 coins ($2.50 USD). Keep in mind that CashPirate has no tolerance for any proxies or VPNs.

There are also other ways to earn cash such as watching videos and completing free-trail offers, but none of them pay out as much as the downloading free apps option. Expect to make anywhere from $.30 to $1 per download.

The Referral Bonus

The referral bonus isn’t as high as the other apps that pay you to download, but it’s still quite good. Offers are quite abundant as well. This means that for each friend you do refer, they should be able to stick with the app for a long time before they stop using it.

You get 10% of your friends’ earnings, and they earn a $.50 cent bonus when they use your referral code on sign-up. Expect to make around $5 – $10 a month without referrals. This means that if you convince 10 friends to sign-up and use it frequently, you could earn an extra $10/month in passive income. Just make sure they’re using an Android device first.

9. FreeAppsFast

FreeAppsFast is yet another app that pays you to download apps to your phone. Like AppMan, you’ll be required to use the Safari browser on iOS devices. For Android devices you can use any browser.

Expect to earn anywhere from $.30 to $.60 cents per download. The payouts aren’t as high as other apps, but they’ve been around for a long time with a positive reputation.

One downside I’ve noticed is that it’s extremely difficult to cash out, whether it be at low or high values of gift cards. The reason being is for their incredibly large user base. Often times they run out of stock, and sometimes it takes a while for them to reload their inventory.

Either way, you can still earn a decent amount of cash. Since they’re one of the more popular apps, expect a decent amount of offers.

The Referral Bonus

FreeAppsFast is best known for their referral bonus of 50% of your friends’ earnings. While it may seem like a lot, it’s actually not as much you would receive with other apps.

The offers that they have are abundant, but if you break it down and look at how much you earn per app, you’re only getting around $.60 cents at a maximum. This amount isn’t bad, but it can make the 50% referral bonus a bit deceiving.

Either way, you can still make some good money, especially if you have some friends that frequently use the app.

10. Slidejoy

Last but not least comes Slidejoy, an app that pays you to unlock your screen. With the app installed, each time you unlock your smartphone an ad will appear. Swipe one way to view the ad in more detail, and swipe the other way to go directly to your home screen.

The reason Slidejoy is so great is because they pay quite well compared to other apps that pay you to unlock your screen. You won’t get paid every time, but you will earn some cash eventually. Keep in mind that unlock apps can also be stacked with one another. The more you have installed, the more money you will make.

For that matter we simply suggest unlocking your phone like you normally would. Doing so constantly will only be a waste of time and you won’t get paid the majority of the time since it’s based on a difficult algorithm.

We estimate that just by using the app alone you can earn an extra $10/month, just enough to pay off a small cell phone plan. This is great because you’re essentially getting paid to do something you would do anyway: unlock your phone.

This app has been featured on some of the more popular websites such as CNBC and the Wall Street Journal.

The Referral Bonus

The referral bonus with Slidejoy isn’t as high, but the retention rate with referrals is much higher. Since Slidejoy is so simple to use, your friends are more likely to stick with it.

When your friend uses your referral link to sign-up, you get 20% of all of their earnings. Keep in mind that you get paid no matter whether you view an ad or not. Just as long as the app is installed and you keep unlocking your screen, you’ll be sure to earn some extra cash.

Final Thoughts

If you use these apps without earning their respective referral bonuses, you still have a great opportunity to earn some extra cash. However, we cannot recommend this. Referral earnings are one of the easiest and most passive ways to earn income.

The more friends you invite, the more you’re going to earn. Spread the word, and if you want you can even post your referral link in the comments down below.

Do you have any experience with these apps or want to recommend one to be on this list? Let us know your thoughts. Thanks for reading and happy frugaling!

One of the best forms of income is passive income. That’s because it flows in while you’re busy doing other things. It can provide a valuable second income, that you can use to fund your retirement plan, get out of debt, or save up for your next vacation.

With the dozens of passive income apps available, you can find one for just about any income venture you can think of. Some are truly passive–you invest money or create a product or service–then the income rolls in without any further action on your part.

Others are what you might call semi-passive. They require a significant amount of effort up front, but then very little later on while maintaining a continuous cash flow.

There are many passive income apps available, offering a wide variety of ways to earn more money. You can sign up with any of these apps to start earning passive income that requires little time or effort.

Let’s take a look at the best passive income apps for a variety of income sources. You’re certain to find one that will work for you.

Shopping Apps

Shopping apps are a way to earn passive income through regular activity, like shopping. The shopping is certainly active, but since you’d be doing it anyway, the rewards you earn are true passive income. Just be careful you’re not spending money just to get the rewards, otherwise, you’ll end up spending more money than you earn.

Shopping portal rewards apps worth plugging into include:

1. Rakuten (Formerly Ebates)

Rakuten is probably the most popular shopping rewards app right now. You’ve likely heard of it as Ebates, but Rakuten has actually owned Ebates since 2014. Then in 2018, the company began integrating Ebates fully with Rakuten.

The app still works the same as always: it connects you with more than 2,000 online companies that pay cashback rewards. The rewards go to the company, which then splits them with the app user. It’s an excellent way to get cash back on your regular shopping activity. Check out our full review here.

2. Birch Finance

Birch Finance analyzes your regular spending, then helps you to maximize credit card rewards. It even recommends credit cards that are more suitable based on your spending patterns. Just be aware that cash back offers work best for people who pay off their balances in full each month. If you carry a balance, the interest charges may more than offset the rewards.

3. Seated

Seated is an app created specifically for restaurant dining. If you make a reservation through the app, you can earn gift cards worth as much as $60. This is an excellent way to generate gift cards if you’re a frequent diner.

Saving and Investing Apps

Savings and investing apps enable you to accumulate higher savings, either through earning investment income, or allocating a portion of your regular spending to savings and investing. Either activity, earning investment income or making regular allocations to savings and investing, are passive activities. With either activity, you’ll have more money at the end of each month.

Some of these apps do involve taking on a certain amount of risk of loss. If you’re not comfortable with that prospect, it’s best to use several apps for diversification purposes. For example, you might want to have one that focuses on bank savings, one for stocks, another for bonds, and still another for reIal estate. In that way, you can create a fully diversified portfolio with a small amount of money.

Saving Apps

5. Capital One 360

Capital One 360 offers a variety of ways to earn extra income on your banking activities. For example, they pay interest on checking, and above average interest on savings. But they also charge very low fees, which also helps to increase your bank balance. Check out our review of Capital One 360 here.

6. Digit

Digit is a micro-savings app that helps a non-saver become a saver. It evaluates your spending habits and transfers very small amounts of money from your linked bank account into your Digit account. This is a way to build up savings passively since it involves no additional action on your part. To learn more about it, check out our review of Digit here.

7. Acorns

Acorns is a combination micro-savings and micro-investing app. It works using a process called “round ups”. When you make a purchase for $5.25, Acorns rounds the amount up to $6, pays the vendor $5.25, then transfers 75 cents into your Acorns account. Once you accumulate $5, it’s transferred over to the Acorns robo-advisor, where it’s invested and managed for you. It turns spending money into savings and investments. Check out our full review of Acorns here.

Check out the new Acorns Spend checking account as well. This provides you with a useful debit card that invests and saves for you instantly as you make a purchase. There are no overdraft or minimum balance fees to worry about. Plus, you get free bank-to-bank transfers and access to free ATMs nationwide (and fee-reimbursed ATMs). It’s investment, retirement, and checking all in one place.

Investing Apps

These are apps that enable you to invest very small amounts of money, giving you an opportunity to earn income on your savings. This is the best kind of passive income of all, since you’re essentially earning money on your money.

8. Stash

Stash is a micro-investing app that allows you to invest with no minimum deposit. They provide an investment template of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and individual stocks to invest your money in. They don’t manage your investments, but they do give you an opportunity to get started if you never have in the past. Check out our full review of Stash here.

9. Betterment

Betterment is an automated online investment platform, commonly known as a robo-advisor. You can open an account with no money at all, then fund it with regular contributions. Betterment will design a portfolio for you, and then manage it for a very small fee. Check out our full review of Betterment here.

10. M1 Finance

M1 Finance is another robo-advisor. You can create your portfolio for free. Schedule deposits in a way that works best for you, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Check out our full review of M1 Finance here.

11. Ally Invest

Ally Invest is diversified investment brokerage, where you can get involved in self-directed investing.

But they have their own robo-advisor, Ally Invest Cash-Enhanced Managed Portfolios, so you can have some or all your money professionally managed, while also having the option to dabble in individual investments.

Here are a few of the highlights of Ally Invest Cash-Enhanced Managed Portfolios:

Low Advisory Fee: 0.00%
Low Investment Minimum: $100
24/7 Support: You can call or chat with a member of Ally’s customer support team whenever you have a question.
Rebalancing: Ally Invest will keep an eye on your portfolio and rebalance your asset allocation mix when necessary.

With Ally Invest Cash-Enhanced Managed Portfolios, you get to create your own customized portfolio that matches your risk tolerance. And once you’ve told Ally Invest how you want your money diversified, they take care of the rest. You just get to sit back and watch your money grow.

Check out our full review of Ally Invest here.

Dividend Investing Apps

Some investors are not entirely comfortable with growth stocks since they can swing in uncomfortable directions. But you can still invest in stocks and earn a steady income by investing in high dividend-paying stocks. You can do that through diversified investment brokerage platforms.

Ally Invest (Again!)

Ally Invest enables you to invest in anything you like. You can choose high dividend-paying stocks, or invest in either a mutual fund or an ETF that invests strictly in high dividend stocks. Ally Invest also has very low trading fees to make investing less costly. Check out our full review of Ally Invest here.

12. TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade is another diversified investment brokerage, but one with a higher degree of hands-on financial assistance. You can also use TD Ameritrade to invest in high dividend-paying stocks on this platform or choose ETFs or mutual funds.

Disclosure: All opinions expressed are our own. We are compensated by some of the businesses that we review (e.g. TD Ameritrade).

Bond Investing Apps

A way to earn higher interest, without taking the risks involved with stocks, is to invest in bonds. There are apps that can help you do that as well.

Ally Invest (Again!)

Ally Invest gets a strong mention anytime the topic is investing because they offer virtually every option available and at very low fees. But you can use this broker to buy individual bonds, or invest in ETFs or mutual funds that invest in bonds.

13. Worthy Bonds

Worthy Bonds makes loans to small businesses, mainly to help them with their inventory and purchase financing. This enables them to earn higher interest, which they pass on to their investors. You can earn 5% on your money by investing as little as $10. That’s well above the rate of return you can get at a local bank. Plus, you can feel good about assisting small business owners.

Peer Lending Apps

More formally referred to as “peer-to-peer” (P2P) lenders, they allow investors to fund loans directly to borrowers. In the process, investors earn much higher interest than they can with traditional bank investments. It’s essentially banking without the banker, and where you as the investor become the banker.

14. LendingClub

LendingClub is the largest and best-known P2P platform. You don’t fund loans but instead invest in small slices of loans, referred to as “notes”. Each note is $25. With a minimum investment of $1,000, you can diversify across 40 different notes.

One disadvantage with Lending Club is that most states require you to meet minimum income and net worth requirements. But if you do, you can earn much higher returns than with bank investments. Check out our full review of Lending Club here.

15. Prosper Invest

Prosper Invest not only operates similarly to Lending Club but is also its primary competitor. One of the main advantages with Prosper is that you only need $25 to open an account.

Real Estate Crowdfunding Apps

A lot of people would like to invest in real estate, but don’t want to get their hands dirty. With the many investment apps available today, that’s now entirely possible. You can utilize real estate crowdfunding apps that allow you to invest in commercial real estate without getting involved in the process itself. You invest your money, and earn your return–it’s that simple.

16. Peerstreet

Peerstreet is a real estate crowdfunding platform that enables you to invest in loans on commercial real estate. These are high quality private real estate loans, that pay high-interest rates.

You can invest with as little as $1,000, but it does require you to be an accredited investor. That means you must be either have a high income or a high net worth. Check out our full review of Peerstreet here or you can click here to sign up.

17. Fundrise

Fundrise is similar to Peerstreet, except you don’t need to be an accredited investor.

With as little as $500, you can invest in one of two real estate investment trusts (REITs). One is an eREIT, which provides income, and the other is an eFund, which invests for growth. Fundrise is the perfect app for a small investor to invest in commercial real estate.

Typically, investing in REITs can be expensive because of high administrative costs. And they also tend to require that your money remain illiquid for several years.

Low Fees

But Fundrise portfolios charge a total annual cost of 1% (including their investment advisor fee and management fee). That’s not as low as what you’d pay with some of the cheapest stock and mutual fund robo-advisors. But it’s much better than the typical cost of investing in commercial real estate in a REIT.

Potential Liquidity

Fundrise has also built in the potential for quarterly liquidity to their plans. If you need to access your funds early (before five years), you can request that on a quarterly basis.

However, you may owe a fee, depending on how long you’ve owned the investment. For this reason, we recommended that you only invest in Fundrise if you’re ok with your money being tied up for at least 5 years. But it’s good to know that you have the potential to get your hands on your money early in the event of an emergency.

Performance

Although past performance is no guarantee of future success, Fundrise has quite an impressive track record.

If you’re not an accredited investor but would like to dabble in real estate crowdfunding, Fundrise may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Check out our full review of Fundrise here or sign up now.

Equity Crowdfunding Apps

We’ve already covered crowdfunding for consumer loans and real estate. But it also exists for upstart businesses to fund their ventures with money from participating investors.

This is a classic example of a high reward/high-risk investment, which is why it’s generally reserved for accredited investors. But if you meet the qualifications, it’s a way to earn much higher returns than you can get on more conventional investments.

Equity crowdfunding apps include:

18. AngelList

AngelList enables registered investors to help fund various business ventures. Investors pool their money to invest in business startups. The minimum investment is $1,000, and the best strategy is to invest in several different ventures. That will both minimize the losses from the failure of one or two ventures, and maximize the overall profit potential.

19. CircleUp

Circle Up allows investors to fund relatively new businesses with existing cash flows. This is usually money used to expand a business, rather than to launch a brand new venture. It should prove at least somewhat less risky than funding brand new ventures since the business already exists. The minimum investment is also $1,000, and diversification is strongly recommended.

20. Fundable

Fundable doesn’t work with any specific type of business, so the possibilities are wide open. Once again, the minimum investment is $1,000. But Fundable may be a bit more solid than funding pure startups since it also helps companies develop their businesses and expand their cash flows.

Passive Income Through Ownership

Now we begin the shift into what might be best referred to as semi-passive income apps. That’s because they typically involve an investment of either cash or time and effort. But for most, once you get the venture up and running, you earn income with very little time or effort on your part.

These may not fit the pure definition of passive, but they have the potential to produce much higher income flows than purely passive ventures. We’re presenting several alternatives, so you can choose the one that works best with your time, talents, and preferences.

Leasing/Renting Your Stuff Apps

One way to earn some passive income is to rent out certain assets you have, but may not be using.

21. Turo

Turo is a carsharing marketplace. You can rent out your vehicle either online or through mobile apps. People rent your vehicle for a little bit less than what it costs through a car rental company. You’ll earn money for that rental during times when you wouldn’t be using your vehicle anyway. You can lease out your car for as little or as much time as you choose.

22. Outdoorsy

Outdoorsy is an RV rental marketplace for people who own recreational vehicles. And if you do, you can rent them out and earn some extra money. After all, you’re probably not using your RV most of the time. And when you’re not using it, you can rent it out to help pay for it.

Rental Property Management Apps

You can do the same thing with your home or investment real estate that you can do with your car or an RV through rental property management apps.

23. Airbnb

Airbnb is an app that enables you to rent out your home to travelers. It gives you the advantage of earning some money on your home, while guests pay less than they might at local hotels. It could work particularly well if your home is located in a large city or a popular tourist destination that draws a steady flow of travelers.

24. Zillow Rental Manager

Zillow Rental Manager helps you manage your rental property more efficiently, and that can put more money in your pocket. It enables you to list your rental on Zillow, Trulia, and HotPads. It also allows you to screen tenants online, run criminal and credit checks, and have rental payments sent directly to your bank account.

25. Landlordy

Landlordy is a “mobile companion for a private landlord”. It can help you manage and control expenses, which will maximize the profit you earn on your rental. Landlordy also assists with digital organization of key documents and communication with tenants.

26. Cozy

Cozy is a free app that gives you “modern tools” to help you spend less time managing your rental. They help you find and communicate with tenants all within the app. They also allow you to collect rent automatically and track your expenses.

27. Honeygain

We’ve discussed renting out your stuff–house, apartment, car, etc. But have you ever considered “renting” out your Internet access through your electronic devices? That’s basically how Honeygain works.

The app enables you to share your unused internet bandwidth. Data scientists will gather businesses that use this for intelligence and market research.

When you sign up with Honeygain, it’s a simple process: just give your email and create a password. Next, you’ll need to install the Honeygain app on any device you like. When those devices are connected to the web, data scientists will use the Honeygain network to connect to the Internet. Earning is simply based on the amount of GB you share with the Honeygain network.

Once your account and devices are set up, you can begin earning passive income.

Blogging/Writing Apps

These are at best considered semi-passive income ideas. You’ll have to put a reasonable amount of work into the venture at the very beginning, just to get it up and running. But once you do, cash will flow in, even though you’ll need to keep it regularly updated. One of the underappreciated aspects of this type of venture is that it can lead to all kinds of opportunities you never imagined.

28. WordPress

WordPress is a free app you can use to create a professional-looking blog or website. They offer various templates, which you can customize based on your own personal preferences.

You can make your website as simple or as complicated as you like. WordPress even offers premium templates to provide a higher quality website. It’s a perfect app to use if you’re new to blogging or creating a website. Not only are many of the apps free, but they’re also very user-friendly to install and work with.

29. Medium

Medium is an evolutionary version of Twitter that allows you to publish ideas and stories that are longer than 140 spaces. You can create stories and updates, and use it to promote your blog or website.

It’s a way to get your content out on the web, where you might find clients willing to pay for what you write.

Related:How to Make Extra Money Blogging

Self-Publishing Apps

Have you ever dreamed of writing a book? There are apps that can help you do just that. Self-publishing has become one of the new waves of the 21st century, and offers a real opportunity to get your book idea in print, without going through the usual grind with the major publishing houses.

30. Scrivener

Scrivener enables you to build a manuscript. You can write when the mood strikes you, then come back and continue your work later. You can even write random ideas and chapters, then organize them as you go forward. It also helps you to do research as well as edit your work.

31. Everywriter

Everywriter works in a similar manner to Scrivener, in that it offers you a basic outline to write a book or other document. It provides an online outline design, and can even facilitate your book cover design.

Online Earning Apps

Apps to License Your Creativity

If you have any kind of creative ability at all, chances are there is an app that can enable you to monetize it. Check these out…

32. Shutterstock Contributor

Shutterstock Contributor is a mobile app that enables you to upload photos on the go. It has an auto keywording function that makes it easy to complete submissions on your phone. It also enables you to check your Shutterstock earnings and activity.

33. Foap

Top 5 Real Money Earning Apps List

Foap can be used to make extra money with your photos and videos. When a client wants to purchase your work from your online portfolio, you do a 50/50 split with Foap.

Top 5 Money Earning Apps In India

You can even submit pictures and videos to one of the Foap “missions” and win hundreds of dollars. The Foap community has nearly three million members, so there’s a huge potential market for selling your work.

34. EyeEm

EyeEm works much like Foap. You download your photos, which are then available to customers and clients who use the app. In addition, EyeEm hosts weekly photo competitions as another means for winners to earn more money.

You earn royalties on those photos as they’re selected by clients.

35. Amuse

Amuse is a mobile record company that does for music what Shutterstock, Foap, and EyeEm do for photos. It allows unsigned artists to distribute their music to digital platforms. It also provides an opportunity for the creator to be signed based on data-tracking hit potential. It’s a fairly new app, having only been launched in 2017. But it could be a real opportunity for musical talent to find its way to the mainstream.

36. Udemy

Udemy is a platform that enables you to create courses. For example, let’s say you want to create a course on playing a musical instrument. Do it on the web platform, and even have Udemy help you market the course to users.

You’ll share some of the profits with the platform, but it’ll be a significant earning opportunity if you have a specialty you’d like to arrange into a course to be sold to potential students.

Final Thoughts on the Best Passive Income Apps

Some of the apps on this list do require an investment up front to generate a passive income.

But there are a lot more that could help you capitalize on talents or even hobbies that you have. Whether it’s creating photos, videos, or even courses, you can create it, then watch it generate steady cash flow for a very long time.

Creating multiple income sources is becoming more important all the time. Passive income streams are the best sources of income because they ultimately require little or no effort going forward. Pick one or more of these apps, and get your passive income started.