All four of our apps share the same reward system. You earn coins for doing something ordinary — reading a fact, taking a walk, clearing a level, ticking a task off your list — and you redeem those coins for real cash through PayPal. The money behind those coins is advertising revenue, shared with you.
This page is the mechanics. If what you want to know is how much it comes to and whether that pays for your time, the numbers are in make extra pocket money with apps that pay. That is also where you can tell us which app to build next.
What coins are
Coins are the reward currency inside our apps. You collect them as you use the app, your balance carries over between sessions, and when you are ready you exchange that balance for a PayPal payment.
There is nothing to buy and no subscription. You never pay to earn, and you are never asked to put money in before you can take money out. If an app ever asks you to do that, it is not one of ours.
How you earn coins
Each app rewards a different everyday activity, so what earns you coins depends on which one you are using.
Learn And Earn: Daily Quiz
Nine cards a day, one for each category - Geography, History, Science & Nature, Sports, Pop Culture, Space, Food & Drink, Music and Random Fun. Each is a question, and revealing the answer pays a coin. There is also a Daily Quiz: ten random questions once a day, a coin for each one you get right. Neither one needs a video. Watching one adds three to nine coins to a card already revealed, or doubles what a finished quiz paid.
Step and Earn
Your step count is read from Apple Health, so ordinary walking counts without you starting anything. Every 500 steps is a milestone you can claim for a coin, twenty a day up to 10,000. Claiming a milestone never needs a video. An optional one afterwards adds three to nine coins to it. Two other things pay. A daily check-in is worth 10 coins, with 30 more on every seventh day in a row, and Furniture Run, a quick arcade jumper, is worth up to 10 coins a day.
Play and Earn
You earn a coin for every level you clear in the arcade shooter, so getting further into a run earns more. The difficulty climbs as you progress. You don't need a video to clear a level, though watching one adds three to nine coins to a level you've already cleared.
Todo and Earn
Completing a task on your to-do list earns a coin, up to ten earning tasks a day. No video is needed for that. If you choose to watch one, it adds three to nine coins to the task you just finished. The app keeps an earn history of what you have completed along with your daily streak.
Where the money comes from: it is ad revenue, shared
Advertisers pay to reach people. Our apps show their advertising. A share of what that earns comes back to you as coins, and the rest keeps the apps running.
So the coins aren't a gift or a loss-leader for something we sell you later. There's nothing else to sell: no subscription, no in-app purchase, no data product. Your attention to advertising is the product, and the coins are your cut. We'd rather say that outright than let it sound like a favor.
It also explains the ceiling. You are being paid a slice of ad revenue, so the arithmetic only ever reaches pocket money. Anyone promising more from the same model is either not paying out or selling something they have not mentioned.
The two kinds of advertising you will see
- Rewarded videos. You tap to start these and you know exactly what you are getting for it. An advertiser pays the most per view for one, which is why the bonus attached to one is larger than what the underlying action pays.
- Ordinary in-app advertising. The banners and interstitials any free app carries. You do not choose these, and they are a large part of what funds the coins you earn without watching anything.
You can decline every rewarded video and still earn, redeem and cash out. It's slower. Each app's own page spells out the arithmetic both ways instead of averaging it into one figure here.
Redeeming for PayPal cash
- Build up a coin balance by using the app.
- Open the redeem screen inside the app to see what your balance is worth.
- Choose the amount you want to redeem.
- Enter the PayPal address you want the payment sent to.
- Confirm, and the payment is sent to that PayPal account.
Double-check your PayPal address. Payments go to the address you enter, so a typo sends money somewhere you did not intend. Read it back before you confirm.
How this compares to everyone else's
Everything above describes our coins, and a rate only means something next to the rates it competes with. We read the other apps' published terms and do the same division on them, app by app, in what they actually pay. That includes two cases that make our own numbers look less impressive than they sound. Swagbucks prices its entire catalog in public. Sweatcoin publishes an exact earn rate and never prices what it earns you. Whether an app is worth installing at all is a separate question, covered in the reviews.
If something goes wrong
If a redemption does not arrive, or your coins or steps look wrong, contact us and pick “Rewards or redemption issue” as the topic. Include the app name and roughly when the problem started — that is usually enough for us to find it. You can reach us on the contact page.
Frequently asked questions
What are coins worth?
1,000 coins is $1.00, in all four apps. The first cash-out is at 2,000 coins ($2.00), and every one after that is at 5,000 ($5.00). The redeem screen inside each app shows what your balance is worth before you cash out.
How do I get paid?
Through PayPal. You redeem your coin balance from inside the app and the payment is sent to the PayPal account you provide.
Do I have to watch ads?
No. The thing each app is for - walking, a task, a cleared level, a revealed card - pays its coin without one. Declining never blocks you from earning or cashing out. These apps share ad revenue with you, so declining every video is slower; each app's page does that arithmetic both ways rather than averaging it.
Why do reward apps show ads at all?
Advertising is what funds the rewards. Advertisers pay to reach people, and part of that payment is what becomes your coins. It's the reason the apps can be free and still pay out.
My coins are missing. What should I do?
Get in touch through our contact page and choose “Rewards or redemption issue” as the topic. Telling us which app, and roughly when you noticed, helps us track it down quickly.