7 Best Passive Income Apps to Earn Extra Money

Most of us engage in active income to make a living. That is, working at a particular job and getting paid for your input. But there are ways how to gain some extra in passive income.

It could be investing in real estate or other big ventures. However, some passive income apps could help you with that. And, the best of all, it requires no investment whatsoever! Forget about time-consuming side hustles – these are our 6 best passive income apps to earn extra money.

Table of contents:

Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel

MobileXpression

Sweatcoin

Current

Acorns

OnMyWay

Rakuten

Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel

Nielsen, as a company, had been around for almost 100 years. 98 years to be exact, as it was founded back in 1923. They are focused on market research activities.

You may know the Nielsen rating used to rate TV shows by their viewership. Surprisingly, the widely used term “market share” was also coined by this company.

Focusing on TV and radio in the current changing times is not enough. Nielsen understands it and wants to do some further research in other media as well. One of them is internet usage and mobile phone usage overall. This brings you a chance to earn some extra passive income!

The Nielsen Computer Panel is one of the best passive income apps for, you’ve guessed it, mobile and computer devices. It gives you some free extra money to your bank account for collecting and monitoring your device usage.

Even though it sounds slightly spooky, there is nothing to worry about. The actual monitoring that is being done is not directly linked to you. The data Nielsen collects is made anonymous and used solely to scope the market share of certain products, services, and so on.

It does not collect any sensitive information or data – it merely checks which websites you visit or what games you play. And you get paid real money just for that!

Similar to other passive income applications, its use is incredibly simple. All you have to do is install the application on your devices and keep it running. It works without your active input and just does its job “under the hood.” All it takes is to keep the app installed, use your phone or desktop device as usual, and you are good to go!

As far as the earnings are concerned, with Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel, you can expect to earn $50 of cash a year. All of that is just for keeping the application installed and running. Besides that, you can also get some chances to win big prizes each month as they organize various contests (sweepstakes). It also offers a sign-up bonus.

Considering that this one of the best apps to make money is free to use, and all you have to do is just have the app installed, you should give it a go and earn money! Without a doubt, it is an amazing passive income opportunity.

MobileXpression

Although not as widely known and not as old as Nielsen, MobileXpression is a very similar passive income app to the one mentioned earlier. However, it is only a mobile app (not available on desktop devices), and you need to use mobile data for an internet connection. Despite this, it is one of the better passive income apps for making money.

On MobileXpression, you get paid for letting their company monitor your mobile usage habits, such as what websites you visit, which apps you use, what games you play, how much time you spend watching videos, and so on.

The data collected is used for research, such as on how to make the ads better and more appealing. You earn cash and also help the market get better!

Just as with Nielsen Panel, this app to make money works silently in the background of your mobile device, meaning that you do not have to do anything actively to earn money. You just simply need to download the app and install it.

The catch you should look at is that it is not supported on all mobile devices. We recommend checking out their website to ensure you are not running the app on your device emptily and get paid.

After a week of using this app, you would earn cash in the form of a $5 Amazon gift card as a starting incentive to continue using it.

As you could have already guessed, the rewards provided by MobileXpression are not in the form of actual money but in the form of gift cards. Besides Amazon, you can get coupons for Best Buy or Starbucks. Still, you earn passive income this way, regardless of the payment form.

The rewards come roughly around once a month and are worth $5. Points saved up for a longer time can be redeemed for gift cards with bigger cash value, for example, worth $10. This is an excellent option in the money-making apps market.

The drawbacks are that your mobile internet connection would be monitored, and the rewards are not in actual money. But, the biggest plus that outweighs the disadvantages is that it allows you to earn completely passive income. Just install, run, and get those gift cards!

Sweatcoin

This one is perfect for those who like to walk around instead of driving a car or using public transport. You may ask yourself if we are talking about passive income apps, why are we including something involving activity?

The logic here is that if you would be walking somewhere anyway, why not get paid for it? This is where the passive part comes in, and with Sweatcoin, you get paid exactly for that – walking! It is truly a unique solution in the world of passive income apps and, hands down, the best app that pays you to walk around.

Sweatcoin is an app available on mobile devices that gives you free extra money for the number of steps you take each day. It gives you one Sweatcoin, a currency used in this app, for every 1000 steps you make.

The Sweatcoins you accumulate can then be exchanged in the Sweatcoin marketplace for various goods, services, discounts, and so on. The goods they offer are surprisingly cool, such as wireless headphones or even jewelry! Though you will not be able to cash out via PayPal, this marketplace offers stuff that is suitable for everyone. Hence, you would get goodies for free instead of spending money on them.

Besides that, you can also engage in auctions offered on the Sweatcoin marketplace. It works similarly to eBay or other such websites – an offer is put up for a rather expensive item (a $500 Nike gift card, new Xbox console, or even a full-on propane grill!), and you, along with other users, bid your accumulated Sweatcoins. Whoever bids the largest sum wins.

Sweatcoin is a great way to earn money for something you would do either way – walk around. It is also a great way to motivate you to walk more than usual, making the simple task of walking one of your side hustles. Go ahead and walk – it is a great way to earn more!

As with MobileXpression, you can not exchange points for real money (via PayPal, for example). You would have to exchange them for specific products or discounts. However, it is still free money.

Also, Sweatcoin is launching its cryptocurrency in the future, which would mean you could convert your accumulated points to crypto! An excellent option for those who walk and are engaged in the crypto world! And, of course, since cryptocurrencies can be traded, this would mean that you could get actual extra income from it.

Earning passive income just by walking around makes Sweatcoin one of the best money-making apps. It may fall into the semi-passive income category as you would need to walk around, but hey, you would earn points (as well as earn rewards) for doing something that you would have done either way! How much you can expect to earn depends solely on how active you would be.

Current

As we covered a passive income app to earn extra money for those of you who love walking, this one is for those who love music!

Current is a passive income app that gives you free money for listening to music. On it, you get points in exchange for listening to thousands of curated playlists that span multiple different genres.

As the number is large, you will find a station just for you. It is available on the Google Play store as well as the iOS app store.

It is incredibly popular, making it one of the best passive income apps. Millions of users make money using it every day.

Unsurprisingly, the more time you spend listening to music on this passive income app, the more money you earn. Spending around 6 hours a day each week vibing to some tunes could generate passive income worth $600. That is a nice amount of extra cash, isn't it? It should be noted, however, that you will earn rewards in the form of points on this app. But, you can exchange them for various gift cards or just opt-in to exchange them all for cash via PayPal.

This is a fantastic passive income idea if you do not want to pay for a Spotify or Deezer subscription and would love to listen to some music (and earn rewards on the side). Of course, as the curated playlists work like radio stations, you would not be able to skip songs. But, on the flip side, it is a great way to discover some new music.

You can, however, save the songs that you enjoyed for future offline listening during your spare time. This free passive income app has this functionality built-in. It is as easy as just pressing “save”!

Considering the previous app for passive income we had discussed, Sweatcoin, many of us walk around with headphones in our ears to make the experience more fun. After all, it is better to march to the rhythm of some tune rather than listen to cars passing by.

By using both Sweatcoin and Current as your passive income apps of choice, you would be getting two birds with one stone. It would be wise to do so in order to make more money. After all, you would be gaining money for simply walking and for just listening to music!

Acorns

Acorns happen to be one of the easiest investment apps on the market to make some extra income. Also, it is one of the best passive income apps around! It works in a very simple way. That is, after you link your credit card or debit card to the app, every time you make a purchase, the money you spend is rounded up to the nearest dollar. It also works while shopping online, of course.

This basically means that if you make a purchase, say, of $17.72, it would be rounded up to $18, and $0.28 would be added to your Acorns account as an investment/savings, thus opening your investment portfolio.

Those few cents of passive income that were collected are put into your Acorns account, and that sum is invested into a certain venture.

All of this happens without your input – all you have to do is do your shopping as usual, and later on, check on your investments – the money you saved might start growing quickly! It is a combination of a passive income app and a micro-investing app that could help your personal finance goals massively.

It is a great way to make some passive income while doing your everyday things. It is also a great option for those who would like to invest in something but do not have big amounts of money lying around or do not really know how to start investing. It is an income app that allows you to do multiple things with minimal effort.

How much extra cash in the form of passive income you can earn depends on how many purchases you make.

It would be a smart move to link your most-used credit or debit card to your Acorns account. As you would be making the most purchases on it, you would start accumulating an investment portfolio and income stream!

Different from other passive income apps, it also offers a cashback solution, meaning that you would get more extra free money by making purchases that are offered on the Acorns app. This makes it the best app for saving money as well.

It could help you save money and also fill up your bank account or credit card along the way. All of this is via passive income! It is truly one of the more unique ways to earn passive cash. Also, it allows you to invest without having any prior knowledge and could spark your interest in this craft, making it a side hustle that could bring you loads of cash.

The drawback to using Acorns as a passive income app is the fact that it takes a monthly fee for using it. It is $3 a month. However, if you would be using your main card on it, this monthly fee would not hurt you too much. Overall, it is a great passive income app for both earning money online and saving money as well.

OnMyWay

OnMyWay is one of the most interesting passive income apps around to make money online. It is suited for those who use a car to get around and for those who can not let their phone out of their hands while doing so.

On this passive income app, you are rewarded with money for… not texting while driving. Needless to say, you should not be texting at all while driving as it is both dangerous and illegal, but in case you can not stop – go ahead and download OnMyWay!

It works in a simple way. You get $0.01 of passive income for every mile (1.6 meters) you drive without texting. That is it – there is nothing more to it. You get rewarded for being safe and responsible.

The cool thing about this passive income opportunity is that it offers a sign-up bonus as an incentive to join. At the current time, you would get $10 just for signing up. Using the referral program would also boost your passive income, as you would get $2 for inviting your friends to join.

Rakuten

Rakuten, an app that was formerly known as Ebates, is a cash-back service that you can put to great use in order to save money.

As with other cash-back services, Rakuten gives a portion of your purchase sum back to you as long as you are making purchases via their service. It works by using affiliate offers, where you get some cash back, and the provider gets some money from those purchases, too. It is an app that allows both you and others to earn some cash back.

It is one of the best passive income apps to help your personal finance goals and provide you with some great savings. It is worth checking out if you are planning to make some big purchases, such as a new smart TV or mobile phone.

Rakuten can also be used for smaller purchases, such as gift cards, for example. Since it is, well, an app, all of the purchases are made via shopping online. With millions of users, this cash-back solution is completely legitimate and worth a try.

Once you have some spare time, simply link your credit card to this app, shop online, and start earning cash for that. It is a very easy way to earn passive income, especially when you are making purchases that you would have made regardless! Another great thing about this cash-back app is that it relies on a browser extension, making it one of the easiest ways to earn money online.

As you can see, there are numerous options on how to make money using these apps. Needless to say, you should not forget about Honeygain, too. Certain passive income apps work by running in the background, providing you with a passive income stream for doing nothing.