A smart saver has made £4,696 using little-known money-making apps and she said it couldn’t be easier.
Money savvy Emma Jackson, 29, lives in Leeds and works part time for the NHS.
Emma has saved over £4,000 over two years through 12 apps
Emma reviews products and gets money in exchange
She is also the founder of Bee Money Savvy – a blog dedicated to helping people make the most of their finances.
On it, Emma shares all the money-savvy tricks she uses to help her at a time when costs are sky high.
And one way she’s made some extra cash is through money-making apps that many of us probably don’t even know exist.
The smart saver came across them by simply searching words like “survey”, “mystery shopping” or “cashback” in the app store.
Over time she’s figured out what works best for her, and where she can make the most money for the least effort.
In just two years, Emma has managed to make £4,696 using 12 apps and she said it couldn’t be easier.
She said: “I don’t spend more than five minutes on each app a day – I just work them round my family activities.
“I actually did a survey while brushing my teeth this morning.”
Here, Emma shares the apps she’s used to bump up her income – and they’re all free to sign up to.
Emma has an iPhone so all of the apps are available on the app store, though in most cases they should be available for Android users too.
BeMyEye – £223.90
BeMyEye pays users to complete challenges – these could be spotting a creative sales display in a store and then submitting a photo of it, or being tasked with finding a particular item and such as a coffee machine or blender.
Emma explained: “I usually earn between £4 and £8 per task – the tasks take less than 10 minutes.
“You can request payment once you’ve earned £5.”
The money saver reckons this is one of the best money saving apps around.
Field Agent – £149
Field Agent is similar to mystery shopping – customers secretly review shopping displays and then send their results into the app.
Emma has made roughly £10 a month from her reviews and has earned £149 over the course of two years.
She also said that it’s easy to get the money transferred into your bank account.
She said: “You can request payment straight to your bank and it’s usually processed within a week.”
Emma added: “The Field Agent app is great if you live or work near to several shops, you can often earn £5 for a 10-minute supermarket visit and even more leading up to bank holidays and Christmas.”
AttaPoll – £138
AttaPoll users complete surveys and earn money in return.
However, there is usually eligibility criteria for each survey so shoppers won’t be able to take part in them all.
Criteria might depend on where you live, how old you are, what you do as a job and whether you are single or have children.
Emma reckons this app is probably the most time-consuming because you might start a survey only to be told you don’t qualify.
She said: “I’ve been five minutes into a survey before it’s said that I’m not qualified for the full-length survey and therefore don’t qualify for any payment.”
“It’s also super frustrating when you’ve wasted time and been disqualified from the survey.”
However, she has made £138 from it so far.
Influence – £190.51
This is a video and survey app that pays people to record themselves reviewing a brand or service.
You can earn 25p per 15-second recording and then withdraw your earnings once they reach £10.
In her experience, Emma said: “This is the perfect app if you don’t want to fill in long surveys and are happy to be on camera.
“I find the video questions pretty low effort to complete compared to traditional surveys.”
Swagbucks – £725
This is one of the apps Emma has made the most money from.
Swagbucks pays customers to complete surveys or watch videos.
Emma said that of all of the money making apps she uses, this is the one that offers the most variety.
“I earn at least £5 a week from Swagbucks just in my spare time.”
Qmee – £487
Qmee is another app that pays users to take part in surveys.
You earn cash when you complete a survey and can withdraw it into your bank account without having to build up to a minimum amount first.
Emma said: “These surveys are great for completing while watching TV or on your daily commute.
“They also have a daily 3p quiz, which will pocket you an easy 21p a week.”
Emma has made nearly £500 over two years by using Qmee.
Airtime Rewards – £230.24
Airtime Rewards is a cashback app that gives you cash rewards when you shop.
It can be used by people on pay-as-you-go and monthly contracts and works with most major mobile phone networks.
You connect your credit card through the app and earn cashback which you can use to pay your next phone bill.
While you won’t get cash directly into your bank account, users can save money on their bills.
Despite not making the most money from this, Emma said: “Airtime Rewards is my favourite money making app.
“It’s a slow earner, but it’s an effortless way to cut the cost of your phone bill. Earn 50p for every friend you refer too.”
She added: “Airtime Rewards is particularly effortless as once you’ve connected your accounts you’ll automatically earn cashback when you spend at their partner retailers.”
SnapMyEats – £280
SnapMyEats allows users to answer a survey after they’ve purchased something from a participating retailer.
They’ll need to take a picture of their receipt, upload it and answer five questions on their purchase.
They’ll then be able to earn credits each month which they can turn into vouchers for brands like Amazon.
The app uses your location to suggest where you need to go to take part but brands include Costa Coffee, Uber Eats and Amazon.
SnapMyEats uses the receipts for market research purposes.
Emma said: “Each five receipts earns you £1 so I aim to upload at least 10 receipts a month.”
In the past two years she’s managed to make £280 from it.
Amazon Shopper – £90.25
Amazon Shopper is an invitation-only programme where customers can earn monthly rewards by sharing receipts from purchases made that aren’t from Amazon.co.uk.
If you’re keen to join, you can sign up to a waiting list and Amazon will invite you to become a member if there’s availability and you qualify.
The maximum amount of money you can earn a month is £5 and to get that you’ll need to submit 10 receipts.
The money is added to your Amazon credit so if you’re a regular Amazon shopper you could end up saving £30 a year on purchases.
TopCashback – £1,707.79
Emma has made the most money from TopCashback and over two years has raked in £1,707.79.
She said the app is also one of her favourite to use as it’s low effort and an easy way to make money back on everyday spending.
Customers can make a purchase from a store through TopCashback and then earn money back after.
You can shop at a range of stores, including Very, Argos, Selfridges, John Lewis, Wilko and New Look.
The cashback can either be turned into a gift card to use at a participating retailer or transferred into their bank accounts.
While transferring to your bank account might be easier, if you get your points transferred onto a gift card, Emma said TopCashback will increase the value (but only slightly).
JamDoughnut – £237.25
JamDoughnut is another cashback site where shoppers can earn up to 20% back from their purchases which is paid into a “wallet” on your account.
You can choose whether to receive your money in gift vouchers, or you can transfer the cash into your bank account.
There’s a 30p charge each time you withdraw money.
Emma has made £237.25 from JamDoughnut over two years.
She said: “I’m a big fan of JamDoughnut, the gift cards usually arrive instantly.
“If you’re waiting in the queue at a shop, it’s really easy to turn your cashback into a gift card to get money off.”
The app also runs regular competitions, including a daily £10 giveaway for 10 users.
She added: “I’ve managed to win two different gift cards through these competitions.”
Gener8 – £180
Gener8 is slightly different and allows people to earn rewards when they share their data.
Gener8 can be linked to your internet browser and track what you do – all anonymously and with your permission.
Users get points added onto their account.
You won’t be able to transfer the rewards as cash into your bank account but you can make purchases within the Gener8 app.
Depending on how many points you’ve saved up, you could use them to buy things such as a Nintendo Switch or an IKEA gift card.
Once set up, Emma said you hardly have to do anything to earn money.
She explained: “Gener8 works in the background without any effort once set up.”
Of course, if you’re worried about data sharing then do think about whether this one is for you.
It’s always worth getting in tough with Gener8 first to ask any questions you might have on what it does with your data.
There are pros and cons to data sharing – you’ll receive information on products and experiences catered to you.
However, sharing your data could increase your chances of putting yourself at a security risk.
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