21 of the Best Passive Income Apps

Passive income can significantly improve your finances with little to no input. There’s a wide variety of options, from making financial investments to turning your everyday tasks into a way to earn extra cash without additional effort (or minimal effort).

Now, there’s the potential to make money passively using your smartphone, so you can make an income wherever you are. Here we’ll explore the best passive income apps to help you decide which ones are the right fit for your lifestyle.

Best Passive Income Apps

Earning passive income from apps is possible, and here are our favorite options.

1. Public.com (up to $300 signup bonus*)

• Category: Investing
• Income potential: High
• More info: Read our Public.com review
• Get started: Signup for Public.com

Public.com is a popular platform that offers commission-free trading of stocks, funds, and cryptocurrency. You can buy fractional shares for any budget, so it’s a realistic and practical option for anyone, even if you don’t have large amounts of money to invest.

Although there are a number of trading apps out there, Public.com is our favorite because it’s a very user-friendly platform and because it includes social networking features. You can connect with and learn from other investors in a supportive community, which is perfect if you’re just gaining experience with investing.

Public.com also provides investment opportunities organized by themes, so you can easily find investments that interest you and are a good fit with your strategy.

There are a few different ways to make passive income with Public.com, including:

• Investing in dividend stocks
• Investing in funds that pay dividends

Public.com offers a dividend stocks theme that features a huge list of stocks and funds you might want to consider if you’re investing for dividends.

Of course, investing and trading involves risk and it’s possible you could lose money instead of making money. However, everyone should be investing in some way or another.

2. Swagbucks ($10 signup bonus)

• Category: GPT and cash back
• Income potential: Medium
• More info: Read our Swagbucks review
• Get started: Signup for Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a GPT (get paid to) site. So, while it is not completely passive, you can earn points for doing activities you may already enjoy doing.

You can earn Swagbucks (or SBs for short), the platform’s currency, by shopping online, participating in paid online surveys, watching videos, and browsing the internet in your spare time. The tasks typically only take a few minutes, and you can earn $1 or less. While these are small amounts, they can quickly add up.

Once you reach 500 SBs, you can claim a $5 PayPal payment or gift card from an impressive list of popular retailers (including free Walmart gift cards). To date, Swagbucks has paid out over $300 million to its user base, so you can have confidence that this is a legit site offering an interesting side gig.

Swagbucks also has a cashback component (which is passive) that is very similar to Rakuten.

3. InboxDollars ($5 signup bonus)

• Category: GPT
• Income potential: Medium
• More info: Read our InboxDollars review
• Get started: Signup for InboxDollars

InboxDollars is another app offering extra cash for performing fun and easy tasks. You’ll receive rewards for taking surveys and watching TV. You’ll also have access to shopping and cashback offers.

This is a top-rated app, and the company has been around for 20 years. You can also receive a $5 welcome bonus for signing up as a new member.

Again, while this does not offer a huge income, you can earn a few dollars here and there for simple tasks that you enjoy doing.

4. Webull (free stock signup bonus)

• Category: Investing
• Income potential: High
• More info: Read our Webull review
• Get started: Signup for Webull

Webull is a popular investment app that’s designed to help the average American gain access to the right tools to create an investment portfolio. The basic app costs nothing, and there are no account minimums. You can use Webull to invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies.

If you like the idea of investing but have been discouraged by high brokerage fees and unrealistic investment minimums, the Webull app could be just what you’ve been looking for.

The app is easy to use, and you can access tools to help you develop your investing confidence and money skills.

5. Fundrise

• Category: Investing
• Income potential: High
• More info: Read our Fundrise review
• Get started: Signup for Fundrise

Fundrise helps you to make money through real estate investments. The app creates an opportunity to invest money in a portfolio of income-generating real estate projects. Each property is carefully selected by Fundrise and proactively developed to help you build your net worth.

The Fundrise app is easy to use and requires no time on your part to generate passive income through real estate.

You can also see updates on the project progress in your portfolio on the app. You’ll also receive quarterly dividends and have the option to reinvest your dividends through its Dividend Reinvestment Program.

Fundrise is also beginner-friendly because you can start with an initial investment as low as $10. That means you can get an ownership interest in a professional real estate portfolio even if you don’t have hundreds of dollars.

6. M1 Finance

• Category: Investing
• Income potential: High
• More info: Read our M1 Finance review
• Get started: Signup for M1 Finance

The M1 Finance app allows you to build investment portfolios that are managed automatically. You can buy stocks, ETFs, and even fractional shares. This allows investment in big-name stocks without needing to break the bank.

What makes M1 Finance stand apart is its automation tools. This will help to turn a potentially intensive task into a passive income stream that follows your investment strategy. M1 Finance has over 80 investment portfolios created by experts and a variety of tools to assist investors to create their own portfolio for a passive income.

Signup is free and M1 Finance charges no management fees, but you will need to deposit a minimum investment of $100 to open a portfolio. You can also upgrade to M1 Plus to access many other benefits, but the basic free account will meet the needs of most users.

7. Arrived

• Category: Investing
• Income potential: High
• Get started: Signup for Arrived

Arrived is a real estate investing platform that allows anyone to earn a share in income-generating rental properties. Owning rental properties is a proven way to build wealth, but being a landlord is definitely not passive. However, with Arrived, you’ll simply invest and have none of the responsibilities of managing a property or dealing with tenants.

Another common obstacle that prevents people from investing in rental properties is capital. Most people don’t have the money needed for a down payment. With Arrived, that’s not an issue.

If you’ve ever been interested in owning a rental property but didn’t want the headaches that come with it, Arrived could be the solution. You can start investing with as little as $100 and you’ll earn quarterly dividends from your share of the rental proceeds.

With Arrived, you’ll invest in a specific house or property. When you create a free account, you’ll be able to see the details of the properties that are available and you can invest anywhere from $100 – $20,000 in a particular property.

8. Groundfloor ($50 signup bonus)

• Category: Investing
• Income potential: High
• More info: Read our Grounfloor review
• Get started: Signup for Groundfloor

Groundfloor is another real estate investing platform that allows you to earn passive income. Instead of rental properties, Groundfloor focuses on house flips. It’s a crowdfunding platform the flippers can use to get funds for their projects. As an investor, you’ll be able to see all the details of each available project and choose the ones you want to invest in.

One way that Groundfloor stands out is by offering short-term investments (a few months to a year in length). Most real estate platforms require a long-term investment and your money may be tied up for 5-10 years. Every project at Groundfloor is less than a year long, so it’s much different.

When you invest through Groundfloor, you won’t see the return on your investment until the completion of the project. While you won’t be getting quarterly dividends, you can invest in a variety of different projects with different lengths so you’ll get paid back frequently. You can invest as little as $10, so diversifying by investing in a lot of different projects is possible.

Historically, investments through Groundfloor have produced 10% annual returns for investors, so there is excellent potential.

9. Slide

• Category: Cash back
• Income potential: Low
• Get started: Signup for Slide

Slide is a relatively new app that makes it easy to earn cashback for many of the purchases you need to make anyway. Unlike some other cashback apps, Slide is very straightforward, so it’s easy to know what to expect and how much money you’ll earn.

When you’re checking out in-store or online, you’ll pay through the Slide app to earn 4% cashback on every purchase. The best part is, Slide will charge your credit card and you can stack the 4% cash back with your credit card rewards. So if you’re getting 2% cashback from your credit card, you’ll now earn 6% cashback when you use Slide.

And Slide also gives you the opportunity to earn 5% cash back instead of 4% by pre-paying. You’ll load your slide account with money that you can use for upcoming purchases.

Many of your favorite stores and restaurants already participate with Slide, including Lowe’s, Petco, Bed Bath & Beyond, GameStop, Bass Pro Shops, AMC, Panera Bread, Dunkin, Chipotle, Dominos, and many more (over 200 of your favorite retailers in total).

10. Acorns

• Category: Investing
• Income potential: Medium
• More info: Read our Acorns review
• Get started: Signup for Acorns

The Acorns app is an interesting combination of micro-savings and micro-investing app. The principle of the app is based on “round-ups”. It deals in small amounts that you’re not likely to notice but could offer a significant passive income.

When you link your accounts to the app, it will “round up” purchases and use the difference to invest.

For example, if you make a purchase of $5.45 with your credit or debit card, the app will round up this figure to the nearest dollar, or in this case, $6. The vendor still receives the $5.45, but the additional $0.55 is transferred into your Acorns account.

Once the accumulated amount reaches $5, the app automatically transfers it to the Acorns robo advisors, where your money will be invested and managed for you, according to your preferences.

Since you’re only spending a little more money on each purchase, it’s not likely to have an impact on your everyday spending, but you’re building an investment portfolio passively.

If you love passive income apps, you’ll definitely want to check out Acorns.

11. MobileXpression

• Category: Data
• Income potential: Low
• Get started: Signup for MobileXpression

This passive income app requires no effort at all. You can install it and forget about it. MobileXpression tracks your mobile data usage to uncover patterns about consumers’ online behavior. The app does not compromise your privacy or slow down your device’s performance.

Provided you keep the app active on your device, after the first seven days, you’ll receive a $5 Amazon gift card. After this point, you’ll receive points and sweepstake entries every two weeks. You can redeem your accumulated points for gift cards. There are also surveys that you can participate in to earn additional points. 

While this is not a massive money earner, you’re earning for doing nothing at all, apart from keeping the app on your device. Just by keeping it active and redeeming points, you can earn about $50 per year in gift cards.

Because of its simplicity, MobileXpression is easily one of the best passive income apps.

12. Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel

• Category: Data
• Income potential: Low
• Get started: Signup for Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel

Nielsen is a household name and is considered the leading company in consumer research. The Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel passive income app allows you to help the company with research and earn a passive income. After you download the app, all you need to do is continue using your phone or device as usual.

You’ll receive $50 per year for your participation. Nielsen also runs regular sweepstake draws with a prize of $10,000 per month shared between 400 winners.

This is a completely passive income stream, but be aware that some users have reported the app does shorten the battery life of devices, and it may slow down your device’s performance a little. However, your personal data is secure, as Nielsen is tracking data usage rather than who you’re calling or texting.

13. SavvyConnect

• Category: Data
• Income potential: Low
• Get started: Signup for SavvyConnect

SavvyConnect is a passive income app similar to MobileXpression and Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel. By installing SavvyConnect on your smartphone, tablet, or desktop, you’ll earn $5 per month per device. It’s not a huge amount of extra money, but it’s a very easy extra income.

SavvyConnect will collect non-personal data that is used for market research and rewards you for participating.

14. Rakuten ($10 signup bonus)

• Category: Cash back
• Income potential: Medium
• More info: Read our Rakuten review
• Get started: Signup for Rakuten

Rakuten was previously called Ebates, and it offers up to 40 percent cash back on your online shopping purchases. The platform has offers for over 2,500 stores, so you can earn cashback on your everyday spending and larger purchases.

Once you sign up, you’ll need to shop through the Rakuten portal, but your shopping experience is not affected at all. By using the Rakuten link, the platform receives an affiliate commission, which is shared with you.

Rakuten offers a welcome bonus to new members of $10, so you’ll immediately earn some real money. Once you accumulate cashback, you can receive your cash via check or PayPal.

This is a great way to get money for your regular shopping, but don’t be tempted to impulse buy as you could end up spending all your cashback.

15. Ibotta ($20 signup bonus)

• Category: Cash back
• Income potential: Low
• Get started: Signup for Ibotta

Ibotta is another shopping app that offers cashback on your purchases, and it’s one of our favorite passive income apps. It has a smaller network of approximately 750 partner stores, but they are popular retail outlets such as Walmart, Dominos, Lowe’s, and Petco.

You can use Ibotta when you shop online or by clicking “Find Offers” on the app when you head in-store. You may find offers, suggested recipes, or even short surveys about the products you’re buying.

Once you start shopping, you’ll need to make your purchase as normal. Then to earn your cashback, you’ll need to upload a picture of your receipt. Again, this can be easily done on your phone. Just be sure to keep your receipt until the cashback has been credited to your Ibotta account.

16. Trim

• Category: Savings
• Income potential: Medium
• Get started: Signup for Trim

Trim is a money-saving app that negotiates with companies to save you money on your bills. Trim analyzes spending patterns to highlight the ways that you can make savings. You can even lower the interest rate on your credit cards.

Trim services are not free. There are two versions of the Trim. If you use the free version, you’ll pay a 33 percent fee on any annual savings. However, if Trim cannot make any savings, you’ll pay nothing. The other option is a paid version, which does not charge a commission on any savings.

If you have high-interest credit cards, significant debt, or lots of subscriptions, Trim has the potential to save you thousands of dollars in a year.

17. Truebill

• Category: Saving
• Income potential: Medium
• More info: Truebill vs. Trim
• Get started: Signup for Truebill

Truebill is another app that can save you money on your regular expenses. This platform is completely free to sign up, but the savings fee is 40 percent (compared to Trim’s 33%). This is steep, but you’re only charged when the savings have been secured. So, if Truebill is unable to save you anything, you’ll not pay a cent. The commission is only charged one year at a time. So, if Truebill can save you $2,000 on your bills for the year, you will need to pay $800 in commission.

The app monitors your bills and transactions to find potential savings, doing all of the work to secure your savings. So, after you install the app and complete the setup, you can sit back and “earn” some cash.

18. Embee Meter CX

• Category: Data
• Income potential: Low
• Get started: Signup for Embee Meter CX

Embee Meter CX is a passive income app that’s similar to MobileXpression. When you join, install the app and turn on the Meter, you’ll start to automatically receive “Meter Points” each day.

There are no ads to see or videos to watch, as you’ll receive gift cards or PayPal cash just for using your phone as normal with no financial investment.

The number of points you’ll earn will depend on your device. However, the app does display your point rewards, so you can track your earnings. One point is approximately 1 cent, so you can quickly accumulate enough points to cash out. And, the longer you leave the app active on your device, the more you’ll earn.

19. UpVoice

• Category: Data
• Income potential: Low

(Update: UpVoice is no longer operating.) UpVoice is another passive income app. After you install the app, you’ll earn points each day for visiting sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Amazon, and LinkedIn. UpVoice tracks your internet activity and captures ads anonymously. UpVoice assures users that the app is safe and will not affect performance.

As a panelist, you’ll be helping companies design their brand strategies and make marketing decisions. If you use participating sites each day, you’ll receive even more rewards.

Once you reach 600 points, you can redeem your earnings for an e-gift card from an extensive list of retailers.

20. Drop

• Category: Cash back
• Income potential: Low
• More info: Read our Drop review
• Get started: Signup for Drop

Drop is a free app that also offers rewards for shopping at stores and your favorite online retailers. The Drop app has rewards for practically all your typical purchases, from your early morning coffee to a late-night food order.

All you need to do is shop through the app, and you’ll earn rewards. Each purchase through the app will earn points instantly. Once you accumulate your rewards, you can redeem them for gift cards for your favorite stores or brands.

This is a great way to get cashback on a large portion of your spending for regular shopping, food, or travel, including Netflix, Starbucks, Uber, and Amazon.

21. Dosh

• Category: Cash back
• Income potential: Low
• More info: Read our Dosh review
• Get started: Signup for Dosh

Dosh is another app for earning extra money from your everyday spending. You’ll earn cashback on each purchase you make from a list of participating stores and outlets. However, to qualify for your reward, you must make your purchase using a credit card. This will allow you to automatically receive a percentage of your spending without needing to photograph receipts or scan offers.

You’ll need to link your cards so that every purchase you make using the linked cards will earn you cashback. You can get up to 10 percent cash back for dining in or shopping at over 1000 restaurants and stores. You can transfer your cashback directly to your bank account or as a PayPal payment. 

Final Thoughts on Passive Income Apps

As you can see, there are some fantastic passive income apps that help you to earn something extra very easily. Whether you’re interested in making a few extra dollars a week or would like to develop serious additional income streams, there are apps to suit your needs.

Earning passive income with apps is very easy when you know the right ones to use. Pick your favorites from the list above and get started right away.

*Offer valid for U.S. residents 18+ and subject to account approval. This is not a recommendation. You can lose money with any investment. Open To The Public Investing is a member of FINRA & SIPC. Regulatory and firm fees apply. New customers receive free stock with value $3-300; 0.3% receive the max value. Cryptocurrency trading offered by Apex Crypto LLC. See Public.com/disclosures/