Swagbucks. Mistplay. Inbox Dollars.
Maybe you’ve heard of these apps that actually pay you to play games and take surveys. And you’re thinking: What’s the catch?
Surely, there’s not just some billionaire on a boat somewhere paying Gen Zs to play Solitaire on the metro. So what’s in it for the app developers?
Moreover, do these things even pay out like they’re supposed to? Or are they total scams, designed to waste your time and steal your personal data?
Well, the answer falls somewhere in the middle.
So let’s investigate: are paid gaming apps legit?
What’s Ahead:
What are paid gaming apps?
“Paid gaming apps” is the term I and many others use to describe apps that actually pay you for playing games and taking surveys.
Take Coin Pop, for example. You download the app, generate an account, and it gives you a selection of simple games to play to make cash.
As you’ll start to notice, some of these games are surprisingly recognizable, like Angry Birds or Poker. But most of them are cheap knockoff flash games, such as “Family Farm Seaside.”
Anyways, you choose a game, and here’s where things get interesting.
How do paid gaming apps work?
Paid gaming apps don’t pay cash directly. Instead, you generate “coins,” which can be redeemed for gift cards, PayPal, or other cash equivalents. Some paid gaming apps let you cash out your coins in increments as small as $5, while others have pushed the goalpost farther and farther to $30+ (more on that in a bit).
Anyways, you can typically generate coins in one of five ways:
- Automatically, by simply spending time playing games (i.e., 100 coins/hour)
- By completing certain missions or objectives within games
- By sharing the game or the app on social media
- By completing surveys
- By referring friends
Take Cashyy, for example. Cashyy is more mission- than time-focused, meaning each game will have specific goals or milestones to reach to receive a bundle of coins all at once.
Before discussing how much you can reasonably earn, it’s important to understand where the money is coming from. Who the heck is paying you to play obscure flash games, and why?
Why do apps pay you to play games or take surveys?
These paid gaming apps generate revenue in a few ways.
Some, like Mistplay, charge the developers a fee to have their game featured. In effect, players like you and me are “testing” these games for the developers and Mistplay is kicking back valuable data like what demographics are playing, who’s getting stuck on what missions, etc.
Others go the more traditional route of simply pummeling you with mobile ads between surveys and gaming sessions.
Finally, and I’m just speculating here, but my experience so far would suggest that many of these apps are simply harvesting your data. Not to the benefit of any game developers, but to sell to a third party in a way you probably wouldn’t approve of.
Heck, one of these apps wanted my facial ID while another required my SSN… to play Angry Birds.
When a paid gaming app wants access to your front camera
Source: moneyunder30.com