Introduction
There is no shortage of money making and savings apps available today.
While many know of mainstream options like Uber, Airbnb or banking apps, there are also hundreds of lesser-known apps that provide unique and creative ways to earn, save, invest or manage your money and finances.
In this blog post, we will explore six of these unsung apps that you may not have heard of before.
We will look at how each app works, its key features and benefits, and how it can help you boost your income, cut expenses or grow your savings in innovative ways.
The apps covered range from turning your photos into cash, mystery shopping for rewards, automating your bills and subscriptions, earning cashback on purchases, micro-investing your spare change and even monetizing your unused internet bandwidth.
Our goal is to unveil some new platforms and tools you can try out beyond the usual suspects like eBay, Craigslist or Freelancer.
We want to open your eyes to fresh opportunities to make money online and take control of your finances.
The apps we have chosen are reputable, secure and offer real ways to earn, save and invest.
By the end of this post, you’ll have six new ideas to explore that could provide that extra monthly income you need or help you save and invest for the future.
Let’s get started!
1. Foap: Turning Your Photography Skills into Cash
Foap is an application that allows users to earn money by selling their own photos through the app’s marketplace.
With over 800,000 users, Foap has become a popular platform for monetizing photography skills.
To start earning with Foap, you first need to download the app and create an account.
There is no cost for joining. Once registered, you can start uploading your photos.
Foap accepts all kinds of original photos, but shots with people or eye-catching scenery tend to sell the best.
When your photo is approved and published in the Foap marketplace, other users can purchase a license to use it.
You set the price for your photos, earning $5 for each license sold. Foap takes a 30% commission, so you receive $3.50 per photo license.
Tips for Taking Photos that Sell on Foap
- Use quality equipment– Well-composed, crisp photos have the best chance of selling. Invest in a good camera if you can.
- Focus on lighting– Proper lighting brings out colors and details. Pay attention to both natural light and artificial lighting.
- Highlight people– Photos with people often attract more buyers who need stock images for websites, presentations, etc.
- Consider trends– Timely, seasonal photos tend to perform well, like summer beaches or holiday celebrations.
- Optimize editing– Use editing software to perfect your shots. Enhance lighting, crop effectively, boost color and contrast.
My Experience Using Foap
I’ve been using Foap for about a year now. It took me a few months to make my first sale, but once I figured out which types of shots sell best, my sales increased.
Bright, eye-catching photos and portrait shots usually attract buyers within just a few days of posting.
My best month so far I’ve made $75 through Foap by devoting some time to capturing quality photos. It’s an enjoyable way to earn extra cash from a hobby.
2. Mobee: Unveiling the World of Mystery Shopping
Mystery shopping provides opportunities to earn extra money by visiting stores and reporting on your experience.
Mobee is an app that offers mystery shopping gigs in your area, allowing you to complete tasks and earn points that can be redeemed for gift cards and other rewards.
To get started with Mobee, you’ll need to download the app and create an account.
The app uses your location to show you available mystery shopping opportunities nearby.
Tasks may involve visiting a store, making a purchase, taking photos, answering survey questions or completing other activities.
Clear instructions are provided in the app for each gig.
Once you complete the task, you can submit your report through the Mobee app and get credited for points.
The points accumulate and can be exchanged for gift cards to popular retailers like Amazon and Target.
The more tasks you take on, the faster you can earn rewards.
Here are some tips from experienced Mobee users:
- Be thorough in your reporting – provide lots of detail and take photos/videos when required. The more useful your report, the better your chances of getting approved.
- Pay close attention to timing requirements. Some tasks may require visiting at a specific time of day or day of the week.
- Bring any required materials (such as printed instructions) to ensure you can properly complete the task.
- Be courteous and professional when interacting with staff at the location. Don’t raise suspicions.
- Carefully review the provided instructions multiple times so you understand exactly what’s required before visiting the location.
With some time and effort, Mystery shopping through Mobee can become a lucrative side gig.
Just be diligent in following instructions and providing high-quality reports, and the points will start rolling in.
Before you know it, you’ll have earned enough rewards to treat yourself to something nice!
3. Streamlining Expenses and Eliminating Subscriptions with Trim
In today’s digital world, it’s all too easy to lose track of automatic subscriptions and recurring expenses that come out of your accounts every month.
From streaming services to monthly box deliveries, these little charges can really add up over time. That’s where an app like Trim comes in handy.
Trim is designed to help users identify, manage, and even cancel subscriptions and expenses that they may have forgotten about or no longer need.
The app accesses your bank and credit card accounts to scan your monthly transactions and bring recurring charges to your attention.
You can then decide which subscriptions are worth keeping, and which ones you’d like Trim to try canceling on your behalf.
The app also looks for ways you may be able to save money on your existing subscriptions.
For example, it can attempt to negotiate lower rates with your cable or internet provider.
Trim even offers a “Bill Negotiation Service” to handle the process for you.
Many users have found Trim invaluable for streamlining their finances. Jenn S. shares: “Trim has saved me so much money by catching unused subscriptions I had forgotten I even had!
It’s so easy to just link your accounts and let Trim analyze your monthly charges.
I never realized how many things I was paying for that I didn’t need or use anymore until Trim brought them to my attention.
It’s been a total game changer for getting my finances under control.”
With Trim, you can finally eliminate the monthly expenses that have been falling through the cracks.
Give your finances a trim by letting the app find subscriptions and services you can cancel or downgrade to save more each month.
4. Rakuten: Cashback on Your Online Purchases
Rakuten (formerly Ebates) is a popular cashback and rewards platform that allows users to earn money on their everyday online purchases.
After free registration, you can access Rakuten through their website or browser extension.
The platform tracks your purchases from over 2500 partner merchants and websites.
After completing eligible purchases, you earn cashback deposited into your Rakuten account.
With Rakuten, it’s possible to get cashback ranging from 1-20% or more on purchases from popular retailers like Walmart, Amazon, BestBuy and more.
The actual percentage varies by store.
Rakuten pays out your earnings quarterly via check or PayPal.
You can increase your potential earnings in several ways:
- Always enable Rakuten before browsing partner sites to ensure your purchases track properly. The browser extension makes this easy.
- Check for coupons or cashback bonuses for your store, which can sometimes double the standard rate.
- Take advantage of rotating bonus offers that increase cashback for specific merchants.
- Redeem your earnings for Rakuten gift cards to stretch your savings even further.
It’s important to note cashback only applies to certain items, and exclusions exist.
You need a Rakuten account to receive earnings, so ensure you are logged in when shopping.
While Rakuten is free to use, payments are considered taxable income.
Overall, Rakuten provides an easy way to maximize savings on your normal online spending.
The cashback accumulates quickly, making it a useful tool for boosting your finances.
5. Acorns: Turning Small Change into Big Investments
Acorns is an app that helps users effortlessly save and invest their spare change.
The premise is simple – it rounds up everyday purchases to the nearest dollar and invests the leftover change.
For example, if you buy a coffee for $3.50, Acorns will round that purchase up to $4.00 and invest the $.50 difference on your behalf.
This “round-up investing” adds up over time.
Even if you only invest pennies each day, it can quickly grow into a substantial investment portfolio.
Acorns offers a choice of portfolio options based on your risk tolerance and time horizon.
There’s a conservative portfolio for more risk-averse investors as well as more aggressive growth-focused portfolios.
Many users love Acorns because it takes the work out of saving and investing.
The app links to your bank account or credit card and automatically invests the spare change in the background.
There’s no manual effort required after the initial setup.
As one Acorns user shared:
“I love how effortless Acorns makes investing. I don’t even notice the roundups happening, but over the last year it’s added up to over $500 invested. That’s money I would have probably wasted otherwise.”
The automation makes Acorns ideal for beginner investors who want an easy “set and forget” way to build long-term savings.
Although the amounts start small, they can compound into substantial investments over months and years of consistent use.
For those new to investing, Acorns provides an intuitive platform to develop smart money habits.
6. Honeygain: Monetizing Your Unused Internet Bandwidth
Introduction: Honeygain helps users earn money by sharing their unused internet bandwidth.
Honeygain is an innovative app that provides users an opportunity to make extra money by selling their unused internet bandwidth.
The concept is simple – you install Honeygain on your devices and any excess bandwidth gets shared through their network.
In return, you earn money for allowing them to utilize your unused data.
Operating principle: Sharing data and utilizing unused bandwidth.
Once installed on your computer or phone, Honeygain works in the background to detect any unused internet capacity you have.
The app then uses this spare bandwidth to transmit data on behalf of their commercial partners.
This helps optimize network capacity across the internet.
As a user, you don’t have to do anything extra. Just keep the app running and watch your earning balance grow from your unused bandwidth being put to work.
Privacy considerations: Important factors to consider before sharing data.
While Honeygain offers an innovative way to monetize your bandwidth, users should evaluate the privacy considerations.
Honeygain states that user data is encrypted and anonymized.
However, you are allowing third parties access to transmit data through your network bandwidth.
Users should be aware of the potential privacy risks before sharing their bandwidth and data.
Proper precautions should be taken like using a VPN.
Overall, users need to assess whether the earnings provided by Honeygain are worth the privacy trade-offs.
Conclusion
Over the course of this article, we explored 6 unique and lesser-known apps that provide creative opportunities to earn extra money and increase savings in your daily life.
Foap allows you to make money from selling your own high-quality photos, while Mobee enables mystery shopping tasks for points and rewards.
Trim can help streamline your expenses by managing subscriptions, and Rakuten gives cashback on your online purchases.
Small amounts can also add up through Acorns’ round-up investments and Honeygain’s unused internet bandwidth payments.
While not exhaustive, this list showcases the diversity of money-making and savings apps available today.
These apps remove many barriers to earning extra income on the side or saving for goals.
I encourage you to explore one or more of these apps that align with your interests, needs, and lifestyle.
With some time and effort, they can become useful tools on your journey to financial freedom.
Start with small steps, stick with the apps you enjoy using, and you may be surprised at how your money can grow.
