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Best investment app for minimizing fees: Robinhood For investors who want to do it themselves and pay as few fees as possible, Robinhood is one of the best investment apps. Not to mention, with some of these apps, such as the lock screen apps, you literally don’t have to do anything to make money. These apps won’t make you rich, but they do give you an easy way to make a little extra spending money! These truly are some of the best legitimate iPhone and Android apps that pay you through PayPal.

It's true - there really is an app for everything. Find the latest fintech and money-making apps here.

15 Best Money Making Apps Available for Download

The average young adult now spends nearly 5 hours a day on their phone. Start using your phone to earn money instead of waste time.

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Gig App Reviews

Postmates

With no extensive orientation, no vehicle requirements, and instant access to “going online,” making money with Postmates is quick and easy compared to the variety of other delivery services out there.

Instacart

Instacart is a great service that helps people who don’t have time to shop for groceries by delivering food to their door. For people who like grocery shopping, it can be a fun way to make a few extra dollars in their spare time.

DoorDash

DoorDash also has an impressive benefits package that may be reason enough to sign up. They partner with Stride Health to help its drivers find affordable health, dental, and vision coverage.

Airbnb

Whatever your reason for wanting to get started, our comprehensive Airbnb hosting guide will introduce you to the necessary rules and requirements for listing with Airbnb, and lays out helpful tips for maximizing your earnings.

Cash Back and Survey App Reviews

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is an online rewards platform that offers up to 20% cash back when users complete surveys, shop online, purchase gift cards, watch videos, sign up for free offers, and more. Points can be redeemed for gift cards and PayPal cash, with a minimum payout of $3.

Rakuten

Rakuten (formerly Ebates) is an app, browser extension, and website that offers cash back to consumers who click on its links before checking out at a physical store or online retailer.

Ibotta

Ibotta is a cash back shopping app. Earn rewards when you shop at Target, Amazon, Kroger, and more. Visit stores in person or online, scan your receipt or link a store loyalty card, and Ibotta will credit your account within 24 hours.

Dosh

Many who have written Dosh app reviews say it’s the cash-back app to beat. In a world where Rakuten and Swagbucks have typically dominated, Dosh has really come out of nowhere. Its “set it and forget it” approach, an impressive list of participating merchants, and generous referral bonuses are enough to make anyone sit up and take notice.

Budgeting App Reviews

You Need a Budget - Zero Based Budgeting

YNAB takes a unique approach to budgeting: “All the dollars in your checking account are no longer at your disposal, because now you are spending from the budget, from the plan, from your categories.”

Tiller - Best for Spreadsheet Lovers

A common complaint of many budget tools is that they are too rigid and don’t give users enough flexibility to customize certain parts of their budget. For users who want a higher level of control and prefer using spreadsheets over cookie cutter apps, Tiller is a great solution.

Mint

Mint is an all-inclusive budget management tool that focuses on helping users track their spending automatically. The app allows users to set spending targets for each category in their budget, and transactions are categorized in real-time.

Personal Capital

Personal Capital’s main claim to fame is their investment software, but the app also boasts a powerful set of budgeting tools for everyday users. The app allows user to connect all their financial accounts, including checking, savings, credit cards, loans, mortgages, and more.

Investing App Reviews

Betterment

Betterment has low fees, automatic rebalancing, and high-quality investment options. This is a top choice for hands-off investors that are planning for retirement or other significant goals.

Acorns

When it comes to round-up investing apps, Acorns is among the best in the business. It’s easy to use, has an excellent education platform for new investors, and simple, straightforward fees.

M1 Finance

M1 Finance is a combination online brokerage and robo advisor. It's very highly rated across the personal finance community for it's interface, fund availability, and low costs. They offer investment portfolio templates you can choose from, and you can invest completely free.

Stash

Stash is an app that aims to make investing easier, less scary, and more fun. You can get started with just a little bit of money, add to your balance over time, and invest in industries and companies you’re passionate about.

DollarSprout's Latest App Coverage

Do you have an idea for a free mobile application but you doubt whether it's worth investing? How do free apps make money?

Your doubts are quite clear: the development of a top-notch mobile app requires a lot of time (typically, several months) and, more importantly, money. Before kicking off the development process, you should clearly understand how you’ll recoup your investments and how to make money with apps in 2020.

We’ve decided to help you get your idea off the ground and show how exactly you can make money on free apps.

Free Apps Grossing Big Bucks

According to Sensotower, the App Store and Google Play users spent a total of $39.7 billion on mobile apps and games during the first half of 2019. This is a huge market you don’t want to miss out on

If you think that it’s the paid apps that bring the lion’s share of this huge revenue, you’re wrong. In fact, if you check the list of the top grossing mobile applications (including games) in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, you’ll notice they’re all free.

The vast majority of users on all continents prefer free mobile applications. In fact, the number of free app downloads is constantly rising. Statistics provided by Sensotower show that in the first half of 2019, free mobile apps downloads in Google Play increased by 16,4 percent and made up $41,9 billion. Whilst the App Store lost 1,4 percent in downloads. However, the overall tendency remains positive.

Developing a free mobile app is definitely the right business strategy.

Before shedding light on how to make money with apps, we’d like to draw your attention to another matter: correct app presentation. Remember that users must be able to quickly find your app and understand what it’s designed for.

Incite User Interest Through Accurate App Packaging

As of the second quarter of 2019, there were 2.46 million apps (of all types) in the Google Play Store and 1.96 million in the Apple App Store. The competition is really strong!

How many users will find your free mobile app? How many of them will download it? No matter how good your app is and what monetization methods you use, you may still fail to attract customers without a clear app packaging.

Potential users of your app should be able to quickly find it through search in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. To make your mobile app visible and easy to find, you should provide it with an attention-grabbing name, an informative description, and screenshots

Want to get the first ranks on mobile app stores? Check these effective pre-launch marketing strategies.

Here are tips that will help you create a top-class app description:

Choose a Clear and Catchy App Name

Your mobile app should have a snappy name that reflects its major functions. Though many applications have names that convey nothing about their functionality, your app is likely to attract a lot more users if it has a name that hints at what it does. It’s particularly useful to include keywords in the app name.

For example, let’s look at LINE, one of the most popular non-gaming Android apps on the Google Play Store. As you can see, the full title contains an explanation of what this app does (i.e. it offers free calls and messages):

Here’s another example: Hulu for iOS. The full name of this app is “Hulu: Watch TV Shows & Stream the Latest Movies.” With this title, any user can easily see what Hulu is for, namely for watching TV shows and movies:

In general, the name of your app shouldn’t be too long – 100 characters at most. Think carefully about the name, as it’s the first thing people see and pay attention to when they’re considering whether your application is worth downloading.

Come up With an Informative App Description

The next step is to provide your app with a meaningful and informative description.

The first several sentences (up to the “Read More” or “More” buttons) of an app description should give general information and illustrate the app’s main idea. This part mustn’t be long – up to 225 characters. Few people read further, so make sure to tailor this part of the app description to perfection.

Let’s have a look at a great example of a brief yet informative description for Scrummer, a handy planning poker app for Scrum development teams that’s available in the Apple App Store:

Learn more about Scrummer’s endearing features and its lively interface.

In the main body of the description, you should mention what problems your mobile app helps to solve as well as go over its most important functions. Take a look at the description of Google Drive (in the Google Play Store). As you can see, it effectively explains to users what they can do with the help of Google Drive:

Make Eye-Catching App Screenshots

An app’s name and description are important, but users want to know how your app will look on their mobile devices. That’s why you should include several screenshots – and make sure you pick the best.

We recommend that you add some text to your screenshots, describing some functions of your application. Take a look at a screenshot for the LINE app on Google Play:

As you can see, this screenshot shows that the app can work on smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches.

Here are screenshots for the Uber app for iOS:

Note that Uber uses verbs in their screenshot descriptions, which is the correct approach. Verbs are the parts of speech used to describe actions.

People are more likely to act (i.e. to download your free mobile app) if they see verbs.

How to make money with free apps?

App To Make Money

Now that you know how to package a five-star app, we can move on to explaining the strategies you can leverage to make money on free apps.

Strategy #1: In-App Purchases

In-app purchases is an extremely popular strategy used by thousands of apps in both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. In-app purchases allow users to buy something right in the app.

There are three major types of in-app purchases:

• Consumable. Consumables are products that a user can use only once: for example, virtual money or health points. Such in-app purchases are usually used in mobile games.
• Non-consumable. Non-consumables are features that users buy for permanent use: for example, additional functions or ad blocking (this is how free apps make money without ads).
• Subscriptions. Your mobile application may offer subscriptions that unlock some content or functions for a certain period of time. Subscriptions can be either non-renewing or automatically renewing.

Are you considering to implement in-app purchases in your app? We have a great guide on how to build a mobile payment app like Starbucks.

Strategy #2: In-App Ads

Ads are a driving force of the global market. They’re literally everywhere, and mobile apps aren’t an exception. In-app ads are actually tools of affiliate marketing. With in-app ads, you advertise your affiliates’ products (apps, games, etc.) inside your app and get paid if your users interact with those ads.

There are several types of campaigns used in affiliate marketing, so let’s mention the most popular:

• Cost per click (CPC). This model means that you get paid for each click on ads displayed in your mobile application. Typically, a single click is nearly worthless, so revenue is calculated on a cost per mille basis (mille is Latin for thousand).

• Cost per view (CPV). These campaigns are usually applied to video ads. The more times users of your app watch video ads, the higher payout you get.

• Cost per install (CPI). With this model, you get paid whenever a user of your app installs an advertised application.

If you wish to monetize your application through ads, there are many networks to work with, such as AdMob and Flurry. Most ad networks support apps on iOS and Android, as well as on some other mobile platforms. Also, don’t forget to check what kinds of campaigns they offer, since you need to understand what exactly you’ll be paid for.

There are several ways to display ads in your mobile app:

• Banners. Banner ads usually appear at the top or at the bottom of a screen and have some text and graphics. Banners are considered to be relatively unobtrusive, as users are able to keep using your mobile app even if a banner is active. However, banners have low click-through rates (CTR) and heavily depend on brand recognition (users are far more likely to click if a banner advertises some well-known brand).

• Native. Most people don’t like ads and try to block them completely. How can you reach out to the users of your mobile application, then? Use native ads that don’t really look like ads. Native ads are seamlessly integrated into mobile applications, making them subtle but quite efficient.

• Videos. According to an article by Invesp, the CTR of video ads is 1.84%, so they’re quite effective. Typically, video ads appear automatically when users interact with apps.

• Interstitial. These ads take a whole screen and typically appear when users launch or close an application. However, interstitial ads may also look like pop-ups appearing from time to time.

• Rich media. If you’re wondering what type of in-app ads is the most efficient, here’s the answer: rich media ads that, according to the previously mentioned eMarketer article, show a CTR of 0.44%. Rich media ads use multiple methods to reach out to users, including audio, video, text, and more.

In-app ads allow you to make money off free apps, but this monetization strategy works well only for applications with big audiences. If your app is a startup, don’t expect it to bring big bucks this way.

Strategy #3: Freemium

To benefit from the freemium monetization strategy, you need a second, paid version of your application. If users like a free version, they’re likely to opt for a paid one that has some extra functions.

With a freemium model, users are typically offered to upgrade an app to a paid version, and if they agree, they’re directed to an app store.

For example, have a look at MX Player, a popular video player available on Google Play. This mobile app has a free version, but it contains ads:

Users are offered a paid version of this app, called MX Player Pro. It’s the same in terms of functionality, but comes without advertising:

This monetization option is quite efficient, but you shouldn’t provide too many functions in your free app; otherwise, few users will shell out for the paid one.

Strategy #4: Sponsorship

Finding a sponsor is a really lucrative monetization model. Usually, it works this way: you create a mobile app that gains quite a lot of users, after which you contact a sponsor company and offer to update the design of your app to match the sponsor’s brand.

There are two types of sponsorship deals: you can either split the revenue with your sponsor or receive a monthly sponsorship fee.

The main difficulty of sponsorship is finding a sponsor. Needless to say, your mobile app should be good enough to be interesting to potential funders.

Strategy #5: Email Marketing

Email marketing has always been and still is a powerful money-making strategy. You can leverage this method and ask the users of your mobile app to provide their emails and, later, send them messages.

Game App Make Real Money

Adding a Facebook login option to your free app is a great way to subtly collect user emails. However, give users a chance to cancel email notifications, as this will make your app more credible and people will know they won’t be receiving loads of spam.

Tips for Choosing the Best App Monetization Methods

As you can see, there are many ways you can make money from free apps. You can pick one or opt for several strategies at once. However, there are several handy tips that will help you monetize your free app in the most effective way possible.

Consider the Business Goals of Your Free App

Earn Real Cash Apps

Any application has a business goal, which means it helps its users solve their problems. Therefore, you should select a monetization strategy based on your app’s business purpose.

For example, let’s say you wish to create a cool audio player with lots of sound adjustments. Can in-app purchases be an effective profit generating method? Probably not. Instead, you can opt for ads or offer an ad-free version with a subscription.

Or imagine that you launch an educational app. It can offer in-app purchases, such as access to additional functions or paid tips. Needless to say, such apps can contain ads as well.

Define Your Target Audience

You should clearly realize who you’re creating a mobile app for. Draw a user portrait and decide what functionality users need, how much time they’re likely to spend using your app, and so on. A clear picture of your target users allows you to create an app tailored to their needs.

Though your free app may boast large download numbers, the truth is that only a small part of your users (you may call them the money-spending core) will actually bring you profit by clicking on ads or making in-app purchases. The majority of users won’t spend a cent in your app. You may not like it, but that’s how it is in reality. Therefore, set a goal of attracting as many users as possible and do your best to succeed.

Research Your Competitors

If you’re thinking of launching a mobile application, you should carry out a competitor analysis. Explore the app stores you’re going to offer your free app in and search for similar apps. Next, find out what your competitors offer, what kind of designs they have and, more importantly, what monetization methods they use.

This information will help you learn from your competitors’ experiences and see what mistakes they’ve made so you can make your free app better and more helpful to customers. In the end, a better app means higher profits for you as its creator.

Don't Overuse App Monetization Methods

You shouldn’t make your free app inconvenient for users. If it’s full of ads or in-app purchases, your audience may stop using your app and install a similar one. App creators should always remember that their apps bring profits only as long as people use them.

Your users should feel comfortable when using your app, so be prudent and make all ads and offers in your app as subtle as possible.

App To Make Money Playing Games

Now that you know how free apps make money, you can give your idea a go and turn it into a real-life application.

Can’t handle the development process? Reach RubyGarage and our experts will help you build a successful and competitive mobile application.