Getting Paid to Test Apps: What the Offers Ask

An ad has offered to pay you for testing apps, and before you download anything, you want to know what that testing involves. "Get paid to test apps" covers two different things. App offers pay you a fixed reward for each step you reach in a new app, and professional app testing pays you for the sessions a testing company invites you to.

At a glance
What it is	A new app that pays a fixed reward for each step you reach in it
What it asks of you	Install the app from the offer, then reach the steps it lists, such as creating an account
Devices	The phone or tablet you will use the app on
Realistic time	Minutes for the first steps, days for steps that ask for regular use
What it costs	Nothing, unless the offer is grouped under Purchase or Free trial

What an app offer asks you to do

An app offer pays for the steps it lists, and the first steps are often creating an account in the app or finishing its tutorial. Later steps ask you to use the app on several different days or to reach a stated level in it, and some offers ask you to start a free trial of a subscription app.

Every step and what it pays is on the offer's Rewards tab, and the Instructions on its Details tab say exactly what counts. "Use the app on three days" means opening it on three separate days, so read both tabs before you press Start offer.

Read every step before you install the app: an offer pays for the steps it lists, in its own words, and for nothing else.

How professional app testing is different

Professional app testing is freelance work: you apply to a testing company, answer its screening questions, and are paid for each session it invites you to, where you use an app and say what you think of it. A session pays more than an app offer, and the invitations come only when a study needs someone like you, so they are irregular.

The two share a name and little else, so there is no reason not to do both: you can start an app offer whenever you like, and professional testing depends on invitations. A message from a stranger offering you a paid app-testing job with a daily income is neither of these, so do not answer it, and tell a real site from a fake one before you sign up anywhere.

Getting every step credited

Most of these habits start before you install the app:

• Start the offer on Earnit and install the app from the link it opens, on the phone you will use the app on.
• Choose apps you have never installed. App offers pay new users, so an app you had before does not pay.
• Use a normal browser window with your ad blocker turned off when you press Start offer.
• Keep the app installed until every step you reached is credited.
• Take a screenshot of each step as you reach it, and keep it until the reward is credited.

The habits that make any offer pay cover each of these in more detail. If a step you reached has not tracked within 48 hours of reaching it, you can report the missing step to the partner that runs the offer.

What an app offer costs you

Time. The first steps take minutes, and steps that ask for regular use take days, plus the wait while the partner that runs the offer confirms each one. An offer with a Time limit gives you a set time to finish once you start it.

Money. Only the offers grouped under Purchase and Free trial can cost you anything. Choose one only if you want what you are buying anyway, because the money you spend goes to the app and is not part of your reward. A trial you forget to cancel can turn into a paid subscription, so note the date the trial ends before you start the offer.

Data. An app asks for what it needs to work, and a few ask for more, such as your contacts. If an app asks for more than it needs, choose another offer, whatever it pays.

On the tasks page, pick an app you have never used, read its steps and its Instructions, and note the end date of any free trial before you start it.