Pocket money, honestly rated
Games That Pay
Yes, some apps genuinely pay you to play games. No, none of them pay well — think £15–£30 a month for casual play, not the “£500 a day” the adverts scream. If you’d be playing on your phone anyway, here’s how to get paid for it without being mugged off.
Where the money actually comes from
No mystery: adverts. Game developers pay reward apps to get their games downloaded and played, and the apps share a cut with you for your time and the ads you sit through. That’s why the pay is real but small — you’re being paid a slice of advertising revenue, and your realistic hourly rate is somewhere between 50p and a few pounds.
Knowing that sets the right expectations: this is beer money for time you were spending on your phone regardless. Anyone promising more is either charging entry fees (see the warning below) or lying.
Apps with a real track record
All free to join — and they must be. Paying to earn is the first scam flag.
Mistplay
The biggest games catalogue around. Launch games through the app, earn units for playtime, redeem for gift cards or PayPal. Points come fast at first and slow as you level up, so rotating between games earns the most.
JustPlay
Smaller games selection and plenty of ads, but famously low cashout thresholds — pennies for gift cards, a couple of pounds for PayPal — so you actually see money quickly instead of grinding towards a distant target.
Swagbucks
A veteran rewards platform where games sit alongside surveys, polls and cashback — the mix is the point, as games alone earn slowly. Running since 2008 with a long payout history.
Freecash
Game challenges and offers with one of the lowest PayPal thresholds going and a strong payout reputation. Individual game campaigns can pay decently if you enjoy the game enough to hit its milestones.
Playing it smart
Cash out the moment you hit the minimum — these apps aren’t banks, balances have no protection, and a small early withdrawal also proves the app pays before you invest real time. Take cash over vouchers when offered, spend any vouchers promptly, and never buy in-app purchases to “earn faster” — spending money to earn pennies is how the maths flips against you.
One more honest note: these apps make money from your attention and your data. Use a spare email address, skim the permissions, and if an app demands anything odd — ID selfies beyond normal PayPal checks, bank logins — delete it.
What we’d avoid
Cash-tournament games where you pay entry fees to compete for prizes — you can lose money, and for some people they scratch the same itch as gambling. If gambling is or has been a problem for you, skip this entire category; GambleAware offers free support. Apps with moving goalposts — payout thresholds that mysteriously rise as you approach them are the most common complaint pattern in the dodgy end of this market. Check an app’s recent one-star reviews before you invest hours.
And any advert claiming you’ll earn hundreds a day playing games: that’s the advert for the scam, not the opportunity.
Want more than pocket money?
The same phone time pointed at a side hustle earns ten times as much.
Explore Side Hustles →