The best passive income apps help you build new income streams with minimal use of your time. There is a difference between income you earn at a job and income that comes in while you are doing other things, such as investing or earning royalties from intellectual property.
The first type of income that you earn directly from time you put into work, is called active income. The second type is passive income, which we are going to focus on in this post: income which does not require your direct time and labor to earn. When you have it, your financial picture can take a drastic turn for the better. Specifically, I’ll show you my best passive income apps for starting your flow of passive income going.
Best Passive Income Apps and Websites – Earn an Extra $23,000 per Year
Udemy
You might see sites like Udemy and Teachable as good platforms for learning new things, but have you considered that they are some of the best passive income apps?
Teaching a course can be as passive as you want. Be warned though, there’s a bit of work upfront. You actually have to come up with a course idea, name the course, and record yourself teaching it. Once that’s done though, upload the course and you can reap residual passive income for years to come.
There’s a reason why Udemy now hosts over 100,000 online video courses by instructors just like you and me. Learning is moving online, and Udemy puts your course in front of potentially millions of users. In exchange, you will pay the platform a share of your course proceeds. To cut down on the upfront work, you can create a short course, no longer than a couple hours of video content. Make sure to link to your course from your social media accounts and tell friends about it.
Over time, your course on Udemy should bring in some passive income to complement your job. We recommend Teachable if you’re building your brand, but if you’re just looking to make passive income without building a brand, Udemy works.
Sign up for Udemy here.
Shutterstock Contributor
If you have a lot of photographs or take photos regularly on your travels, then the Shutterstock app is among your best passive income apps. All you have to do is upload your photos through Shutterstock Contributor, a mobile app that lets you add photos quickly to Shutterstock’s library.
Shutterstock has a huge audience of customers who rely on photos downloaded through the service.
Every time your photos get downloaded, you will earn money. Apart from the work of taking photos, earning money happens rather passively through the app. Obviously it helps if you have a huge stash of unused photos that you’ve taken over the years so you don’t need to go take new ones. However, even if you have no suitable photos to begin with, you can shoot photos on your regular travels or weekend excursions. Once you have a good number of photos, just upload them into Shutterstock Contributor and start earning money.
Sign up for Shutterstock Contributor here
Airbnb
AirBnB’s app lets you rent out rooms and is one of the best passive income apps out there. The difference with this particular app is that you will likely make far more than with apps that reward you for daily use. You won’t need to log on daily, swipe on ads or watch any mandatory videos, as with some other passive income apps.
Instead, you list your property on AirBnB and when guests are interested, they book your property. There’s little involvement on your part in vetting and verifying guests. AirBnB takes care of this. If you so choose, you can even have another person, whom you hire for the task, receive guests and clean up after them. This way you can enjoy the income from your AirBnB completely passive.
To protect your peace of mind, AirBnB insures your property for $1 million in property damage and accident insurance. This helps deal with any adverse incidents should they occur.
Sign up for Airbnb here.
Honeygain
Your internet connection can let you earn money from Honeygain. While the earning potential of this app might be lower than that of AirBnB and others, it really does require very little to get started. All you need is a mobile data or WiFi connection on your phone. Download the Honeygain app. Open the app, and let it run in the background. You start earning money right away.
What happens behind the scenes is that Honeygain allows data scientists to connect by sharing your network infra-structure. You do not have to manage any of this as it’s done automatically by Honeygain.
There is no cost to you in order to download the app. You just install it, get connected, and get on with your regular activities while the app runs. It’s possible to earn higher payouts by installing Honeygain on multiple devices.
Turo
Apps like AirBnB are part of what’s known as the “sharing economy.” Turo, another contender among the best passive income apps, is one of them. Turo lets you earn passive income from your car by putting it up for other users of the app to rent. If you’ve got a car and don’t use it all the time, you can list it on Turo and begin earning money.
Turo’s community benefits from renting out cars listed by individual owners as this results in cost savings over going with a traditional car rental company. For car owners, Turo is a remarkable opportunity to make money doing nothing other than letting others use an asset you already have.
Measures are in place to protect your car and ensure a smooth experience for all Turo users. Turo insures your car for up to $1 million to cover accidents and other mishaps. In addition, adding your listing to Turo can be done in as little as 10 minutes.
Sign up for Turo here
Outdoorsy
Outdoorsy offers an awesome opportunity for earning passive income. However, be aware that this app will only help you if you have an RV.
If you have an RV and don’t mind sharing its usage with others, then you are in luck, as this is precisely what Outdoorsy will allow you to do.
With $1 million in insurance for your RV, Outdoorsy takes away the hassles of renting out your RV and earning money from it. All drivers renting out on Outdoorsy must go through a DMV check. This makes the RV rental process safer for all involved.
In case of breakdown or other mishaps out on the road, a Rental Roadside Assistance team is available to help. Outdoorsy’s dedicated support team helps you resolve any problems or questions you may have while renting out your RV.
Outdoorsy has a wonderful community full of people that enjoy RVs and the outdoors. While making money, you will also get to meet some of these people and make new friends.
Sign up for Outdoorsy here
Fundable
Investing your money, whether in the stock market, mutual funds, or in private companies, can be one of the most profitable passive income streams. That said, the knowledge required to make a successful go at it, and the barriers to entry, can be high.
If you are an accredited investor, putting your money into private companies through Fundable can be a great opportunity.
While you do need to be an accredited investor, the actual minimum investment amount can be as low as $1,000. On the platform, you will get to discover a wide range of businesses from all across the country and assess them for your business objectives.
Investing on Fundable streamlines the process of finding and talking with possible investment candidates. Think of it as having your own version of Shark Tank, where you can easily review investment pitches. Only if you like what a team is working on do you step in and make an investment.
Investing in smaller companies can allow you to catch a great investment before the market discovers it.
Sign up for Fundable here
Fundrise
Unlike Fundable, which requires you to be an accredited investor in order to make passive income with equity investments, Fundrise opens the opportunity wider.
Regular folks with a bit of money they want to invest, not just accredited investors, can put their money to work for them through Fundrise. As little as $500 can be invested through the platform.
One other important difference is that Fundrise focuses on the real estate market, which has tended to generate consistent returns in the past.
If you’ve saved up some money and want it to do more than just sit in the bank earning little to no interest, Fundrise could be a fit for you.
You don’t need to be a sophisticated investor, as the people behind Fundable handpick real estate projects that will make a good return. Historical returns on the platform are in the range of 8.7% to 12.4% annually.
Even better, management fees on the platform are remarkably low, and the platform makes it easy for you to inspect the actual real estate. This makes it easy to invest in million dollar real estate without writing million dollar checks.
Sign up for Fundrise here
Slidejoy
The words “best passive income apps” might conjure up images of reclining in your chair while an app on your iPhone makes money for you. Slidejoy is about as close to this ideal as you might get. There’s the obvious caveat that anything this passive is not going to make you thousands in additional income, but it can pay for the occasional dinner.
To use Slidejoy, you just download the app to your mobile phone. You then register for a Slidejoy account. Slidejoy installs a lockscreen that will display a feed of trending news and personalized ads for you. You don’t need to click on the ads to make money. You just use your phone as usual: swipe, unlock and go about your daily business.
Slidejoy will send you rewards and gifts that you can redeem through Amazon, Walmart, Paypal, and other businesses. It makes it possible to earn passive income for just having a lockscreen on your mobile phone, with little else in the way of action required from you. If you choose, you can also donate your gift rewards to a charity you like.
Sign up for Slidejoy here
Seated
If you love eating out and do so often, then Seated might be a splendid passive income opportunity for you. With minimal effort needed to actually make money, this is one of the best passive income apps you can download.
Using Seated is actually quite easy. You just download the app and browse the list of curated restaurants that Seated provides you. When you see something you like, you will make a reservation through the app.
To earn your passive income, all you have to do is show up for your reservation and enjoy your meal as normal. When you get your receipt from the restaurant, upload it in the Seated app to confirm that you showed up. That’s it. You get up to 30% back each time you dine through Seated.
Seated is active in major cities all across the US. There’s a good chance that some of your favorite restaurants are already active on the platform. If so, you can now earn rewards passively through Seated for eating at your favorite spots.
Sign up for Seatedapp here
Best Passive Income Apps For You
Which of these best passive income apps you choose to use will depend on your goals and specific situation. Obviously, if you are an accredited investor with plenty of money that you can put to work for you, that will yield the biggest passive income for you. An app like Fundable or Fundrise could be a perfect fit.
If you are in a situation where you don’t have the liquid assets of an accredited investor but have a house you can rent, maybe AirBnB is best. It’s not just real estate or investments alone that can make you passive income though.
As we saw, with just a car or RV, you can start making passive income in the sharing economy by renting them out on platforms like Turo. Finally, apps like Slidejoy let you make passive income seemingly from thin air, with little in the way of investment on your part.
Comments 3
Great review! I’ve tried many passive income apps but some of it are worthless to try. In my opinion, one of the most legit ones is Honeygain because it’s free, easy to use and quick to earn. I installed the app on my smartphone, laptop and use their referral program and last month I managed to earn 50$ what is not bad I would say.
Oh that’s awesome! Thanks for your comment!
Thanks Tendai. You can make incredible amounts of money through home sharing apps like airbnb. Other players in this space include vrbo, homeaway and booking.com. To make it passive income in the true sense of the word, you may need a property manager to take care of things for you as you focus on your daily business.