40 ways to make money on your phone (that actually work in 2025)

Your phone is already costing you time—so why not make it pay you back?

We scroll, swipe, and stream for hours a day, turning our most powerful earning device into a distraction machine. But in 2025, your phone isn’t just for killing time. It's a way to make money online.

Whether you want to quit your 9-to-5 or just pick up a side hustle and earn some extra bucks, there are plenty of options.

From online surveys to affiliate marketing to becoming a trader, it’s time to unlock the full earning potential trapped inside your favorite procrastination tool.

Here's how to make money on your phone.

How to make money on your phone

We’ve handpicked 40 ways to make money on your phone—many of which we’ve personally tested—so you know they’re not just theory, they actually work.

Content creation and clipping

Creating content and clipping other creators' long-form content is something anyone can do with a computer or a phone.

While clipping content can be easily done, especially with Whop's Content Rewards system, creating content can be a bit harder in comparison—but it can be scaled to a much higher level.

1. Become a clipper with Whop Content Rewards

There's a high chance you've heard the term 'clipping' before—it means creating short-form video content from longer videos of a content creator.

For example, imagine a chess tournament video that's 2 hours long, and an amazing play happens at the 40-minute mark.

A clipper gets that video, cuts the interesting 20 seconds of it (clips it,) and posts it on social media. This way, the clipper gets views, likes, and follows, and the original content creator is promoted—it's a win-win.

How to start
You can get started as a clipper by joining the Whop Clips community, where you can find tutorials to get started and be part of a community of clippers.

• Earning potential: Thousands of dollars per clip
• Difficulty: Low/medium
• Cost to get started: None

2. Become an influencer

It takes time and persistence, but being an influencer can be one of the most lucrative ways to make money on your phone.

Here are some skills you want to develop to give yourself the best shot at those juicy influencer bucks: 

• Photography and image editing (Canva, Adobe Lightroom)
• Video editing for TikTok and Instagram Reels (CapCut or InShot)
• Writing for captions and text posts (should be concise but relatable and engaging)
• SEO and analytics (important for understanding how successful posts are) 

Content creators can earn big, but it takes time to build up. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok pay, but they’re better used as funnels.

For example, with Whop, you can quickly set up a paid community and offer extras like exclusive content or 1:1 calls — keeping your fans happy and your income more stable.

How to start
Start by creating or cleaning up your socials, finding your niche, and growing a personal brand

• Earning potential: Based on the platform you're creating, hundreds or thousands of dollars per viral video or affiliate post
• Difficulty: Hard
• Cost to get started: None

3. Start your own podcast

When many people think of podcasts, they usually imagine a set with cameras and huge microphones. But you don't need all that, and it's possible to start a podcast using only your phone.

How to start
Start by deciding on a niche. Unless you already have a large following, most people won't come to you for just day-to-day chatter—you need to talk about something specific. Write scripts or outlines to stay on topic and cover everything.

Next, recording. I recommend buying a tripod for your phone, and if you can afford it, a high-quality microphone that pairs with a phone. It's okay to skip this step at the beginning, though.

Apps like Anchor by Spotify, Spreaker Studio, and Podbean are useful for recording, while Audacity Mobile and Adobe Podcast can help you with editing.

• Earning potential: Medium
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

4. Make money from TikTok

Tristan from VYRL Premium knows what it takes to make money with TikTok. We asked him to share his experiences with us:

The best part of making money with TikTok is that if you're posting content, you're already halfway there. The next step if simply growing your account.

The easiest way to do that is simply posting consistently, following trends, and studying the competition so that you can replicate what they do best.

Watch the rest of his video to learn how he monetizes his content with Tiktok Rewards Program, brand partnerships, and TikTok Shop.

So, how do you grow your account to the point of monetization?

If your account has at least 10,000 followers and more than 100,000 views in the last month, you'll be able to apply for TikTok's Creator Fund/Rewards Program—allowing you to generate an income based on views.

But as Tristan tells us, that's not the only way you can make money on TikTok. You can get brand partnerships or sponsors to promote other businesses or products, generating another income channel.

How to start
Create your TikTok account, choose a niche, and start pushing your content. Focus on high-quality, shareable videos several times a day and target a specific community to really make an impact

• Earning potential: Medium
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

5. Monetize UGC content

UGC (user-generated content) is a form of content that's made by individual creators rather than businesses. For example, if you've ever seen an influencer talking about a product in a video posted by the product's brand, that's a business utilizing UGC.

As a UGC creator, the payment per content differs heavily based on the business you're working with. While some UGC creators charge $10 per content, others go up to thousands.

As the above UGC creator tells us:

You don't need a bunch of followers or a professional studio. All you need is your phone, your personality, and a bit of creativity.

How to start
Create a UGC profile on social platforms like TikTok and Instagram, start creating content using brand products and tagging the brands

• Earning potential: Depends on the content quality and social media following. Ranges from $10 per post to $1.000+
• Difficulty: Low/medium
• Cost to get started: None/around $10 for subscriptions to mobile video editing apps

6. Sell videos online

Even regular mobile devices are capable of capturing impressive videos. If you have a device with a quality camera, some video editing apps, and a knack for editing, you should consider selling your video recordings.

The videos you record and sell could be niche-specific, like gameplay or cooking, or general content like city views, nature views, etc.

While Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve are highly recommended for desktop editing, on mobile, you should consider apps like CapCut and Adobe Premiere Rush.

How to start
When it comes to selling your content, consider stock content platforms or freelance platforms where you can create custom content based on clients' requests. Alternatively, you can create your own whop, showcase your portfolio there, and manage your clients and work in one place.

• Earning potential: Medium/high
• Difficulty: Medium/hard
• Cost to get started: None

7. Make money with YouTube

The money you can make directly on YouTube comes from Google AdSense, where a video with 5,000 views can earn as much as $100.

How to start
Here are some steps to get you started if you want to become a YouTuber on your phone:

• Decide who you want your audience to be
• Learn how to edit using CapCut or iMovie
• Plan on consistency; the algorithm favors a schedule!
• Learn how to optimize your content for SEO
• Engage with your audience

The last one is especially important—you can't be a successful YouTuber without a dedicated audience. Consider also setting up a paid community for your followers. You'll get paid extra, and they'll get to hang out with you!

"Making money through YouTube is now easier than ever," says Golden from the Elevate Community.

"Especially with the help of AI. By leveraging just 3 to 4 AI tools, you can build a five-figure-per-month business by posting AI-generated stories on YouTube."

• Earning potential: Medium/high
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

8. Livestream on social media platforms

All popular social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Whop offer livestreaming features, and they're wildly popular. You even stumble upon them while viewing your feed on some apps like TikTok.

How to start
While 'streaming' traditionally means having fancy equipment like high-quality cameras, lighting, a PC setup, and sometimes specialized software, that's not the case with modern livestreaming. You can hop on a social media app and start livestreaming from your phone.

As you find your niche and start gaining followers, you can monetize your livestream through sponsors and donations.

• Earning potential: Medium
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

App-based earning

There are many apps that allows you to earn money or rewards by completing small, and sometimes big tasks. These include cashback and reward apps, watching videos for cash, taking paid surveys, or and completing gigs.

9. Use Cashback & Rewards apps (KashKick, Cash Giraffe, Rakuten)

If you’re already shopping with your phone, why not also earn money every time you spend?

Even if you’re already getting credit card rewards, you can get even more on top of them with several apps, including:

• KashKick
• Upside
• Cash Giraffe
• Rakuten
• Dosh

These money-making apps give you a percentage of your purchase back as real cash or gift cards.

How to start
Simply link your payment method or scan receipts, and shop through their portals or activate in-store offers to watch the rewards roll in.

Some of these cashback apps have daily or weekly point bonuses for specific retailers. Be sure to read the eligibility rules and understand how cashing out works, and this can be one of the easiest methods to make money from your phone.

• Earning potential: $5-$100/month (depends on spending & offers)
• Difficulty: Very Low
• Cost to get started: None

10. Watch videos for cash 

You’re probably already watching video ads on your phones – why not get paid for this instead of letting the platforms make money from your behavior? 

Apps you can download to your phone to make money watching videos include:

• Swagbucks
• Slidejoy
• InboxDollars
• Perk TV

How to start
Once you create an account, you’ll get short clips queued up for you to watch. These can be short ad clips, app trailers, or branded content, and your only job is to watch them, making this method as simple as it gets.

You’ll get paid points that are redeemable for cash or giftcards. There’s often a payout threshold that needs to be met, so make sure you know what it and hit it if you want to cash out. 

While it’s nowhere close to a full time income, you can do this easily while unwinding, waiting, or zoning out. Over time, these cents add up, so just download all the apps you can and let them run in the background while you make money.

• Earning potential: $1-$20/week
• Difficulty: Very Low
• Cost to get started: None

11. Get paid for walking (really)

Believe it or not, your daily steps can translate to cash, gift cards, or merchandise. 

The top apps that you can download on your phone that will pay you for walking are:

• Sweatcoin
• StepBet
• HealthyWage

Each will pay you slightly differently, but in general, you’ll earn points that you can spend on things like workout gear, tech gadgets, or sometimes convert to cash.

Sweatcoin pays out in “Sweatcoins”, and StepBet gamifies the process of walking by letting you bet on yourself to hit on a certain number of steps, and you get paid out by winning these bets.

How to start
Download an app, sign up, and start walking

• Earning potential: $10-$50+/month (depending on apps and goals)
• Difficulty: Low
• Cost to get started: $0-$40 (some apps will require a small entry fee or “bet”)

12. App referrals for cash

One underrated way to make money from your phone is through referral programs — lots of apps offer cash or rewards just for getting your friends to sign up.

It can be surprisingly lucrative, and it’s as simple as sending a referral link to earn a bonus. This is basically a form of affiliate marketing.

The most common apps to payout referrals for new users are in the fintech realm, including:

• Venmo
• Cash App
• Robinhood
• Coinbase (you can earn crypto by referring others)

How to start
Reach out to your friends to sign up. Make sure you give clear instructions and make sign up easy, and be genuinely helpful when referring to others. Most of the time, the referral comes with a two-way bonus, meaning that when your referral signs up, they’ll get rewarded too.

To make the most money with referral bonuses, stay on top of the curve and be the first person to tell people about out new apps.

• Earning potential: $5-$20 per referral–this can translate to $50-$200+ per month if you get consistent
• Difficulty: Low/Medium (it can be easy to refer initial people, but scaling can be difficult)
• Cost to get started: None, apart from perhaps depositing money into an app

13. Complete tasks on gig apps

If you’re looking to make steady income, look for tasks from gig apps like:

• Field Agent
• Gigwalk
• TaskRabbit
• EasyShift

You will find the tasks on your phone and then carry them out in person. Typical tasks include mystery shopping, verifying prices, or taking photos of store displays.

Each job typically pays between $3 to $20, depending on the complexity and time required. Since these apps are location-based and somewhat limited, you’ll have to check which gigs pop up in your area in real time.

How to start
Simply open the app, read the gig or “mission” details, accept it and complete it. Payment is fast, with some platforms offering immediate payout for a small fee.

• Earning potential:$50-$200+/week, depending on your availability and the number of tasks in your location
• Difficulty: Low/Medium
• Cost to get started: None

14. Become a voiceover artist

Almost all phones have great microphones, while they're not studio level yet, they greatly surpass the recording quality of regular headsets or old phones. This means that everyone with a phone can be a voiceover artist. You don't have to get to the professional level in a day, you just have to start.

How to start
Use tools like Adobe's Enhance Speech to clear out your recording and freelancing platforms to offer your work, you can get started with voiceover work. You can also create a whop to offer personalized sessions for your customers.

• Earning potential: Low/medium
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

15. Become a short-form video editor

Thanks to the rise of short-form content platforms like TikTok and Instagram (Reels), there are many apps you can download to your mobile device that allow you to create amazing video edits.

These can be cold edits, such as a series of Batman clips with a cool song, or regular video edits of YouTube videos, movies, podcasts, and more. While organic recorded videos are dominating TikTok across the globe, a huge chunk of the most popular videos are good edits.

How to start
If you have a talent for video editing and you enjoy doing it, you can start making money. Edit your videos and join monetization programs like TikTok's Creator Fund/Rewards Program, or work for clients who are looking for video editors.

• Earning potential: Medium
• Difficulty: Medium/hard
• Cost to get started: None

16. Make money on Twitter

Twitter has a program called Creator Revenue Sharing, which essentially pays you a portion of the platform's earnings from the posts you make. If you have a Twitter account with a bit of a following, you can get started with this right away.

First, you need to be a Premium subscriber of Twitter, which starts from $8 as of April 2025, 5 million organic post impressions in the last 3 months, and a Stripe account. After you've got all these covered, you can start posting engaging tweets, rack up engagement, and get paid.

How to start
Getting attention on Twitter is easy, but you have to follow some winning patterns:

Pick topics that spark light debate but aren’t too risky. For instance, talk about the quality of the last Star Wars trilogy. Touching on sensitive and controversial topics might get your account demonetized.

Write helpful info threads, like how Mike Tyson became famous or how to spot the best eBay deals.

Interact and repost trending tweets and share your thoughts on them—or even better, ask your audience for theirs.

Leverage trending hashtags to increase the visibility of your tweets.

• Earning potential: Low/medium
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: $8.00 for X (Twitter) Premium

Gaming and online surveys

Playing games and completing surveys for cash is a quick and easy way to make a couple bucks on the side. While they don't pay that much, they can be a worthwhile effort to invest an hour each day for surveys/games.

17. Play games for cash

Contrary to what some people might have you believe, it is possible to make money playing games. Who knew? If only all those hours on Fortnite were actually worth something…

There are lots of apps that offer you points for playing games or for hitting milestones within said games.

The general intention is for them to show you ads in the game, so they’re getting something from it too—but the points can be exchanged for cash or gift cards, so those ads are worth sitting through. This makes it a mutually beneficial situation for you and the game studios. 

Here are some apps to check out if you want to get paid for playing games: 

• Fetch Play
• Swagbucks
• Pogo
• Bridge Money
• Testerup

How to start
Join an app and start playing. Be mindful, though. A lot of apps are just scams or won't pay out until you've accumulated some crazy amount of money. Read user reviews before downloading.

• Earning potential: Low
• Difficulty: Low
• Cost to get started: None

18. Take paid surveys

Much like app games, you can get paid for doing something that only takes a few minutes every day.

Survey platforms gather information, from shopping habits to favorite YouTube videos. They then sell this information to companies to help them better understand the demographics they’re marketing to. 

If you want to keep your virtual workspace organized, you can make a dedicated email for the surveys to be sent to. You can sign up for one or all of the survey websites, and compound the money you make by doing surveys for all of them. 

Here are some websites that will pay you to fill out surveys: 

• Swagbucks
• Branded Surveys
• Survey Junkie
• Freecash

These survey apps definitely rank among the best apps you can make money with, but you're not going to make a living using them. Treat them as a tiny little side hustle to supplement your other sources of income.

How to start
Sign up to one of the above survey apps

• Earning potential: Low
• Difficulty: Low
• Cost to get started: None

Education and tutoring

The online market for education and tutoring is huge - in fact, the online market consumers are expected to exceed 1.1 billion by 2029.

One of the best things about online tutoring and education businesses is that they can be scaled - more content, more customers, more money.

19. Make and sell online courses

If you have knowledge or a skill you can teach, then making and selling courses online is a good online business that you can run right from your phone.

You can create any kind of course online: video lectures, text-based coursework, and even supplemental material like quizzes and presentations.

Once your course is out there, it becomes a good source of passive income—you may not need to do much to keep it current and keep getting sales.

Outside of courses, you can also take a community-based approach to teaching and give your students a chat where they can meet to discuss and expand on the concepts you give them through your courses. 

Selling courses with Whop is completely free and only takes a few minutes to set up.

How to start
Follow these steps to create a course to sell

• Earning potential: Medium/high
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None with platforms like Whop

20. Offer online tutoring

Tutoring no longer means having to go somewhere with a bunch of textbooks and teach in person—all you need is your phone.

There are tutoring-specific platforms like Wyzant, Varsity Tutors, and Kadama that you can sign up for through your phone.

But it's better if you take matters into your own hands and sign up with Whop. With Whop, using the Courses, Events, or Chat apps, (or all three!) you can run your tutoring business online at a minimal cost.

How to start
Join a tutoring platform or start your own tutoring business with Whop

• Earning potential: Low/medium
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None with platforms like Whop

21. Teach languages

If you're bilingual, why not share with the rest of the class? Your class, in this case, because you can easily make money by teaching people languages using only your phone.

There are lots of apps that help you make this happen.

Some will require qualifications, such as a college degree or even a background in teaching. Others pay less, but are also much less restrictive when it comes to what they expect from you in order to get started.

Some of the most popular language-teaching apps include:

• italki
• Preply
• Cambly
• AmazingTalker
• Verbling
• Lingoda
• Palfish
• VIPKid

How to start
Join one of the above apps. If you're feeling more entrepreneurial, you could take matters into your own hands and start your own business. Teaching languages is easy with Whop: You could sell online courses, one-on-one sessions, and video content for people to review and study along.

• Earning potential: Medium
• Difficulty: Medium/hard
• Cost to get started: None

Digital services and skills

There are countless ways to make money online by providing services and monetizing your skills.

These ways range from creating small businesses, like an ecommerce store and scaling them to skill based gigs or jobs like social media management and translation.

22. Try trading

Trading stocks or crypto requires an initial investment, but you can always start small. Once you get the hang of it, you'll have an extra stream of income that's very scalable and doesn't take up a lot of time. 

You can use apps like MetaTrader for Forex and stocks to try out a demo account. These apps let you practice real trades without risking real money.

Make sure to also set firm stop-loss orders to limit your potential losses while you're learning the ropes, and diversify your portfolio—it's never good to bet on just one stock to do well.

Here are some apps you can use for trading: 

• Robinhood
• E*TRADE
• WeBull
• eToro
• TD Ameritrade

How to start
Join a trading platform, deposit money, and wait. If you want to really give trading a go, join an online trading community. This is the safest way to learn. You'll be able to chat with experts and beginners alike, get access to helpful tools, and hear about new trades as soon as possible.

• Earning potential: Low to (very) high
• Difficulty: Medium/hard
• Cost to get started: None

23. Start an ecommerce store

This one might give you pause, but yes, you’re reading that right — you can start an ecommerce store using only your phone. Most web-based ecommerce platforms also have phone apps, which means you can build, manage, and monitor your store easily. 

Here are some apps you can use to help run your store: 

• Canva for designing visual elements
• QuickBooks for managing your finances
• Whop to sell digital products
• Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Etsy, or BigCommerce for selling physical products

How to start
A lot of running a store online is also just marketing yourself. Building a social media presence can help you convert followers into customers, so take advantage of organic marketing and set up all your socials ASAP.

• Earning potential: Medium/high
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

24. Make money with dropshipping

Dropshipping refers to selling products online without holding inventory or doing any of the shipping.

To sell these products, you'll have to market them—mostly by posting videos on social media apps.

As such, it's a gig that can be done entirely on your phone, and it's highly profitable if you pick the right niche.

Before you dive into this one, it's important to remember that dropshipping trends can change at the drop of a hat. That's why it's best to start by joining a dropshipping community and learning from experts.

How to start
The idea is to find a supplier who will handle everything, and then sell the products at a premium. You're essentially the person who connects the buyer with the seller.

• Earning potential: High
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

25. Sports betting

If you’re into sports and know your way around odds, sports betting is a fast, mobile-friendly way to turn accurate predictions into a little (or a lot) of extra coin. 

Sports betting apps allow you to place bets on everything from Premier League games to UFC fights, and promotions or boosted odds can sometimes offer extra wins.

How to start
But before you jump in headfirst? Be smart and set limits. It’s easy to chase losses, so keeping a level head is key (especially when you’re getting started). That said, people with good knowledge of the sport – and discipline – can make much more than side cash. 

If you’re going to do it, do it smart, and join a community that actually helps you make money. Sports betting communities are huge here on Whop. Members learn from high-earning, experienced bettors who share winning tips, predictions, and strategies. 

• Earning potential: $50-$500+/month (based on skill, capital, and risk)
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: As low as $10 (initial deposit on betting platform)

26. Sell ebooks

Ebooks are a fast-growing market that is predicted to reach over $21 billion by 2029 — and who says you need a PC to write an ebook? 

If you’re motivated by making money on your phone as quickly as possible, pick a subject or genre that there’s a proven audience for, such as travel. You can do that by checking out what is selling on platforms like Whop or Amazon. 

Remember that ebooks don't have to be novels. Some of the best-selling ebooks are non-fiction and cover topics like marketing, fitness, trading, crypto, and more.

How to start
Write your ebook (remember you can use AI to speed this up). Once you're done with the writing, use a design app like Canva or Adobe Spark to make a cover. 

• Earning potential: Low
• Difficulty: Low using AI
• Cost to get started: None

27. Translate apps

Unlike traditional translation, which can leave you with pages and pages of text that would be incredibly overwhelming to translate on your phone, app translation only requires you to translate -usually- short strings of text.

If you're fluent in at least two languages (one of them should be English in most cases), translating an app or a website won't be challenging for you (unlike books, blog posts, articles, etc.).

How to start
You can find freelance app translation work in freelancing platforms like Fiverr and Upwork—if you have previous experience to show off, you can even create your own platform using Whop (for free) or your website (usually paid) to attract new customers.

• Earning potential: Low/medium
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

28. Manage social media accounts

If you already run your own social media, then congratulations—you're on the path to becoming a social media manager for other people.

You'll work with entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even large companies, helping them build their online presence on platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), or Facebook.

Here are some of the skills you’ll need to make money from your phone by managing social media: 

• Know how to use social media management apps like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Later
• Understand analytics and be familiar with apps like Google Analytics, Instagram Insights, and Facebook Page Manager
• Use content creation apps like Canva, InShot, and Adobe Spark
• Keep on top of trends. Social media is all about taking advantage of the moment, so follow them using apps like Feedly or Flipboard

How to start
First focus on your own socials. Then make a professional portfolio and website before you start reaching out to potential clients.

• Earning potential: Medium
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

29. Test apps and websites

In this gig, you'll be helping devs make sure that their apps and games are as good as they can be. Platforms like UserTesting, TryMyUI, Userlytics, and Testbirds exist as intermediaries to connect you as a tester with multiple different testing opportunities.

The tasks usually just involve navigating an app or a website and passing on your feedback on what worked well and what didn’t. Here are some of the things you may be asked to report on: 

• Usability and function
• Design aspects
• Bugs you encounter
• General user experience

How to start
Search through app testing platforms and apply for work.

• Earning potential: Low
• Difficulty: Low
• Cost to get started: None

Community and coaching

Running paid communities and selling coaching services is a popular way to make money online, in fact, they hold a large percentage on social platforms like Whop, Discord, and Telegram.

Let's take a look at the four ways you make money on your phone by running community and coaching businesses.

30. Take part in affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is the perfect money-making option for someone who already has a following online, or doesn’t mind putting in the work to create one.

You can sign up for affiliate marketing programs like Amazon Associates, ClickBank, and ShareASale and start getting paid for each sale. 

But the best way to make money with affiliate marketing is with Whop's Affiliate Program, where you make money by recommending whops to your followers, or—if you already run your own whop—entice others to participate and get you more sales.

How to start
The key to successful affiliate marketing is just to have an audience that you engage with enough that they’re receptive to your marketing. It's also important to hit the right afilliate niche.

• Earning potential: Low/medium
• Difficulty: Low
• Cost to get started: None with Whop Affiliate Program

31. Moderate an online community

Big online communities, be they Discord servers, Telegram channels, or whops, need mods to keep the peace and help everyone out. That could be you!

Here are some websites where you can look for paid content moderation opportunities: 

• ModSquad
• The Social Element
• Upwork
• Freelancer
• Fiverr

How to start
Check out the above sites to look for paid work. Before applying, familiarize yourself with your platform of choice. Mods, aka moderators, are expected to be the pinnacles of any community, so you'll need to know your stuff.

You can even set your resume apart with certifications from organizations like Community Roundtable or HubSpot Academy. 

• Earning potential: Low
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

32. Start your own paid community

Instead of moderating someone else's community (and helping them collect all the profits), why not build your own? Not only is it more fun, but it's also way better money. 

The benefits of running a paid community are plenty. People will join your group to interact with others who share the same interests, or even just to chat with you directly if you're an established content creator. 

You can make your community more enticing with things like:

• Exclusive tips
• Weekly or monthly meetings
• Live events
• Access to content like downloadables, SaaS, trackers, courses, and more

How to start
With Whop, you can set up your community and get paid for it in just a few minutes. Whop also handles the invitations and the payments, giving you time to scale your community instead.

• Earning potential: Medium/high
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None with platforms like Whop

33. Offer coaching services

Becoming an online coach doesn't require much else than your phone and internet access. Coaches and trainers of all kinds can easily meet up with their clients online, which means that you're good to go with just your phone.

Depending on your area of expertise, you could offer coaching services in any of the following fields:

• Fitness
• Nutrition
• Finance
• Trading
• Career
• Parenting
• Life advice
• Business
• Health and wellness
• Relationships
• Arts and music
• Spiritual coaching
• Weight loss

How to start
As long as you're a pro at something, you can easily set up a whop and start offering coaching services. This includes one-on-one calls, webinars, Q&A sessions, online courses, ebooks, and downloadables—all of which can be prepared on your phone.

• Earning potential: Low/medium
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

Creative services

Everyone is creative in their own way - and you can monetize it. There are countless things you can use your creativity on to make them better, whether that be selling photos online or creating templates.

Here's five ways to use your creativity to make money using only your phone.

34. Sell phone photos online

Snapping pics left and right is something many of us already do, and surprise — you can actually get paid for that. Study the best photo editing apps and figure out what photography niche appeals to you most, then start making stock photos.

When you get ready to share your photos with the world, do your research and find the best sales platform for you. Compare the commission rates, audience, and submission guidelines. 

Here's where you can try to sell your stock photos:

• Shutterstock
• Adobe Stock
• Getty Images
• Unsplash
• Pixabay

How to start
Organize your photos and sign up to the above platforms, then fill out your profiles and upload your images.

• Earning potential: Low
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

35. Become a graphic designer

If you asked me a few years ago, I'd have told you that you needed a PC, or at the very least a tablet, in order to become a graphic designer.

Good news: You don't need either of those things anymore. Graphic designers get by just fine with only using their phones.

How to start
There are plenty of useful apps, such as Canva, Adobe Photoshop Express (and just Express), Procreate Pocket, Sketchbook, Pixlr, Desygner, and Figma Mobile that can help you create all sorts of graphic design projects. This includes logos, social media templates, photo editing, UI/UX design projects, wallpapers, brand assets, and more.

As a graphic designer, you can either create pre-made projects—such as PLR bundles that other people can resell—or you can work on a per-order basis. Graphic designers often offer their services through platforms like Whop or Etsy.

• Earning potential: Medium
• Difficulty: Medium/hard
• Cost to get started: From $0 to ~$20 (for Adobe Photoshop or Canva subscription)

36. Create custom CapCut templates

CapCut is one of the most popular video editing apps out there, especially since it works directly with TikTok. A while ago, the power of desktop-based and mobile video editing apps had a huge difference—that's not the case anymore with apps like CapCut.

One of the coolest things about CapCut is that it offers templates—video bases that you can upload custom images to and render the final result.

TikTok videos that use CapCut templates have a button that lets everyone use them. Of course, there are super good paid templates, too.

How to start
By becoming a part of the CapCut Creator Program, which allows template creators to upload their templates to the CapCut library, you can publish your work online. Or, if you want to monetize your work, you can set up a Whop with 1:1 Coaching Calls app and deliver custom templates to your customers.

• Earning potential: Low
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

37. Sell Notion templates

I love Notion, but if there’s one thing I hate fiddling around with, it’s setting up spaces. It’s fiddly and time-consuming. Enter: Notion templates. 

From daily planners to fitness trackers to budget sheets and workflow automations, Notion templates can be designed entirely from your phone (using the Notion app and Canva for visuals) and sold on any digital marketplace.

Like any digital product, once your templates are built and listed, they become passive income. 

And you don’t need to be a pro designer for this: simple, clean templates sell surprisingly well. Just make sure they’re functional and look polished on mobile.

How to start
Create your Notion templates, list on multiple platforms, and start promoting.

• Earning potential: $20-$300+/month
• Difficulty: Medium
• Cost to get started: None

38. Subtitle videos for creators

We’ve all seen the awkward moment when auto-generated captions butcher a word. It’s distracting, makes creators look sloppy, and kills engagement. 

That’s why clean, well-timed subtitles are a must for TikToks, Reels, and Shorts – and most creators would rather pay someone to do them than fix the mess themselves.

You can offer subtitling services as a bundle (think 5 subtitled videos for $30) and sell directly through Whop or other marketplaces.

It’s an easy, repeatable gig that adds real value. Make that screen time count and earn some cash while you’re at it.

How to start
Using mobile apps like CapCut, Captions, or Veed, you can generate subtitles automatically, then tweak them for clarity and style, all from your phone. Then, go back through and clean up mistakes, add personality with bold text, emojis, or custom colours, and fix the timing. 

• Earning potential: $50-$500/month
• Difficulty: Low
• Cost to get started: None

AI and tech

AI is the single most popular technology nowadays and it's advancing incredibly fast - but most people have no idea how to use it.

If you know how to use AI, you should consider monetizing this skill - here's two great ways you can do so.

39. Make money with AI

Making money with AI is a good way to embrace the changing times while padding your bank account. This involves using various chatbots, such as ChatGPT or Gemini, to create something that would otherwise take you ages to do.

You can use AI for things like:

• Writing
• Making apps
• Creating websites
• Graphic design
• Editing and proofreading
• Social media content

Depending on what it is that you decide to do, your approach will vary. In general, stick to things you already kind of know. AI still makes lots of mistakes, so if you ask it to do something you're unfamiliar with, you might end up with a subpar product.

The trick is being creative—there are countless things you can do with AI. Let's hear an idea from the industry insider Foni, creator of 'Learn How To Launch a Voice AI Agency':

"One of the most powerful ways people in our community are making money online in 2025 is by launching Conversational Voice AI (CVA) Agencies.

Most people still think of online business as selling courses or dropshipping—but there’s a new lane that’s growing fast: helping businesses automate their sales calls and customer service using AI voices."

You could even get a job (or a side hustle) as a prompt engineer. This involves mastering the art of communicating with AI and using that to get the best possible responses.

How to start
This all depends on the niche you choose.

• Earning potential: Medium
• Difficulty: Low/medium
• Cost to get started: From $0 to $20 (for AI subscriptions in the long run)

40. Become a prompt engineer

If you're interested in making money online from your phone, there's almost a zero chance you haven't heard of prompt engineering. Since the full launch of ChatGPT in 2022, prompt engineering has become one of the most popular roles that everyone is looking for.

While everyone can write prompts, prompt engineers know how to style their prompts in such niche ways that they get much better results from AIs. Since the launch of ChatGPT spawned a lot of AI-focused businesses, there's a demand for prompt engineers.

How to start
After doing research, taking courses, and overall improving your prompt engineering skills, you can sell consultations, get a job as a prompt engineer, or do freelance work.

The best part is that you're not limited to LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude, you can work with generative image AIs as well.

• Earning potential: Low
• Difficulty: Low
• Cost to get started: From $0 to $20 (for AI subscriptions in the long run)

Make money on your phone with Whop

Whether you're looking for passive income or big money-making methods, Whop is the best way to make money with your phone.

Most apps only pay pocket-change. Whop creators make over $7000 a month with their phone.

Getting started is super simple:

1. Sign up: It only takes a couple of minutes.
2. Create your whop: Your own space to sell or earn.
3. Choose what to offer: Chat, forums, courses, ebooks, events, coaching, and more.

Don’t have your own product? No problem. You can still make money with:

• Whop Content Rewards
• Affiliate marketing

Or do all of the above! Sell digital products, clip videos, and promote affiliate links — all in one place.

Making money from your phone has never been easier. Just pick what works for you, sign up on Whop, and start earning today.

Make money on your phone: FAQs

1. How can I make cash on my phone?

To consistently make money on your phone, combine passive and active income strategies, build a schedule, and stack your income streams.

Passive methods (set it and forget it)

These apps earn you money with little to no effort:

• Cashback apps like KashKick and Rakuten give you money back just for shopping through their platforms.
• Swagbucks and InboxDollars pay you for watching videos or viewing ads.

You can do this while waiting in line, commuting, or relaxing. While the income is small, it’s enough to cover things like subscriptions.

Active methods (More work, more pay)

With a bit of effort, you can earn a lot more:

• Whop Content Rewards: Create and post short videos. A good clip can earn you hundreds—even thousands.
• Referrals & microtasks: Get paid to refer friends to apps or complete small gigs from your phone.

Use a mix of these to build a solid income stream over time.

Build a money-making schedule

Consistency is key. Here’s how to create a schedule that fits around your life:

1. Start passive: Download cashback and reward apps. Check in daily as part of your routine.
2. Time block for active work: Set calendar slots (10–30 mins) for video editing, referrals, or gigs.
3. Keep learning: Spend time weekly exploring new opportunities. Whop adds new content rewards daily.
4. Improve your skills: Especially for clipping. Better editing = more views = more cash.

Stack income streams

Don’t rely on one method — combine them:

• Passive base: Run cashback, video, and survey apps like Rakuten, Upside, and Swagbucks in the background.
• Active scaling: Add clipping, referrals, and small jobs for faster growth.
• Use leverage: Focus on high-reward tasks. For beginners, clipping is the best way to earn big, fast.

2. How can I make $50-$100 the same day on my phone?

If you need cash now (more than just pocket change that Swagbucks and other apps might pay) and want to get it just by using your phone, focus on clipping to earn Whop Content Rewards, micro-task gigs, and referral bonuses.

Clipping to earn Whop Content Rewards

Head over to Whop’s Content Rewards to see the freshest opportunities of the day (there’s never a shortage of them).

If you start earlier in the day, you can post your video and when the views rack up, you can submit for review and payment before the end of the day. A single viral video will pay you at least $50.

Use referral programs

Send over your referral links for apps to friends who haven’t signed up yet, and make them feel motivated to sign up today.

For example, if you’re telling them to sign up for a trading app, you could say that there’s an asset listed on a specific app that could be worth buying now before it potentially goes up.

Since referrals often pay $5-$20, just a few of these can get you to your goal of $50+ fast.

Complete high-paying tasks or gigs

Open your gig apps and look for local missions that pay $10+ each. Once you complete your tasks, you can opt for instant payment and get paid the very same day (although you’ll likely have to pay a small fee for instant transfer).

If you’re in a pinch and need money fast, your phone has plenty of ways to get it to you even on the same day. With a combination of these strategies, you can make $50-$100 or even by midnight the same day if you start earlier in the day.

3. What’s the best way to make money with your phone?

The best method is the one that fits your time and your interests.

• Only have a few minutes? Try paid surveys, testing apps, or cashback tools.
• Willing to invest more time? You can earn more by creating eBooks, online courses, or running a paid community.

You don’t have to choose just one. Combining different income streams gives you stability, even if one slows down.

Products like courses or eBooks are great for building passive income. They take effort upfront but can keep earning while you focus on your next project.

TL;DR: Pick methods you enjoy, fit your schedule, and build some passive income — so you can grow while still earning.

4. Is it possible to make money on your phone?

Yes, you can absolutely make money on your phone. Honestly, there’s no reason why you can’t get started the moment you finish reading this article. 

Making money on your phone is easy, and we're not just talking about a few dollars here and there. It's possible to make a living from it, as long as you enjoy the entrepreneur lifestyle. If you're just looking to make a little bit of extra money, that's even more doable.

But, you do need to keep a few things in mind! The internet is full of scams, and you don’t want to get drawn into them. Avoid anything that promises to make you rich with little time and effort. If something feels fishy, it probably is.

Find more inspiration with this list of ways to make money online.

5. What’s the number one money making app?

When it comes to money-making apps that you can download on your phone, it’s hard to beat Whop.

Not only can you earn instantly with Content Rewards and Bounties, you can create your own whop that you can use as a storefront for just about any digital product you can imagine.

With the ability to earn from easy tasks like clipping and performing bounties in addition to a thriving marketplace that is making many creators serious money, Whop is a top pick, and best of all, it’s free.

6. Can I get paid just for being on my phone?

While you can get paid by being on your phone, sometimes by basically doing nothing, you’ll need to register for the right app and make sure you do what it takes to qualify to get paid with it.

In some cases, with earning methods that are more passive, you can get paid by doing what you’re already doing already–this can be shopping, watching videos, or even walking.

So, while you shouldn’t expect to make hundreds sitting around doing nothing, you can stack a few dollars here and there without much active input using your phone.

7. What app pays real money instantly?

If you need earnings from an app on your phone that you can withdraw almost instantly, you have a few options. Microtasks or gigs often give you the option to be paid out immediately upon completion, for a fee.

Also, Whop Content Rewards will pay out the moment your clip hits a certain number of views and is submitted for review–approval is normally quite fast and you also have the option to cash out immediately from the Whop app.

However, when it comes to apps with methods that have payout thresholds, you won’t be able to cash out until you hit them, which can take some time.