8 Data Collection Apps That Pay You Money Passively to Do Nothing

Data collection apps are pretty straight forward. They pay you to keep the app installed on your phone and let them collect data on what websites you like, your location, or maybe what apps you use.

Many companies use these apps as a way to better understand consumer behavior.

And they're safe because the data is collected anonymously for bigger studies used by analytics and market research companies.

Here are a few that will pay you for your data that is already being collected by many apps, websites, phone manufacturers, etc.

1. Panel App

With the Panel App, you can earn money in the form of sweepstakes and prizes by keeping the app installed on your phone.

They tend to care more about tracking your location than your activity on websites or apps though.

As far as earnings, you might earn anywhere from $12-$84/year or more from it depending on your location, referrals, etc.

You can get the Panel App for Android here or for iOS here.

2. MobileXpression

When it comes to data collection apps, MobileXpression has been one of the more well-known ones for a while.

MobileXpression pays you for letting them track your usage of the internet for market research purposes. They also have surveys you can take.

As a member of MobileXpression, you also can earn rewards through weekly sweepstakes as long as you have the app installed and running.

Also, if you're in the U.S., you're also supposed to be eligible for a free $5 Amazon gift card when you sign up.

After that, you can earn $25 gift cards, iPads, Samsung TVs, etc.

As far as requirements for the app, you can use it for both Apple and Android devices if you're at least 18 years old.

You can get the MobileXpression Panel for Android here or for iOS here.

3. Embee Meter CX

Embee Meter CX is another data collection app that pays you based on your location.

You can earn $0.10-$2 per day or more via PayPal with it.

In order to cash out, you'll need at least $5 in earnings.

You can get the Android version of the Embee Meter CX app here.

4. SavvyConnect

If you want to get paid passively for data collection as well as from referrals, you can earn up to around $180 per year with SavvyConnect.

You can have the app installed on as many as 3 devices that include desktop, mobile, and tablets.

Plus, each time you refer someone and they complete a project, you can earn a bonus of $5-$15.

You can get the Android version of SavvyConnect here or the Windows version here.

5. Nielsen Mobile Panel

Yes, this is the same Nielsen that does TV ratings and other things.

You may have heard of them.

They also have an app called the Nielsen Mobile Panel which lets you earn around $50 per year per device for data collection.

You can cash out via Visa, Amazon, and many other gift cards.

On top of that, you can also be put in a drawing to win sweepstakes that could pay out prizes of $25-$1000.

You can get the Android version here and the iOS version here.

6. Mobile Performance Meter

The Mobile Performance Meter app is another data collection app that pays you up to $6 per month, which translates to about $72 per year.

Get paid in the form of points for both letting the app collect data and doing surveys.

100 points = $1 and $5 must be earned before you can exchange them for gift cards to Amazon and many other places.

As far as the types of data they collect, it's nothing personal, just:

What types of apps you use
Duration of phone calls
Date, time and amount of text messages sent
Speed of your network and duration of browsing sessions
Battery life
Survey responses

You can get the Android version of the app here.

7. Smart App

With the Smart App (formerly Smart Panel), you can earn $5 just to sign up and get approved, and then $110-$120 per year after that.

After you've had the app for 30 days, you can start cashing out via PayPal or Amazon gift cards.

The app, just like the others on this list, wants to collect anonymous data on your phone to see what kind of apps and websites people like to use.

Get the Android version here.

8. Cocoon

Cocoon is an app/browser extension that pays you for your internet search data.

You can earn $150-$300 per year depending on usage and the variety of websites you visit.

As far as how you get paid, you get quarterly PayPal deposits.

Cocoon does take 20% of the profits from selling your data though, so make sure you're okay with that before signing up.

Here are some cool features that come with the Cocoon browser:

End-to-End Encryption
Proxied Browsing
Email Scanner
Protective Cloud Technology
Hard Drive Protection
Anti-Virus
Anti-Malware and Anti-Rootkit
File Transfer Protection
Protection from Phishing Websites

As you can see by all the features, your data is actually going to be quite safe with Cocoon AND they pay you for it.

Get the Android version here and check this page for their Mac and Windows downloads.

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