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Phone Farming: Is it a good way to make passive income?

By Author Chhavi Agarwal

Phone Farming: right or wrong?

Are you looking for ways to earn a passive income online?

Phone Farming may be the right option for you.

I read about this concept Reddit and can actually make you a decent sum of money. 

Curious what phone farming is?

Read on and find out if this money making with phone farming is the right one for you.

The post includes affiliate links.

Want to make money quickly? Here are a few platforms to earn up to $25 – $50 in a few minutes!

What is Phone Farming?

Phone farming is a method of making passive income by using idle smartphones.

All you need to do is collect cheap but good quality android phones and download specific apps on them.

Running these apps on your phones can help you earn money.

There are two kinds of apps that can make money for you –

1. Video watching apps

These apps allow you to watch videos on repeat and run advertisements between videos.

Viewers are rewarded points, which you can later redeem for cash or gift cards with popular retailers.

2. Data collection apps

These apps pay users to collect their data, such as what apps you have downloaded on your phone and how you use them, your location, and demographic information like gender and income status.

You can download these apps and let them run in the background.

This data is then sold to companies that need this information.

You can download and run multiple data collection apps without worrying about slowing down your phone as these phones are generally not in use. 

How does phone farming work?

To run a phone farming business, you first need to buy some old smartphones.

You can start with five phones and then add more if you want to increase the size of your phone farm.

  • Download money-making apps on your phones.
  • Run these apps while keeping your phone plugged in.
  • Earn points to run these apps.
  • Exchange these points for gift cards or cash through PayPal.

What phones to use for phone farming?

You can use your old unused android phones and ask your family members to donate their old phones for your business.

If you intend to buy phones to start your business, these are the things that you must keep in mind.

  • Buy only Android phones: Android phones are cheaper, you can get used Android phones easily, and you can download more money-making apps on them.

  • Don’t buy very old phones: The phones that you buy must be Android 5.1 or higher. Older phones with Android 4 or earlier are being phased out by specific apps.

  • Your phone should have 1 GB RAM: Your phone has to be stable while you watch videos. Ideally, you should look for phones that have IGB RAM.

  • Buy inexpensive phones:  Phone farming is an excellent way to make money, but it is not worth buying costly phones for this business. Don’t buy a phone for more than $15 to $20.

  • Avoid locked phones: Smartphone contracts and prepaid smartphones may not work as well for phone farming. Avoid them and use only unlocked devices.

  • Don’t use tablets: Many apps are phasing out tablets, so avoid them. Tablets are, in any case, more expensive than used smart phones.

Where can you get cheap but good quality smartphones?

  • Walmart – Walmart is a good place to start if you are looking for quality smart phones. You can find an unlocked smartphone here for $15 to $20.

  • Amazon –You can also find quality smartphones on Amazon. You must wait for a good deal when you buy a phone here, as it may be a bit expensive otherwise.

  • Best Buy – Best Buy has sales a few times a year. You can get excellent and cheap smartphones during this time.

  • www.c7recycle.com – This site has a good collection of used smartphones, and you can buy them at reasonable prices here. 

  • Garage sales – Look out for garage sales around your home as you may find some used quality smartphones for a steal here.

  • Family and friend – You can ask your family and friends if they have old smartphones that they no longer use. You can buy these from your family at cheap rates.

Best phone farming apps

As mentioned earlier, there are two types of apps that you can use for phone farming – video watching apps and data collection apps.

Let us learn about some of the best phone farming apps.

Video watching apps

You need to download these apps on your smartphones and watch videos to earn a passive income from these apps.

All of these apps are reliable, though it may take you some time to make money from them.

1. Swagbucks

It is one of the most popular phone farming apps.

Users have several different options for earning money through Swagbucks.

You will earn points by taking surveys and watching advertisements and videos. 

You can earn up to 2 Swagbucks every time you watch playlists for movie trailers, app trailers, fitness channels, etc. 

You can earn up to 20 Swagbucks ($0.2) a day by watching videos. You get started with a $10 sign up bonus.

You can also make up to $35 per survey here.

The app also has a good referral program. You can earn up to 10% of your friend’s earnings.

Payment method: Gift cards or cash via PayPal

2. Inbox Dollars

InboxDollars pays you to watch videos and take surveys.

When you sign up for this app, you get a signing-up bonus of $5.

Keep the videos playing on your device, and you can earn up to $50 per month.

It is a great way to earn passive income through your phone.

Payment methods: Gifts cards, or checks

3. Engageme.TV

Engageme.TV is a video watching portal that is used by many different websites and apps.

The users are rewarded points on the Engageme.TV partner apps/website that they choose.

After you install the Endgame.TV app, you can sign up with any of their partner apps like Grindabuck.

Once these two platforms are linked, you can choose video playlists from the Engageme.TV app and watch.

When you play the videos for the points to be credited to your account, the sound must be on.

So, you must plug in a pair of headphones to your phone.

You must collect $10 before your first cash out. Later your cash-out limit can drop to $5 and even $1. You can have up to three active devices per account.

You can earn 0.7 Grindabucks per three advertisement views, which is equivalent to $0.07

Engageme.TV is now Hideout.TV.

Payment methods: Gift cards, in-app virtual rewards, or in-game virtual rewards on their partner websites and applications.

4. Checkpoints

With Checkpoints, you can earn money by watching videos, checking into stores, and more.

You can use up to 10 phones for phone farming to watch videos on this app.

You can find as many as 50 videos of movie trailers or advertisements at any given time here.

The daily limit for earning for watching videos is 500 points, and you can earn upto $0.3 per day per phone.

Payment methods: Gift cards and sweepstakes entries

Data Collection Apps

It is easy to earn via data collection apps.

You will have to create multiple email ids for each app, but you don’t have to make any effort at all after that.

You will need to share your personal information with these apps to earn points.

1. MobileXpression

To set up MobileXpression on your phones, you will need unique phone numbers and email ids for each phone.

You will receive an Amazon Gift card worth $5 after installing this app on your phone, and it is active for a week.

Let the app running on your phone, and you will receive credits that you can redeem for gift cards for Amazon, Best Buy, or Starbucks.

2. Panel App

Panel App is a data collection app that collects information about your location and phone usage.

To join, you have to download the app and fill out a survey that asks demographic-based questions.

You can earn up to 1000 points per month, which is equal to $1.

You can redeem your points for Amazon gift cards, Starbucks cards, or you can also enter sweepstakes.

You can also earn points by referring friends.

When someone signs up with your referral code, you will earn 10% of their earnings and 5% of their referral earnings.

3. Embee Meter CX

Embee Meter CX is a data collection app that you can install on your phones.

Not all your phones will be accepted in this program.

If the app works on your phones, you can earn up to $0.3 per day per phone.

Payments are made through PayPal, but you have to earn at least $5 before you can cash out.

4. Lucktastic

Lucktastic is a popular phone farming app. It is easy to use and doesn’t waste much of your time.

All you have to do is scratch cards once a day and earn tokens in return.

For every 30,000 tokens that you make, you can get a $5 gift.

5. Neilson Mobile

Download the Neilson App on your phones, and you can easily make $50 per year per phone.

Some people complain that the app slows down the phone, but it is not a problem when you do not use your phone and download it on your phone farm devices.

How much money can you make via phone farming?

Many phone farmers claim to make around $150 per month through phone farming.

While it is not the quickest or most lucrative way of making money, it is an excellent low-effort way to earn a side income.

Unfortunately, some of the phone farming apps have become less passive in recent years.

More and more apps are now trying to increase user engagement.

This means having to spend more time and effort on your phone farm. 

Final thoughts – Is phone farming worth it?

Phone farming is an easy way to make a side income if you have several old phones lying around.

You can buy a few cheap smartphones and start a small phone farm.

Though many people say the income of phone farms is going down, you can still make a decent amount by running passive apps on your phones.

Do a bit of research, study the process, and start small.

If phone farming works out for you and you can earn some money on the side without putting too much effort into it, you can go ahead and add more phones to your phone farm.

Ready to make money on the phone?

make money on the phone with phone farm