Earn Rewards Points and Cash From These 7 iPhone and iPad Apps

There are no shortage of different mobile apps to make shopping easier. If you dig a bit deeper you may also find limited time discounts and mobile-only savings when you’re on the road.

But these apps for your iPhone or iPad aren’t just handy for saving money: they can also earn you rewards. Here are seven apps for your Apple device that can earn you valuable rewards or even pay you in cash.

CheckPoints Shopping App

You can earn free gift cards or other rewards by using CheckPoint for your iPhone. While you are out shopping, you collect points for scanning barcodes on various products. These points can be redeemed for gift cards or other prizes.

You can redeem your points toward miles on Alaska Airlines, for rewards from iTunes and Amazon.com, use them toward the purchase of electronic devices or even donate them to charity.

There are also bonus games where you can use your points in an opportunity to win big at lottery or casino type games of chance. They also have daily contests, trivia games and more to help you accumulate points and as a way to keep you interested in the program. This app also uses the information gathered to help identify and publicize deals from nationwide retailers, so it can also double as a money saving app as you are shopping.

Shopkick Shopping App

Walk into your favorite store and start scanning barcodes to earn points. It isn’t necessary to buy anything, just scan the items. When you link to a credit card and then actually buy a product, you will earn bonus points on those purchases.

Shopkick is supported by the owners of the brands being scanned. It is similar in concept to pay-per-click advertising. The program receives a fee for each scan, and if the user then buys the product, shopkick receives a portion of the sales price. Users can also receive special discounts targeted specifically at them. These discounts are for specific stores, and for specific items in each store.

Receipt Hog Grocery Shopping App

Users take pictures of their grocery receipts and coins and rewards. These can be redeemed for cash or donated to charity. The app also allows you to review a digital copy of your grocery receipt to track your spending. The data from your receipts is made anonymous and then summarized along with other users to be used by various brands in their market research. In addition to getting rewarded for participating, users may help influence local discounts, offers or product development.

GymPact Fitness App

Need a little extra motivation to help you keep up with your workout regimen? With GymPact, you can get paid for fulfilling your workout goal. The flipside to this app, though, is that not keeping your goal will actually cost you money. You make a Pact to work out a certain number of days and then set the Stakes of how much you will pay if you don’t.

Verification occurs by checking in via GPS tracking at the gym or by using a partner app to track your walking, running and biking activities. When you meet the goal set in your Pact, you receive cash rewards for each day that you worked out.

These cash rewards are paid out of a pool from the people who didn’t meet their work out goal. To prevent cheating, every few minutes the app tracks the time that you spend at the gym, as well as the fact that you moving around and not just sitting there.

Nexercise Fitness App

By working out for a minimum of 15 minutes, users can earn points on Nexercise that can be redeemed for discounts on fitness related products. By turning exercise into a competitive, social, interactive game, the app designers hope to inspire people to be less sedentary. Users can redeem points for discounts on exercise bars, healthy groceries and work out DVDs, among other products. As users continue to exercise more and more points accrue, the discounts become more significant.

Location Panel Research App

Location Panel allows users to earn rewards for participating in location based research. You can help government agencies plan roads and other transportation systems and help stores and restaurants decide where to open up new locations. After the sign up process, users become eligible for location surveys in their areas.

Running in the background, the app tracks location data from thousands of users in an area to determine where people are in their city and how the flow of traffic in the city works. Users can also participate in shopping and other surveys, usually just having to answer a few, short questions. Rewards are paid in gift cards.

Swagbucks App

If you want to get paid for searching and surfing online then you may want to consider downloading the popular Swagbucks app. However, as reported by Spencer Mitchell, the money and rewards you earn from Swagbucks may not be worth the time you need to invest.

App Trailers Preview App

Companies pay you a small amount to watch trailers for the apps they are developing for the iPhone or iPad. This app allows you to view a video trailer highlighting the top features and uses for various apps. Find an app that you like and you can also download and start using it.

Rewards are paid in points that can be redeemed for gift cards from iTunes, Amazon.com, PayPal and others. These are just a few of the many opportunities available to you to use your iPhone or iPad to get rewarded for tasks you do every day. A quick search will reveal many similar programs, and new program ideas are being developed all the time.

Written by Joseph Campbell.