When it comes to passive income apps, I’m always amazed at just how insanely niche some of these apps end up getting.
I mean, apps like Cash Magnet pay you for turning your phone into an auto-surfing device that watches ads all day.
On the other front, you can use Panel App or Mobile Performance Meter to sell your data for cash.
However, in this genre of apps, I think the weirdest one of them all has to be SMS apps that pay you.
With apps like McMoney, you can now get paid to receive SMS messages to your Android device.
Yup, that’s right: you get paid for just having text messages sent to your phone.
I used McMoney for a while back in college during my phone farming days, but today, we’re diving into a McMoney review.
Ultimately, I don’t think this app is always worth the time because of how low paying it is.
But, I feel like this weird app deserves it’s own spotlight, as well as some better apps you can use to make more considerable income.
Let’s get to it!
Want to try other mobile apps that actually pay more? Checkout:
- Mistplay – The leading loyalty program for gamers and a fun way for you to make money playing new Android games.
- Drop – My favorite cashback rewards app where you earn free gift cards for shopping online or playing mobile games.
- Survey Junkie – Survey websites aren’t that great, but Survey Junkie lets you cash out with $5 so it’s one of the better options if you don’t mind surveys.
McMoney App Review
Name: McMoney
Description: McMoney is a paid SMS app that pays you cash for receiving text messages with your smartphone.
Operating System: Android
Application Category: Passive Income Apps
Author: Tom Blake
Overall
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Earning Potential
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Ease of Use
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Reward Options
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Earning Options
Table of Contents
What Is McMoney?
McMoney is a paid SMS app that, as explained, pays you for letting your phone receive SMS messages.
Now, you might be wondering: “why on earth would a company pay me to send me text messages?”
Well, according to McMoney, “By letting us send text messages to your phone, you allow us to test and improve mobile operations. Simply said, you help us help mobile operators to work together. And not unimportant, each message you receive, adds more money to your McMoney bank. Real money.”
So, it’s another app thats similar to data collection apps like Mobile Performance Meter and MobileXpression.
Basically, in the name of market research, you can get paid a few pennies for accepting SMS messages.
Weird, but let’s dig into this passive income app!
How Does McMoney Work?
We’re going to cover the earning potential and if this app is worth it later on in this McMoney app review.
However, here’s the gist of how this platform lets you earn extra cash:
1. Download McMoney’s APK
Like other weird passive income apps, McMoney isn’t available on the Google Play Store anymore (and the app was never available for IOS).
This isn’t uncommon in the world of Android apps that pay you money because, if we’re honest, these apps are usually too peculiar for the Google Play Store to accept them for long.
Anyway, you can download the APK file from McMoney’s website with your Android phone and then install the app manually that way.
This is similar to installing Cash Magnet, but the process isn’t too complicated.
2. Register Phone Number
You need to register your phone number with McMoney in order to receive text messages and, ultimately, get paid.
McMoney states that they “can only support limited amounts of users in specific countries. If this limit has been reached, then, unfortunately, you won’t be able to register in that country at this point in time.”
Generally, if you live in a country with a lot of market-research opportunities, like the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe, you should be able to register.
Other countries are a bit tougher since there’s less money involved in testing telecommunication networks, but McMoney is a global beermoney app that has users across the world.
If your country is elgible, you should be able to register without a problem.
3. Get Texts & Earn Cash
Once you register your phone number, the McMoney app will let you receive SMS text messages at random intervals.
Again, the reason McMoney sends texts is because they are “part of an application that uses SMS messages in order to eliminate SMS delivery fraud in global telecommunications.”
Anyway, the type of SMS messages you receive are just strings of random characters and numbers; you can delete them immediately and you don’t need to reply or verify that you’ve gotten them in any way.
Each SMS message you receive generally pays a few pennies.
McMoney states that the amount of SMS messages you recieve within a given week varies and that the best way to ensure you get more messages is to keep a stable internet connection with your phone.
When I was in college, McMoney sent me about 2 texts per week, which was ultimately why I deleted the app.
4. Cash Out
One slight positive that McMoney has going for itself is that it lets you cash out through PayPal, not random free gift cards.
Additionally, in most countries, the minimum withdrawal amount is $1 through PayPal.
Some countries have higher limits, like $5 or $6, but in North America, you can cash out with McMoney after earning $1.
This is low in the world of beermoney apps, and even apps like Fetch Rewards or other reward apps typically require $5 to $20 to redeem prizes.
However, as we’re about to find out in this McMoney review, even $1 isn’t as good as it seems.
Note that McMoney pays users once per week on Thursday.
Extra Reading – How To Avoid PayPal Fees.
Earning Potential
The main problem with McMoney in my eyes is the earning potential is horribly low and out of your control.
I mean, even online surveys (which suck) let you grind out games and surveys so you can at least cash out.
With McMoney, your earning potential is entirely out of your control since you can’t control how many SMS messages you get and what the rate-per-message is.
Additionally, SMS apps just pay a low amount per-message in general.
Granted, there are some happy Reddit users who stuck with the McMoney app for long enough to cash out:
This is pretty much the consensus for happy users…they earn a dollar here, a dollar there, and after they forget about the app for a while they cash out with some free PayPal money.
For me, I would have earned about $3-$5 per year for installing McMoney, which just wasn’t enough to justify the spot on my phone.
If you ask me, even apps like Receipt Hog or ReceitPal are a better use of your time since you can actually earn more than a few bucks per year for uploading your shopping receipts.
You can also try passive cashback reward apps like Dosh or the Pei app, which are way better in my opinion.
Frequently Asked Questions
I thought it would be a good idea to add in a FAQ for this McMoney review since this app is pretty odd.
If there’s a confusing aspect about this app, hopefully I get to it in the section below:
1. Why Don’t I Receive Messages?
If you don’t receive messages for more than 2-3 days, some possible causes include:
- Text message volume isn’t there.
- You need a better internet connection.
- You have a blocked device (checkout the list on the bottom of McMoney’s homepage).
2. Can I Block SMS Messages At Certain Hours?
Yes, you can set specific availability windows for McMoney to deliver SMS messages and hours where your phone is quite.
This is ideal if you sleep with your phone’s volume on so McMoney doesn’t wake you up, but it will obviously decrease your earnings to an even smaller amount.
3. What’s The McMoney Referral Program?
McMoney has a fairly simple referral program, but it sadly doesn’t do much for your earning potential.
Every user who registers gets a code. If someone signs up with your McMoney referral code, you both get a small bonus.
For me, this was $0.10, but I think some users can get $0.25 as a bonus per active user they refer.
According to McMoney “At times, there might be promotions for specific regions. During a promotion period, you can get a bigger bonus for referring people registered with specific networks!”
4. How Do I Delete McMoney?
If you want to stop receiving text messages, just delete McMoney’s app from your smartphone.
This is enough to stop SMS messages from coming in, but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this company still sells your information and phone number to third-parties.
Other Apps Like McMoney
If you like the idea of making money for receiving text messages for some strange reason, McMoney isn’t your only option.
In fact, there are several apps like McMoney that pay you just for getting SMS messages in order to test network capabilities.
Some popular SMS-payment apps include:
- Money SMS – Probably the most popular McMoney alternative and pays you €0.02 when you receive test messages. You can withdraw your money when your balance hits 2 EUR.
- SMS Profit – Very similar to Money SMS and pays you $0.02 per text message and requires $1.50 to cash out.
- Controlmysms – This app is also similar to McMoney and is pretty popular on Reddit. However, on their homepage, they state: “If you download our app from the link above please be aware that you must agree to install unknown apps on your device.” This is super weird, so I don’t recommend using Controlmysms.
Ultimately, if you use all these paid SMS apps, I still don’t think you’d make more than $20-$30 per year; and this is if you live in a “top-tier” country for research.
Pros & Cons
If you’re still considering McMoney after reading our review, here’s a pretty simple breakdown of the pros and cons of this app.
Pros:
- Absolutely passive income once you install it.
- Free.
- Low cash out amount through PayPal.
- Global beermoney app.
Cons:
- One of the lowest paying apps around.
- You get annoying text messages.
- No control over how much you earn.
Hopefully, this helps you decide if the McMoney app is worth it!
Is McMoney Legit? – Final Thoughts
So, is the McMoney app legit or a scam?
Well, it does have a history of paying out users, even though some Redditors report they had to bug support staff in order to actually get their money.
Additionally, as McMoney states on their website, “McMoney is owned by CM.com, a respected member in the telecommunications industry. Our certifications prove our reliability and openness, https://www.cm.com/about-cm/security-compliance/. We also adhere to strict privacy policies and use your number only for the causes mentioned.”
So, it’s technically legit, and according to their website this is just for telecommunications research.
However, when I Google the website, Google notifies that McMoney may have been hacked:
The fact that you have to download this as an APK file rather than from Google Play is also kinda weird.
PLUS, the earnings are so low, I just can’t recommend using this app whatsoever.
If you want to make money with your smartphone, I suggest checking out various apps that pay you for playing games.
Alternatively, if you really want to make some money, consider various driving apps that pay or side job apps that pay.
That’s about it for this McMoney review!
I’ll catch you guys in the next one!
Tom is a full-time blogger and freelance writer with a passion for side hustling, passive income, and the gig economy. His work has appeared on dozens of personal finance websites like Money Crashers, The College Investor, Investor Junkie, and more. This Online World is all about providing people with honest ways to make and save more money by using technology. To learn more about Tom, read his About Page!
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