Don’t Scroll Mindlessly — Use These Legit Tools to Make Money on Your iPad

I love my iPad.

It’s quick and smooth and sleek.

It’s bigger than my phone, and its 10-inch screen displays high-resolution graphics with a crisp sharpness I appreciate.

Using it is a seamless experience. My children do their digital homework on the iPad, or play games like “Wolf Simulator.” More than a million apps are available for the iPad, and Siri answers my unlimited supply of stupid questions.

The steep price, though! For us Penny Hoarders, the main drawback of iPads is they tend to be more expensive than other tablets. (Although the latest iPad has gotten a lot cheaper than it used to be.)

That prompts the question: Once you’ve shelled out the cash to buy one, how can you make money on an iPad?

We’ve got a few ideas for that.

1. Share Your Surfing Info Anonymously

An iPad is great for surfing the web. If you’re willing to share totally anonymous information about your web surfing habits, you could earn significant rewards for absolutely no effort.

A number of companies will actually pay you for downloading apps onto your iPad — and you’ll get paid for every month you keep them installed.

These apps collect data and help companies better understand web and mobile usage — information including what times of day people browse, how long they stay on websites and use apps, and what types of sites and apps are popular (or not).

Get started with one of our favorites, MobileXpression for iPad. After you’ve had this app installed for one week, you get to play an instant rewards game for a prize. (Everyone wins something.) Prizes include Amazon gift cards, iPads, Samsung TVs and more.

2. Get Paid $225/Month While Watching Movie Previews

If we told you that you could get paid while watching videos on your computer, you’d probably laugh.

It’s too good to be true, right?

But we’re serious. By signing up for a free account with InboxDollars, you could add up to $225 a month to your pocket. They’ll send you short surveys every day, which you can fill out while you watch someone bake brownies or catch up on the latest Kardashian drama.

No, InboxDollars won’t replace your full-time job, but it’s something easy you can do while you’re already on the couch tonight, wasting time on your phone.

Unlike other sites, InboxDollars pays you in cash — no points or gift cards. It’s already paid its users more than $56 million.

Signing up takes about one minute, and you’ll immediately receive a $5 bonus to get you started.

3. Find Freelance Work, Small Jobs and Side Gigs

Need more money? Pour yourself a cup of coffee, curl up on the couch with your iPad and find yourself a side gig.

Sure, you could do the same thing while sitting at a computer. But it can take a while to scroll through job websites and hit paydirt, so why not get comfortable while you’re at it?

Look through job postings on sites like these:

• Upwork: You create a profile and search for jobs based on your talents. There are all kinds of opportunities, from web and graphic design to IT and accounting. When you find a job posting that interests you, pitch for the job. If the client likes you, you’re hired.

• Fiverr: On this online platform, workers start out selling their products and services for $5 each. Fiverr says users create 4,000 new listings, or gigs, every day, with a new gig purchased every five seconds. Earning five bucks at a time may not sound like much, but those little sales can add up to thousands of dollars. Here’s our guide to earning money on Fiverr.

• TaskRabbit: This gig site matches workers with people who need help with odd jobs like cleaning houses, making deliveries or completing tasks around the house. Some independent contractors end up racing between low-paying gigs. But if you’re strategic, you can earn a living this way. Here’s our guide to making money on TaskRabbit.

I love my iPad, but it was expensive.

Use these strategies to help defray the cost.

See Also >> More Ways to Make Money Online

Mike Brassfield ([email protected]) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. Don’t touch his iPad.