Earning from your phone: what really pays and how much you can realistically earn

Earning from your phone exists, but it is different from what the ads promise. Apps that “pay for playing games”, cashback portals, micro tasks and website testing are all real ways of getting money, only the amounts are measured in euros per month, not per hour. Alongside them there are also schemes whose aim is not to pay you but to take from you.

In this guide we assess each method by what the platforms themselves publish: how much they pay, from what amount they let you withdraw money, and whether they accept users from Lithuania at all. Each method has its own part with steps, conditions and warning signs.

Four ways and what you get from them

Cashback

This is not earnings but a discount that comes back after the purchase. A cashback portal receives a commission from the shop for the buyer it brought in and passes part of it on to you. Bonusway, which operates in Lithuania, lets you withdraw money once you have accumulated 20 €, and the cashback is not confirmed straight away – the whole process, according to the portal, can take about three months. A separate kind is manufacturer promotions: Samsung returns part of the price to your bank account if you register the purchase within 14 days.

Website and app testing

Companies pay for real people to try out their website or app and say out loud what is unclear. A test lasts from 5 to 60 minutes, and the screen and voice are recorded. Userfeel says it pays 3 US dollars for a 5-minute test and 10 dollars for a 20-minute test, Testbirds – about 20 euros for a standard usability test. The obstacle is that you cannot choose the tests: they go to those who match the profile the client is looking for.

Apps for earning

This group includes micro-task platforms, step-counting apps and internet connection sharing apps. They differ in what they pay with: Clickworker – in euros to a bank account from 10 €, Honeygain – in US dollars from 20 dollars, and Sweatcoin – in an internal currency that cannot be cashed out via PayPal or by bank transfer. Some well-known apps do not work in Lithuania at all: for example, Lithuania is not on the list of countries supported by Google Opinion Rewards.

Games that “pay you”

Such apps earn from game developers, who pay for new players, and pass a small share on to you – in points. Points are exchanged for gift cards, their value and rules can change, and the points of an inactive account can expire. A completely different category is games in which you pay to take part and can win money: under Lithuanian law this is gambling, and taking part in remote gambling is allowed only from the age of 21.

Paid surveys are another method done on a phone; we described them in a separate part of the guide on earning online.

How realistic it is: three things the ads do not say

A simple rule follows from this: it is worth choosing methods that require no extra time (cashback on purchases you make anyway) or in which time is paid for fairly (testing). Hours spent watching ads for a few cents are the worst trade.

Where earning ends and the scam begins

A real platform pays you. Scammers do the opposite: they show a growing “balance” on the screen and ask you to pay in – an “activation fee”, a “deposit”, “payout taxes”. Among the signs of unlawful offers the Bank of Lithuania (LB) lists the promise of quick and unrealistic earnings without risk, pressure to increase the amount and a demand to pay additional fees in order to get your money back.

Real cases from police reports

• Tauragė, October 2026. A man born in 2001 contacted a person through an app about a “deposit multiplication” service, transferred 360 € overnight and did not receive the agreed profit.
• Klaipėda, September 2026. A young man born in 2007, supposedly investing, transferred 550 € to accounts indicated by strangers.

Do you have to pay taxes

Payment for tests or tasks is income, even if it is paid by a foreign company. The State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) states that a permanent resident of Lithuania must list in the annual income tax return all income received that year in Lithuania and in foreign countries, except for non-taxable income that does not have to be declared. The return is filed in the spring of the following year; VMI announces the exact deadline every year.

The platforms also report payouts themselves: under the EU directive DAC7, operators of digital platforms supply tax administrators once a year with data on income earned on the platforms. For example, Testbirds does not pay out earnings without a taxpayer identification number. If such an activity becomes regular, it has to be formalised; which form suits you is explained in the ACS.lt article “Self-employment: certificate or business certificate”.

If you want more than cents

Cashback portals run on affiliate marketing: the shop pays them a commission for the buyer they bring in. You can do the same yourself – recommend a product with your own link and receive the whole commission, not a share of it. All that takes is a phone and a place where people read or hear you.