Two Free Apps That Make Your Android Phone Pay YOU

If you're a smart phone user, you're probably accustomed to paying a monthly bill, using your phone to buy stuff, etc. -- that is, your phone is a conduit for sending money from you to others. But it can go the other way. Here are two free apps that put money in your pocket. And yes, disclaimer-wise, those are referral links below. If you use the apps, I get a commission or bonus myself.

S'More Lockscreen Rewards is a simple concept: When your phone "locks" after a period of inactivity (as you almost certainly have it set up to do), and you come back to use it again, you'll see an ad. Swipe up on the screen and the ad goes away (or you can click on it if you're interested). Then you go through whatever your usual routine is for unlocking the phone. It's really that simple.

Every day, in return for letting S'More show you those ads, you rack up 10 "points," which actually means 10 cents. Once you have 200 points ($2) or more, you can redeem the points any time for a gift card from Amazon or a number of other online retailers. Yes, it works. I've redeemed my points multiple times for a total of more than $20 in Amazon credit.

ibotta is a little more complicated than S'More, but there's also potentially a lot more money in it. It's a cash back/rebate app. When you're getting ready to go shopping for groceries and household stuff and so forth (at lots of stores you probably already go to), you open Ibotta and choose from various products that you can get rebates on. Then you do your shopping, scan the bar codes that Ibotta offers rebates for, and take a picture of (or scan a QR code on) your receipt.

Just as an example, when I did the grocery shopping yesterday, I grabbed milk and bread (25 cents cash back on each, and it could be any brand) and Totino's Party Pizzas (50 cents cash back on two -- my junk food freak kids love them so I buy them anyway, and that cash back comes to about 20% of the cost). Oh, and a buck back on coffee (two major brands had rebates). Did the scanning while I unpacked the groceries, so none of this was wildly time-consuming, and bam, $2 back in my pocket.

When you hit $20 in accrued cash back, you can redeem your savings for cash (via PayPal or Venmo) or a gift card (Amazon, Wal-Mart and and a bunch of other retailers). And yes, I have successfully redeemed for a $20 Amazon card, so I know that it does actually pay.

No, you're not going to get rich by using S'More and ibotta. But you can probably knock down $10-$20 a month -- and that's $120 to $240 per year, which is nothing to sneeze at. All for seeing an ad now and again, and for buying the stuff you already buy at the places where you already buy it.