I have a little problem- I’ve over 5,000 pictures on my iPhone. I just bought my smartphone about 1.5 years ago, so you can imagine how many pictures I take every day, on average.
That doesn’t even account for those that I have stored in my cloud drive, camera or shared on Facebook and Instagram. Organizing this huge volume of photos is seriously tedious.
As I scrolled through my phone’s camera roll, an idea popped into my head.
What if I can turn these photos into cash?
I’m not talking about professional photographers who make a successful full-time career like shooting fashion, animals, people and nature. I’m talking about amateurs like you and me, who want to earn some money from digital pictures on our smartphones.
Yes, it’s all made possible with the powerful smartphone camera. Now everyone can take beautiful photos in vivid detail with little effort.
In fact, the demand for authentic pictures over stock images that lack originality continues to grow.
The good news is you don’t have to be a pro photographer or invest in an expensive camera and lenses to start selling your photos and making money online.
All you need is a smartphone and a good eye for photography.
Instead of deleting dozens of nearly identical photos, simply keeping them that’ll eat up your digital space storage or posting them all to social media, why not sell those extra photos and earn some extra pocket money.
Of course, you can keep those captured moments that hold special memories all to yourselves.
If you care to find out, I’ve compiled a list of best 6 apps you can use to sell your smartphone photos.
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
How to Turn Smartphone Photos into Cash
No commission is charged. No membership fee. And you keep 100% of your earning!
Besides that, you can sell the same photo for different clients for an unlimited time. That’s right, you just need to upload your photo once and keep selling it repeatedly.
But if you really want to make money on this site, you’ll need to upload many good quality photos into your portfolio, join photo contests, connect with other users from all over the world and learn from the best photographer in your category. A little self-promotion will definitely help you in making more sales, start sharing your portfolio in AGORA on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp etc.
Working based on a star rating system, your earning is affected directly by your ranking.
There are 4 levels: Junior, Advanced, Pro and Master. So don’t expect that things will happen overnight.
Take some time to build up your portfolio, slowly move up the ranks and earn better prices.
There are two main ways to make money on this site, you can upload and sell your best photos on your profile or participate in contests (also known as “Requests”) to earn bigger prizes or win trips.
Requests are photo contests posted by businesses, blogger, brands and companies for a specific theme of image. Submit your images and compete with other members on the site. A winner will be chosen at the end of a contest. You’ll have the chance to earn money, travel, and other prizes. Plus, you’ll get 5000 starts to improve your level too!
It’s available for free on iOS and Android. Download here:
- Google Play Store
- App Store
2. Foap
To get started selling photos on Foap, you’ll need to download the app, sign up an account for free, upload your photos, and make them available for sale as stock photos.
The selling price for each photo is $10 and you’ll split 50/50 with Foap. So for each picture sold, you will make $5.
Similar to AGORA, you’re able to sell the same image for an unlimited amount of times. You just need to make 20 sales a month to make an extra $100!
In addition, you can also join a Mission, a photo contest on Foap to win a bigger monetary prize- start from $100 and more!
Download Foap app here:
3. Dreamstime
When you sell your smartphone photos on this site, you’re actually lending your images for use by buyers. Which means you still hold full copyrights to all your photos.
There are a few different types of license available that you can choose for your images. Depend on the license options, you can earn up to $12 for each image license sold, receiving 25-50% revenue share.
The minimum payout is $100.
The app is available for free, for both Android and iOS. It takes less than 5 minutes from register a free account to set up your profile. It’s easy to use and navigate. You can track all your sales, earnings and image statistics all in one single app.
If you’ve been looking for ways to make money with your mobile photos, you should definitely check this out.
Download Dreamstime app here:
4. Snapwire
Similar to AGORA and Foap, you can earn money with your photos on this platform using these two methods:
(a) Requests and challenges
This is where businesses and brands will post Requests with a brief description. Photographers from all around the world can compete by taking their best shots and submit them.
The one that gets chosen will get paid very well. You can earn $100, $250 or even $500 with just one shot!
(b)Portfolio and marketplace
Once you’ve registered a free account, simply upload your beautiful photos from your smartphones. Now sit back and relax, waiting for your sale to roll in.
Snapwire will take care of the rest, they’ll hand-select your best shots and make them searchable for eager buyers to purchase directly from your portfolio.
Every time you make a sale, you’ll earn points, level up and make better money.
To start earning with Snapwire, let’s download this free app here:
- Google Play Store
- App Store
- Amazon Apps
5. Clashot
I’m sure most of you’ve heard of DepositPhotos before. It’s a global marketplace for photography. It’s quite popular among bloggers and small businesses to get high-quality stock images for blog posts and social media marketing at reasonable prices.
The easiest way to sell your photos at DepositPhotos is by using Clashot app.
To get started with Clashot, simply create a free account and start uploading your photos to make them available for purchase by millions of global users on DepositPhotos.
You can sell your photos from $0.50 to $80, earning 34%-43% of the sales price according to your level.
The great thing about Clashot is that you’ll be able to earn up to 50 times more than normal photo uploads by participating in “Offers”. “Offer” is a special request by a client who’s looking for images of a specific topic.
Download Clashot app here:
- Google Play Store
- App Store
6. EyeEm
With over 20 million creators, EyeEm offers a huge marketplace for photography. They’ve access to many big companies such as Shopify, Apple, Canon and Airbnb.
Unlike other platforms, EyeEm doesn’t solely focus on selling stock photography. It aims to build a global creative community where you can share your tips and learn from other talents.
They also provide free tutorials and in-app magazine to sharpen your photography skills. Plus, you can use a full suite of styles, filters and editing tools- all for free.
You can batch upload as many photos as you like to EyeEm and select those that you want to sell at the marketplace. For each image sold, you’ll earn 50% of selling price. To get more exposure and get a better reward, you can join contests or “Missions” with specific briefs.
If you want to hone your photography skills, connect with top talents while earning extra cash, then you should give EyeEm a try.
Download EyeEm app here:
Conclusion
There you go.
Now you know how to turn your hobby into profit by selling photos in your smartphones with little effort.
There are many apps out there which claim to let you monetize from your photos. I’d avoid those apps that haven’t been updated for a very long time. For instance, it has been more than 3 years since the last update for Scoopshot!
I don’t want to waste my time on the platform that doesn’t keep up to date with the functions and security measures.
Thus, I only handpicked the best 6 apps worth checking out in this post.
Considering the potential of making a profit from those photos, it’s a great reason to take a couple more shots with your smartphone!
Wait no more! Pick up your smartphone, download the apps and start earning some passive income.
Your Turn
Which is your favorite app to make money with your photos?
Do you have any other apps that I didn’t mention in this post? Do share with us in the comment below.
Looking for a job you can do from the comfort of your home?
Check out this useful guides and resources:
- 10 Best Work from Home Jobs that take little or no experience.
- 10 Best Websites that pay you Well to Write
- How to Make Money Renting Out Your Stuff (in no time)
- 9 EASY Ways to Earn Extra Cash Renting Out Your Stuff
If you want to find a location independent job and start making money online, this article may be helpful to you 49 Best Freelance Websites To Find Online Jobs and Start Working from Home Today!
And lastly, if you liked this post, don’t forget to share it on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
I live and breathe making an income online.
I’ll be sharing more ideas and guides soon. Stay tuned.
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