I've been getting a lot of ads for an app called "freecash" lately: Do fun stuff on your phone, get paid for it. Reviews sound more like "do surveys, get paid for it", which makes at least a little more sense.

I am still confused about the business model though. One review claims making $180 over 30 hours of usage. Full quote:

It depends, if you’re looking to earn a couple of extra bucks each week, it’s a viable option. But it’s not viable to replace your income in most countries. I’ve earned about $180 in 30 hours of work.

On Reddit it is mostly being discussed on r/beermoneyuk.

So... 6$/hour is obviously not great, but if you have a low income job and more jobbing on the side with proper pay is not an option, and you lack just a few bucks to go out with friends instead of just barely paying for rent and food... It would sort of check out, that someone would use it. For other countries it sounds more like "why wouldn't half the country use this app when it pays more then their level of income", but that can be explained by the business adjusting reward levels based on region or their business partners not being interested in those regions.

Still, the reported payout-per-time levels don't add up for me. Are there really companies paying out for someone filling out surveys? For a start, I'd have severe doubts whether "survey for a reward" models result in useful inputs rather than people just clicking randomly to finish it quickly.