A recent article explained how installing the WeWard app to your smartphone means you can earn rewards from simply walking. The app encourages people to walk more by awarding virtual currency called “Wards.” It also displays advertisements inspired by social networks, which contributes to its financing, and collaborates with brands such as Nike, Adidas, Amazon, and Booking.com. It receives commissions on sales made via the application, a portion of which is redistributed to users. However, WeWard does not appear to actually use the data it collects.
Rewarding people for carrying out simple tasks they complete on their smartphone is increasingly used by businesses in the crowd economy sector. They crowdsource data from their user networks of up to hundreds of thousands of people, and monetize it through providing valuable services that organisations and individuals are prepared to pay for. Here are five examples.
Vitality
Vitality is a UK-based health insurance company. Similar to WeWard, it collects exercise data from its user network via wearable tech. But then it goes further by continually updating its database that correlates fitness and exercise levels with incidences of illness and injuries.
Vitality can then more accurately conduct a risk analysis of each of its policy holders, and charge premiums accordingly. It attracts relatively healthy people anyway, and the ones putting in more effort to achieve and maintain high fitness levels can expect to pay lower premiums and secure higher value rewards. Rewards include cinema tickets, free coffee at certain branded outlets, discounted gym membership, and savings on wearable healthtech.
NATIX
Walking or driving around town and recording images can earn rewards from the NATIX app. NATIX is a ground-breaking entry into the multibillion-dollar geospatial data market that lets anyone with a smartphone camera provide geospatial data (images) in exchange for $NATIX tokens. Data is updated in real-time to include roadworks, accidents, even the location of speed traps.
This market is highly valued because much of the data is held behind intellectual property paywalls, accessed through expensive subscriptions. NATIX is democratising access to data for all its users though crowdsourcing its content.
However, what was previously termed as ‘crowdsourcing’ data from a network of gig economy workers is now referred to as managing a DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network), due to the blockchain smart contract overlay that controls the management of physical resources.
Roamler
Time spent shopping is another opportunity for people to become gig workers and earn rewards through their smartphone.
Roamler is a Dutch IT company, and is the European leader in crowd-based field-marketing activities. Through its network of pre-vetted shoppers, it carries out a variety of store-checking tasks for the biggest consumer packaged goods manufacturers, consumer brands, and retail chains. This includes serving Unilever and P&G brands, plus other notable brands including Red Bull, with on-demand store audits, sales and merchandising services.
Shoppers are briefed on which brands they are to check on, and they record images of in-store shelf displays and promotional material. The images are immediately sent through to Roamler where they are checked, collated and compiled in to store-check reports. The speedy reports enable product brand managers to identify any locations where products are not being displayed according to the latest agreements with retailers, and to correct the situation.
Neevo
From walking to talking. Neevo is the spoken word data capture arm of Defined.ai, a provider of high-quality speech data and a wider infrastructure of solutions for training artificial intelligence, all focused on making AI smarter.
Neevo has a network of over 500,000 global contributors to its Automatic Speech Recognition datasets. All anyone needs is a device to connect to the internet, some spare time, and a PayPal account to receive payment.
Simple tasks include turning text in to spoken words. Contributors read what they have to say, and read it out loud in to their smartphone. To ensure accurate use, the spoken word data is then transcribed and annotated, by other gig workers, using related words or phrases so that it is used in a correct manner. Neevo has found that using different crowds to speak, transcribe and then annotate increases the level of data accuracy.
The large database enables Defined.ai to provide speech samples of over 50 languages, including content spoken with regional accents and dialects, plus data provided by people who are not speaking in their native tongue. When more comprehensive data like this is used to train AI systems, the end results are better in terms of Customer Service, or any other reasons for using chatbots.
Other companies providing a similar service include the Italy-based BeMyEye, and the U.S. Gigwalk.
Foap
Foap helps brands scale their visual content efforts through access to a diverse community of 4.5 million photographers and videographers from all over the world. For brand marketing decision-makers it enables ‘always-on’ production with access to a stream of engaging creator generated content. It saves time by assessing only end-results without having to first select and communicate with individual creators.
It is also a great way for anyone to start turning their photos and videos into real money. They simply record and post their still images or video content to the platform. As and when brand owners begin to collaborate more deeply with specific creators, it’s possible they may brief them on creating a stream of content, rather than one-offs. There are opportunities for individual creators to grow from having a hobby to running a business.
More than 3,000 brands have used Foap. Foap creators cover 194 countries, and have so far earned over $3 million from responding to over 10,000 work briefs.
The wider impact of gig work
The rise of gig economy work opportunities—particularly those accessible via smartphones—represents a significant shift in work patterns and career paths. These platforms reflect broader economic and technological trends that are shaping a more decentralised future of work, in which individuals are less likely to rely on a sole employer.
It also follows the lead of the creator economy that more people will want to find ways to express themselves in a “third way” beyond their home life and their main income work life. In the future, we may see hybrid employment models combining traditional jobs, AI-enhanced gig work, and behaviour-driven incentives that monetise everyday actions. This will redefine what it means to “work” in the digital age.
Personal income opportunities that go beyond using a smartphone and connect with DePINs already include selling consumer-created solar energy to central grids, and making personal electric vehicle chargers available to other private motorists. With automated payment through blockchain-based smart contracts, it could nearly become as simple as walking to receive a passive income.
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