Five Apps to Sell Smartphone Photos
I’m gonna be honest. I have just over 1,000 pictures on my smartphone. That does not even account for the ones that I have removed and stored in my Amazon Cloud Drive for safekeeping, you know, just in case I need photographic evidence of the fancy meal I ate on March 3rd, 2012.
I suspect, if you are a smartphone owner, you probably have a pretty impressive collection of selfies, food shots, scenic pics, and social snaps you have collected over the years, too.
Actually, it’s kind of hard not to amass a large collection of smartphone photos. With today’s smartphone cameras more powerful than ever, you really can take some impressive portraits, panoramas, and pout-face selfies directly from your phone. Check out this gallery of iPhone shots that look amazing without any filters or editing to see what I’m talking about.
So, it only makes sense that with such high-quality photo-taking capabilities and literally millions of photographers walking the earth, brands and businesses have turned to everyday folks like you and me to buy images.
Curious? Check out these five apps that make it easy to sell smartphone photos.
Foap
Download the Foap App (free for Android and iOS devices) to start earning money for your smartphone photos. You can upload as many photos as you would like to sell and sit back and wait for sales to start rolling in.
People shop the Foap gallery and pay $10 for each image they purchase. You will get $5 and Foap will get the other $5. That’s it.
The key to success on Foap is to:
- Upload many high quality photos into your portfolio
- Mix up the types of photos you take
- Add the right tags so you’re easier to find in searches
- Use the “Latest Sold” tab in the app to find what kinds of photos are in-demand and start snapping away
- Learn from your fellow shutterbugs on the community forums
- Join many missions (more on these below)
With plenty of diverse, high-quality photos in your portfolio, you can start racking up the $5 sales in no time (you can sell the same photo unlimited number of times!). You can also join Missions on Foap.
Missions are requests posted by brands and businesses for a specific type of photo. Snap your interpretation of what the Mission is and you could earn a prize. Prizes start at $100 and go up from there!
Get started now by downloading the Foap App: Google Play Store or the App Store
Snapwire
Become a Photo Shooter for Snapwire and begin earning. Snapwire operates a little differently than the rest. Instead of starting with a portfolio of snaps, everyone starts out taking on Snapwire Challenges.
A Snapwire Challenge is a photo request posted by buyers. The challenge has a creative brief with guidelines and Photo Shooters take their best shots and submit them. Favorite shots are nominated and then the best ones are bought.
If your photos are nominated as a “favorite” by the buyer, you “level up” which means you get access to commissioned assignments and live Buyer Requests.
From there, some of your best photos can make it into the Snapwire Marketplace where they can be purchased directly by clients.
Snapwire is a little more involved, but they do this to make sure only the best and highest-quality photos make it to their marketplace. And, I must say, they do a great job of that! They even release free (yes, FREE!) shots for use however you’d like. So, bloggers and brands, don’t forget to bookmark Snapwire’s 7 free shots released every 7 days.
Get started by downloading the Snapwire app: App Store, Google Play, Amazon Apps
Clashot
Clashot makes it easy (and I do mean easy) to monetize your photos. Simply upload your photos using the Clashot App and get a commission each time one of your photos sell.
The best part is, Clashot is part of DepositPhotos, a large stock image company. So, your photos have the potential to be seen by millions of global buyers.
All photos you sell via the Clashot App will be priced according to DepositPhotos Photobank Guidelines ($0.50 all the way to $80.00 each!). As an author, you’ll earn about 44% of the sales price.
Hint: To start earning quickly, check out “Popular Authors” to see which kinds of photos are selling. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?).
Clashot will also send out “Offers” that request photos of a specific theme or subject. Offers pay up 50 times higher than just normal photo uploads.
That’s it.
Get started by downloading the Clashot App: Available on App Store or Get it on Google Play Store.
SnapCape
Become a SnapCaper and join an army of mobile photographers getting paid for their smartphone photos.
With the SnapCape App, you can choose images from your gallery to upload for sale. You choose the sale amount (anywhere from $1.00 to $5.00). And that’s it. Your photos are now available for purchase.
There are opportunities to participate in Tasks (buyer requested photos) and Daily Contests, too.
With SnapCape you can also upload videos for sale. You can cash out as soon as you make a sale. Payments are sent directly to your bank account.
Ready to start selling? Get the app via Google Play (soon available on the App Store!)
Dreamstime
Dreamstime is one of the largest stock photo sites with millions of global customers. With their Stock Photos App, you can get your photos in front of a worldwide audience and start earning cash.
When you sell on Dreamstime, you still own the copyrights to your images. You are simply “lending” your photos for use by others. You can earn up to $12.00 for each license that you sell.
If you are a more advanced photographer, Dreamstime has a Keymasters Program that will help you make the most out of your photos.
The app is built for ease of use, so you can start uploading images quickly. You can even take pictures and store them in the app even without an internet connection. Once you regain a signal, photos will automatically be synced and uploaded.
Ready to start earning with the Dreamstime Photo Companion? Get it on Google Play or download it on the App Store.[divider]
The next time you pick up your smartphone to take a picture, consider taking a couple shots for profit. When you have one of these five apps on your phone, you are one step closer to putting money in your pocket!
Looking to earn even more? Check out this list of 101 Ways to Earn Extra Money Online.
Hi Ashlee,
Thanks for putting this list together. Who doesn’t have tons of pics on their smartphone. 🙂 I’m going to check these out and you know I’ll pass this along.
Have a great weekend!
Cori
Hi Cori! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving 🙂 I’m glad it’s not just me. Unfortunately for me, the photos I take are usually awful — closed eyes, blurry, terrible lighting — definitely not worth anything. But I know so many people who have a-ma-zing photos sitting on their phones. This list is for them 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Ashlee
Hi Ashlee,
Thanks for making this list! This really helped me a lot since I’m thinking of selling the photos I take! Because like you said, who doesn’t have pictures?? I had over 11,000 photos a few days ago but I had to delete some. Next time instead of doing this, I’ll sell my photos!!
Have a great day!
Jamila!
Awesome sauce thank you so much for all the info I’m going to download all five of them LOL here’s to making money online!
That’s the spirit, Heather 🙂
Thanks Ashlee,
I really great page and a fountain of info for sure.
I usually do not post comments, lol. But I have been looking for other ways to create active as well as passive income.
I am a creative person for sure and following my desire to get more into video and audio production along with digital media creation.
I tinkered with website design and SEO which I like too, so yeah been there done that.
Thanks again and I am BM ing your page for sure.
Thanks
Cpt. T.M. Pearson (US Army ret.)
Helpful Post about Five Apps to Sell Smartphone Photos… and already I’m using the Snapwire app… thanks…