CoinOut Review: Is It Legit and Worth Trying in 2026?

CoinOut is a receipt-scanning and cashback app that lets you earn rewards on your purchases by submitting receipts. It was founded in 2014 by former Apple employee Jeff Witten.

CoinOut’s history

Witten brought the app to wide recognition by appearing on Season 9 of Shark Tank (a reality TV show where entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas and products to investors) in 2018, where he accepted Robert Herjavec’s offer of $250,000 for 15% equity.

Although the deal fell through, CoinOut continued to evolve and grow, eventually securing $2 million in funding. 1

Yes, CoinOut is a legitimate and safe app to use. As of the time of writing (January 2026), it has over a million downloads on Google Play with a 4.3-star rating. It has an even higher rating of 4.7 stars on the App Store.

How does CoinOut make money?

CoinOut makes money by collecting data on consumer behavior from receipts and selling it to various companies. 2

The app may collect your birth month and year, gender, email address, and ZIP code, but it won’t have access to more sensitive information, including your full credit card and bank account numbers or Social Security number (and on that note, you shouldn’t provide that information to apps like this—either CoinOut or any of its competitors). 3

To start earning on CoinOut, you must download the app on your phone via Google Play (for Android devices) or the App Store (for iOS devices).

When you do, you’ll earn “coins” (an in-app currency), which you can then redeem for your choice of reward.

CoinOut categorizes users into levels. Your level affects your earnings and reward redemption options, as shown in the table below. 4 5

To increase your level, you must complete tasks (e.g., take surveys). CoinOut will update your level status on the first day of each month. 6

CoinOut Receipt Value and Reward Redemption Options by Level

Note that the receipt values in the table above only apply to the first 25 receipts you submit per week and the first 125 receipts in each month.

After reaching those thresholds, Bronze-level users won’t receive any coins for submitting receipts. All other higher-level users will earn 10 coins for each additional valid receipt they submit. 6

CoinOut founder Witten claims that dedicated users can make up to $200 per year. 2 However, you likely have to be a big shopper to earn that kind of money, as anecdotal reports suggest casual users typically earn approximately $5 per month from scanning receipts.

CoinOut’s earning potential is far under what you can make if you pursue most other popular side hustle ideas, such as ridesharing, tutoring, babysitting, or dog-walking.

However, all of those take a lot more work, and using CoinOut may still be worth it if you’re interested in generating income with minimal time and effort.

We reviewed what real users have been saying about CoinOut on Reddit over the past month to determine whether the app is still worth using. Here’s what we found:

What people like about CoinOut

CoinOut is a favorite among receipt scanners, with many claiming that the app is one of their go-to options for earning from purchases at the moment.

Below are the main reasons users think CoinOut is a top contender among receipt-scanning apps:

• Quick cash-outs: The most consistent praise for CoinOut concerns how quickly users can reach its cash-out threshold. Compared to competitors, users feel they can hit their goals in much less time.
• No-brainer scanning: Unlike apps like Ibotta that require you to submit receipts from specific offers, CoinOut lets you submit virtually any receipt.
• Engaging bonuses: Users also like that CoinOut offers additional ways beyond standard receipt scanning to boost their earnings. We’ll elaborate on the different methods you can use to earn extra coins below.
• Reliable support: Although some users have experienced issues with CoinOut’s customer support, the majority—especially veteran users—claim that CoinOut has consistently provided solid, personalized support rather than canned responses.

What people dislike about CoinOut

There haven’t been very many serious complaints about CoinOut in the past month on online platforms like Reddit. One that stood out to us is that a few users claim their accounts were reverted to a lower status for no clear reason, and they’ve been struggling to move back up.

However, other comments suggest that CoinOut typically sends a notice informing users of the actions they must take to maintain their current status. For instance, one user had to “scan 10 receipts and have 2 account connections before the month ended” to maintain their Diamond status.

If you encounter a similar issue despite consistently checking CoinOut notifications, it’s best to reach out to the app’s customer support for help.

In general, 1,000 coins are worth $1, meaning a coin is worth approximately $0.001. 5 7

You need to earn at least $3 (3,000 coins) and reach the Silver (second) level to get paid. 5

How long does it take to redeem rewards?

Most rewards will be ready for you to claim in just a few minutes, but some can take up to 7 business days to process. 8 Unfortunately, CoinOut doesn’t say which type of reward redemption may take longer on their website.

How do you redeem coins for rewards?

Follow these steps to redeem your rewards:

• Tap “My Coins” at the bottom of the app’s home screen
• Click “Rewards” to see which you’ve unlocked
• Choose the reward you want to redeem
• Enter the verification code sent to your email

CoinOut offers a few different ways to redeem your rewards, including: 9

• PayPal
• Venmo
• Gift cards

Is there a limit on how many coins you can earn?

CoinOut doesn’t have a limit on the number of coins you can earn. However, as we touched on earlier, it does limit the number of receipts you can earn full value for at 25 receipts per week and 125 per month. 6

Read on to learn how to start earning on CoinOut:

Scan and submit paper receipts

The primary way to earn rewards on CoinOut is to snap photos of your paper receipts and submit them in the app. To do so, tap the camera icon at the bottom of your screen.

It can take up to 3 days for CoinOut to process and approve your receipt, although it’ll usually be faster than that. 12 Once it does, the app will move your coins from the “Processing” tab to the “Completed” tab.

What counts as a valid paper receipt?

A valid paper receipt must include the store name, date and time of purchase, name and price of purchased items, and total purchase amount. Additionally, receipts must be: 13

• No more than 14 days old
• From your own purchase or another household member’s purchase
• In English and in US dollars
• From stores in the continental US, Alaska, or Hawaii (i.e., not abroad or in US territories)

You can only submit 5 receipts from the same retailer within a 24-hour period. You can’t submit a receipt more than once or to another person’s CoinOut account. 13

Play games

CoinOut usually isn’t the first app that people think of when discussing gaming apps that pay real money. However, it does have a gaming feature, “CoinPlay,” that’ll pay you to play games on your phone.

To rack up coins with CoinPlay, you must download different gaming apps via CoinOut and complete in-game tasks. It may take up to 48 hours for the coins you earn from gaming to show up in your account. 14

Aside from submitting paper receipts and playing games, CoinOut offers many side quests for you to maximize your earnings, including:

• Referring friends and family
• Connecting email and retailer accounts
• Earning badges and Daily Jingles
• Completing missions
• Playing CoinOut’s slot machine game

Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Referring friends and family

CoinOut may offer you referral links every now and then. 15 You can check if there are any by tapping “My Coins” at the bottom of your home page, then selecting “Refer a Friend.”

To receive a referral bonus, the person you invite must: 16

• Sign up with CoinOut using your referral link
• Reach at least the Gold level within 60 days of signing up

If and when your friend completes the above requirements, you’ll receive 500 coins on the 5th day of the same month. 16 You can only receive 20 referral bonuses (10,000 coins) per month. 16

Connecting email and retailer accounts

Connecting your emails (up to 5 accounts: Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, AOL, and Hotmail) or retailer accounts (Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, Starbucks, and Kroger) to CoinOut lets you earn on your online purchases. Here’s how this works with linked emails and retailer accounts:

• Emails: Once linked, CoinOut will automatically scan for and download your digital receipts. CoinOut promises to adhere to its privacy policy, doesn’t need access to your email passwords, and won’t use any information in non-receipt emails. 17
• Retailer accounts: Tap the “Digital” button at the bottom right of your homepage, then select “Download Orders” for the app to scan your digital receipts. You can earn an additional weekly bonus (10–50 coins based on your level) if you download orders (with at least one from the previous week) between Sunday and Tuesday. 18

Earning badges and Daily Jingles

You can earn weekly, monthly, and lifetime badges by completing different tasks in your CoinOut app. To start completing tasks and earning badges, tap “My Coins” at the bottom of your home screen, then click on “Badges.”

If you’re at the Gold, Platinum, or Diamond level, you can also earn “Daily Jingles,” which are rewards for checking in the app every day. You’ll earn a certain number of coins and chances to enter CoinFrenzy, CoinOut’s in-app slot machine game (more on that below), based on your reward level: 19

• Gold level: 10 coins and 1 CoinFrenzy coin game play
• Platinum level: 20 coins and 2 CoinFrenzy coin game plays
• Diamond level: 30 coins and 3 CoinFrenzy coin game plays

Completing missions

Another way to earn on CoinOut is by completing special tasks, such as snapping photos of barcodes on certain purchases or taking surveys, in the “Missions” page.

There’s a limit on the number of coins you can earn from scanning barcodes in a 30-day period based on your reward level: 20

• Bronze: 200 coins
• Silver: 300 coins
• Gold: 400 coins
• Platinum: 500 coins
• Diamond: 600 coins

Playing CoinOut’s slot machine game

As mentioned, CoinOut has an in-app slot machine game called CoinFrenzy that gives you the chance to earn extra coins. You can earn CoinFrenzy game plays by: 21

• Submitting receipts
• Connecting your email and retailer accounts
• Earning badges

In addition to CoinOut, there are several other receipt-scanning and cashback apps you can use alongside CoinOut to boost your earning potential, including:

• Fetch
• Ibotta
• ReceiptPal
• Rakuten
• National Consumer Panel