We have all seen the advertisements promising effortless passive income just by leaving an app running in the background. Pawns.app (formerly known as IPRoyal Pawns) is one of the most popular names in this space, claiming to pay users in exchange for their unused internet bandwidth and by completing surveys.
After hearing so much about it, I decided to download it and test it out on my own phone. I left it running for about 20 days. Here is my completely honest review of the results, the hidden costs, and whether Pawns.app is actually worth your time.
How Pawns.app is Supposed to Work
The concept behind Pawns.app sounds simple enough:
- Internet Sharing: You keep the app running in the background. It shares your unused internet traffic (megabytes/gigabytes) with their network, and you get paid per gigabyte shared.
- Paid Surveys: You can answer occasional market research surveys to boost your earnings.
- Referral Program: You invite friends and earn a percentage of their earnings.
It sounds like a flawless way to make passive income, but the reality of using it day-to-day paints a very different picture.
My 20-Day Experiment: The Reality Check
I installed Pawns.app and kept it active, ensuring my phone stayed connected to Wi-Fi or mobile data. Even though I occasionally kept it offline, I gave it plenty of runtime. Here is what happened after nearly three weeks:
- Terribly Low Traffic Consumption: In 20 days, the app failed to use even 200 MB of my shared traffic. Because it barely utilizes your internet, the earnings accumulate at a painfully slow crawl.
- The Earnings: After 20 days of waiting, I hadn’t even made 50 PKR (less than $0.20 USD).
- The Survey Problem: While the app has a dedicated section for paid surveys, it requires constant location access. Despite giving it permissions, I barely received any available surveys to fill out.
The Hidden Costs to Your Phone
While the app claims to give you “free money,” it isn’t actually free. Running Pawns.app in the background comes with clear downsides:
- Battery Drain: Because the app needs to constantly ping the network and monitor your data connection, it visibly eats away at your phone’s battery life.
- Data Demands: You have to keep your mobile data or Wi-Fi turned on at all times to give the app a chance to work.
When you calculate the toll it takes on your phone’s battery health and your sanity from checking it constantly, making less than 50 PKR over 20 days is simply a bad trade.
What About the Referral Scheme?
Pawns.app heavily pushes its “Invite Friends” feature, promising that you will earn much more if you bring others onto the platform. However, as a reviewer, I have to ask myself: How can I consciously invite my friends to download an app when I am seeing zero benefit from it myself? If it isn’t working for me, it won’t work for them either, and their friends won’t be happy signing up for a broken experience.
Final Verdict: Is It Worth It?
My recommendation? Skip it.
While Pawns.app might not technically be a “scam” that steals your identity, the payout rate is so incredibly low that it is practically useless for anyone looking to make real pocket money. The drain on your phone’s battery and the constant requirement to stay online far outweigh the pennies you receive in return. Save your device’s battery life and look into more active, rewarding side hustles instead.
Have you had a better experience with internet-sharing apps, or did you face the same battery drain issues? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
