Help & FAQ

Tests arrive at any time of day. Our server wakes the app just before it sends a test, and the app then confirms that the message arrived. If the app is uninstalled, logged out, or Android stops it from running in the background (battery saver, “sleeping apps”), it cannot be woken and the test is missed. Settings › Background in the app shows what needs to be allowed.

Steps for each phone brand: Let it run in the background.

Confirming that test messages arrive is the whole job of the app, and Android only lets an app see incoming SMS with this permission.

• Outside a test, your messages never leave your phone. The app ignores them completely. It does not open your inbox and does not read older messages.
• While a test is running for you (a few minutes at a time), the app checks each incoming SMS on your phone itself and sends our server only the test message: one that comes from the sender the test was sent with or contains the test's code. For that message it sends the sender, the text, the time it arrived, the message centre number, the raw message data and which SIM it arrived on, because the test checks whether the sender or the text was changed on the way. Your personal messages never leave your phone.
• To make this check, our server sends the app only one-way fingerprints (hashes) of the test's sender and code.
• Our server keeps a message only if it matches the test sent to you. Anything else that reaches it (for example from an older app version) is discarded right away and not stored.
• If your phone is offline, the test message waits in a private queue inside the app until it can be sent, for at most 48 hours, and is then removed. Only test messages go into this queue.
• The app does not keep the text of test messages on your phone. It only shows how many test messages you received.
• When you sign in, the app reads the one-time code from the sign-in SMS on your phone to fill it in for you.

Android's dialog says “send and view SMS messages” because that is the name of the whole SMS group. EarnSMS does not have the permission to send SMS.

• The app was not able to check in recently: open it, check that Settings › Phone readiness is all green and that background activity is allowed.
• No signal, no SIM, or no internet connection.
• Your app version is too old: update from the Home screen.
• There is simply no test for your operator right now. Tests depend on what businesses order.

Payouts are made through Upwork. Once your balance reaches the payout minimum (currently $20; the Home screen of the app always shows the current minimum), you can ask for a payout. You need your own Upwork account to receive it, and Upwork may charge its own fees, which are deducted by Upwork and not by us.

Your balance is on the Home screen of the app.

Put a second SIM or eSIM in your phone, then follow Settings › Earn more with a second SIM in the app: apply with the second number, wait for approval, and verify it with the code we send to it. Tests can then arrive on either number and all earnings go to one balance. A second number gives you more chances to receive tests; it does not guarantee double earnings.

Most install problems come from one of a few messages: a browser warning about the file, the “Install unknown apps” switch, Samsung Auto Blocker or Play Protect. Installing EarnSMS on Android goes through each message and what to tap, with steps for each phone brand.

EarnSMS is installed from our download page, outside the Play Store. Google Play Protect shows a warning for apps that read SMS and are installed from outside the Play Store. The warning does not mean the app is harmful.

You can check what the app is able to do: Android lists every permission under Settings › Apps › EarnSMS › Permissions. Apart from SMS access, the only permissions Android asks you about are phone status (operator, SIM and signal) and notifications, plus permission to install its own updates when you update. It never asks for your contacts, call log, location, camera, microphone or files, it cannot read other apps' data, and it never sends SMS from your phone.

How to install when Play Protect blocks it

• Receive SMS: Lets the app see a new SMS as it arrives, so it can confirm that a test message reached your phone.
• Read SMS: Part of the same SMS access in Android. The app does not open your inbox or read older messages.
• Phone status: Reads your operator, SIM state and signal so tests go to phones that can receive them. Android may call this "make and manage phone calls"; the app never makes, answers or reads calls.
• Notifications: Shows a short notice while a test is running, and tells you about updates.
• Internet and network state: Talks to our server, sends crash reports (technical error details only) to Google Firebase, and tells whether you are on Wi-Fi or mobile data.
• Push messages: Lets our server wake the app when a test is about to be sent.
• Run in the background and keep awake: Lets the app finish its short check with the server while the screen is off.
• Start after restart: Lets the app get ready again after your phone restarts or the app updates.
• Ignore battery optimisation: Lets the app ask you to allow background activity, so tests are not missed.
• Install updates: Lets the app install its own updates. Android always asks you to confirm.

Android says “Restricted setting” when you allow SMS? Allow restricted settings first.

EarnSMS is built to sleep. It does not keep a connection open and shows no permanent notification. It wakes only briefly: for a short status check (never more often than every 15 minutes, and Android often delays these checks while the phone lies still) and while a test is running for you.

Estimate. With tests and on mobile data, the figures below are calculated from the assumptions under the table and are on the high side. Real use depends on your phone and network.

Assumptions: one status check uses about 0.8 mAh on mobile data (including the time the radio stays in high-power mode) and about 0.15 mAh on Wi-Fi. One test uses about 6 mAh on mobile data and 2.5 mAh on Wi-Fi, on the high side. Average power uses 3.85 V.

If your account is set to continuous mode, you see a permanent “EarnSMS is running” notification and the app checks more often, which uses more battery than shown here.

Inside the app. When a new version is ready you get a notification and an Update button on the Home screen. The download comes from our server, and Android asks you to confirm the installation. You do not need the download page again. If a version becomes too old, the app shows a deadline first.

An update is blocked or fails? Updating the app.

You can ask us to delete your account and data at any time: open our support chat on Telegram and send “Delete my account” together with your phone number. In the app, Settings › Privacy & how it works › Request account deletion opens the same chat. We confirm in the chat when it is done. Records we must keep by law (for example payout records) are kept only as long as required.