Being able to earn while playing games is no longer a foreign concept, with streamers, professional gamers, and the like earning big bucks through the growing gaming industry. But, those people are the best at their games and some have a fun personality that has helped them grow a huge following of online supporters. You can earn through gaming but it is not that easy - or is it?
Mistplay is a loyalty program for gamers that gives regular people like you and me a chance to also gain more than just a period of enjoyment while playing the games. There are now so many online money making opportunities, many of which allow people to earn money in some unexpected ways, that it isn’t so far off to think that you could make a living with just a phone or a laptop.
Many mobile game players are definitely psyched to think that they could get extra income from playing on their phones - I was definitely excited to try it out. In this Mistplay review, I’ll go through the actual earning potential of this mobile app.
What is Mistplay?
- App Name: Mistplay
- Type: Loyalty Program for Gamers
- Website: www.mistplay.com
- Availability: Android Devices
- Cost: Free
Mistplay is a mobile app downloadable only on Android via the Google Playstore. The developers have hinted that an upcoming version for iOS is in the works but have not given any official release date. While there is a growing iOS wait list on their site, for now, it is an app solely for Android Mobile Gamers.
Currently, the company is headed by Henri-Charles Machalani, Mistplay Co-founder and CEO, and Eugene Joannides, Co-founder and COO. Machalani is also one of the founders of Tabtu, Ergovu, and NEXT Canada. Mistplay was founded and released in 2017. 2 years later, the program was named one of Canada's Companies-to-Watch in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50™ Awards 2019. The team has reached great landmarks over the years, reaching over 5 million installations on Playstore and retaining a fairly good 4.3 rating online.
Mistplay labels itself as a “Loyalty Program for Mobile Gamers” and has definitely built a tempting offer for avid players: the chance to earn rewards in exchange for mobile game time. On the app, these rewards are in the form of loyalty points or “Units” that players earn from each game they play.
The platform is easy to navigate. After signing on and agreeing to their terms of service, users are brought to a list of games to choose from. Each game has corresponding conditions which state what you need to do in order to earn points; usually, there is a required milestone to achieve, such as reaching a certain level or playing for a set period of time. Most of the time, the conditions are not too difficult.
On the other side of things, Mistplay also reaches out to game developers looking to advertise their new mobile apps. Since Mistplay is already being used for the purpose of playing games, it allows advertisers to reach their target markets. Developers pay Mistplay to advertise their games, while users on the app try those games via the app and get rewards in return. Sounds like a smart and legit business model, right?
However, there are a few more things you need to learn about Mistplay.
How Does Mistplay Work?
The Mistplay Terms of Agreement are available on the site. Most people don’t bother reading these contracts of service. But, if you’re really looking for what Mistplay has to offer, it’s all there. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to know about how it works.
The main service they provide is by “offering rewards to Users in exchange to download and review and/or use any game suggested in the App.” Yes, you get points for downloading and using suggested games.
The actual rewards that you can get are “loyalty points, used as virtual currency in the Mistplay apps.” It’s important to note that “Mistplay does not reward for time spent in App but rather for real gametime” So you probably won’t get away by just logging in and leaving the game on. You have to play.
And one thing that you should know about the Mistplay rewards is that the rewards they give you are in the form of gift cards, gift certificates, prepaid cash cards, or other voucher codes. These also cannot be redeemed for cash, resold, exchanged, nor returned for a cash refund.
Wait.. so you don’t actually earn anything?
Well, you earn rewards. And to give Mistplay some credit, the gift cards and certificates actually do hold real cash value. But you won’t be able to use these rewards on other purchases.
Another thing that you should know you’ll be agreeing to when you sign up to play:
“User agrees to pay to Mistplay any fees for each Service that User purchases, uses, or subscribes to in accordance with the pricing and payment terms presented by Mistplay for such Service.” So be careful when you play any suggested games. Anything you spend on those games won’t be refunded.
Mistplay is free to download and free to start. While you might end up spending on actual games, there are also many suggested mobile games that do not require any payments. Lastly, while rewards are not monetary, these are still valuable and can be used to redeem actual things. We’ve provided a list of possible rewards below.
But first, let’s learn what users actually need to do to earn Units in the first place.
How To Earn
Let’s define “Earning” before we get into this. If you strictly define “Earning” as being able to get cash or build side income from a program, then Mistplay is not for you. You won’t be able to earn any actual money from Mistplay. There are a ton of other mobile apps with better online money making opportunities that you should check out.
But, you can Earn Points and Rewards through this app. These points are exchangeable for rewards which you can use for other things. Rewards are usually gift certificates which you can use on other games,
In order to earn these points, here’s what you need to do:
- First and foremost, you have to download the app and sign up. This is a quick process.
- When you have access to the app, go through the list of games to play.
- When you find a game, try it out. Take note of the actual game conditions before you play so you’ll know what you need to achieve to earn points.
- After playing the game, you might need to answer a short survey.
- When you finish all the conditions, you earn Units.
- Play other games to earn more Units.
- Exchange Units for Rewards.
When you access the app, be sure to give the app permissions to function even when you are accessing other apps. This is essential since it allows Mistplay to track actual game progress. If you don’t provide the right permissions, you might end up playing for a while without ever getting any points. This is also the same for users accessing the internet through a VPN. Mistplay has a VPN Ban which prohibits users from using VPNs when they play the games.
The app also has an inactivity limit of 180 days, after which you lose your account and all the earned Units and rewards. An inactivity limit simply refers to the number of days you are allowed to not use the app. In this case, if you don’t use Mistplay for 6 months, they permanently delete your account.
Aside from those rules, the entire process is quite easy. But it is also time consuming. The actual earning potential, when you consider the cash value of the gift certificates, is way below what you would earn from working minimum wage.
But can you really compare playing mobile games to working at the nearby McDonald’s?
One is definitely more fun than the other and I don’t need to tell you which one.
Earning rewards through Mistplay takes more time than most people initially think. However, some people still continue to play games through this app because it is also a great place to find new games; most of these users see the earning potential as an added bonus.
The rewards that the app offers are also not the best for everyone. Below are the potential rewards which users can earn from the app.
Reward System
In the app, you don’t earn rewards directly from playing games. Instead, you earn Units from each game you play. Rewards are equivalent to a certain number of Units. In most cases, you’ll need to play a few games before you can exchange enough Units to get a single Reward.
On top of playing games, users also receive Units as a bonus for achieving milestones within the app itself. For example, those who have played games on Mistplay for 7 days consecutively get bonus points. These are just a few incentives to keep people playing on their platform. Another way to earn Units is through their referral system. When a friend downloads the app through a link you provide, you earn Units as well
The app offers Amazon, Virtual Visa, Google Play, Playstation, Xbox, Gamestop, iTunes, Nintendo, and Starbucks gift cards, among others. The actual rewards you can get are dependent on your location.
To give you an idea, a $5 gift card from Amazon, Best Buy, or VISA would typically cost around 1800 - 2000 Units. Playing around 30 minutes on a game can get you around 30-50 Units if you actively played the entire time. Even when you play the game for a few hours but only actively play for 30 minutes, Mistplay will clock in the 30 minutes.
Other things that factor in to the points you earn are the GXPs and PXPs. GXPs refer to Game Experience Points which are used to track your level on a game. If you are able to level up higher, you’re likely to get more Units. PXPs refer to Player Experience Points and account to your overall Mistplay profile and ranking. Getting these stats up can increase your earning potential since you’ll be able to earn bonuses and level up higher on the games.
Overall, the Mistplay Reward System is legit but when you need to play close to 30 hours of gaming just to earn a $5 gift card, it does not look like a promising way to earn extra income. That said, higher value gift cards end up being cheaper, with the $10 gift cards only costing 500 Units more than the $5 cards
To get the most out of your Units, piling these up and holding them until you have enough for the higher valued gift cards gives you a better deal. However, you might need to play for a few weeks to earn a $25 gift card.
Complaints/User Reviews
Aside from the low Units to Rewards ratio, there are other things about the app that gamers have been complaining about. Don’t get me wrong, there are still a ton of positive online reviews for the app; many of which I’ll also discuss. But let’s start with the User complaints.
Complaints
“Been having nothing but error codes and recently been signed out. “
A number of complaints have been about the bugs and errors that users keep receiving. Some people are unable to pile up enough points because the app suddenly crashes and they lose all their hard-earned Units. Unfortunately, there are many apps that still suffer from a few bugs. But the developers consistently update the app to patch bugs, usually every couple months. While we hope that they’ve fixed up all the bugs, the app is a complex program which has to function in the background while you play the games. Some of these problems may be because of the type of phone people are using.
“It doesn't calculate your play time correctly , you get approx. 35% of your play time credited “
This is another common problem many users encounter. There seems to be a huge disconnect between the actual time played and the time that Mistplay credits. The latter is usually a lot lower than the former.
In some cases, the problem is because Mistplay only accounts for actual game time. This is when users are actively playing. So whenever you are not making any moves, the Mistplay timer is put on pause. This can be frustrating since you’ll only know how much time was actually counted after you’ve played the game.
“There's no offline game options at all. Most of the time I'm in areas with no internet/wifi”
In order to use Mistplay, you need to either be connected via Mobile Data or to a WiFi connection. Unfortunately, the lack of offline games can be a problem for others. This means you won’t be able to play the games whenever. This also limits the gaming options for users.
“the game options are inconsistent.”
The types of games that Mistplay suggests are dependent on your location. The games are mostly new. When some games gain traction and get a good number of downloads, there are advertisers that pull the games out of the Mistplay platform. When you’ve gotten a few favorites, you won’t see them on Mistplay forever. However, one of the fun things about Mistplay is that it pushes people to try out other games.
Reviews
“So far I have cashed in on $45 worth of gift cards in the last 3-4 months of playing. It's better than the other apps for sure. I receive my gift card emails rather quickly. Usually between 24-48 hours.“
It definitely takes time to earn from Mistplay. But, it is primarily a gaming app. The rewards that you earn are a bonus that entices people to use the app. If you want to play new games and get a few bonuses from it, Mistplay is a fair platform to join.
“ I have been playing since August 2019. After gaining enough points to redeem whichever gift card I wanted. I picked the $15 Google play gift card. I received the gift card in the exact time frame they said I would. “
Many of the reviews on Mistplay have shown that people actually do get gift cards. So far, there have been no complaints on actually being scammed - aside from people losing their accounts due to mobile app errors.
“The games are fun & very diverse & you actually win things that you can use! Like Visa cards, xbox money, playstation cards, Starbucks, etc. Been playing about a month & have cashed in for $30”
Lastly, Mistplay has put in the effort to give users a bunch of rewards options. Many of which most people can actually use. While there is still no chance to earn actual money from the app, you can use the gift cards to purchase some items on Amazon, or your next cup of coffee from Starbucks.
Is Mistplay Legit?
Mistplay is simple: you can download the app via the Google Playstore, from which 5 million people have already installed it on their phones; when you access the platform, you are given a list of mobile games to play. For each game you play, you earn a reward.
Most of the apps you find on Mistplay are not popular mobile games. Many have just been released or haven’t gotten much traction yet. The rewards program entices players to join the platform and try out all these new games - thus, new developers who have a fun app they want people to try can take advantage of the Mistplay platform.
The entire system is legit.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Legitimate Potential to Earn Rewards with Cash Value
- Free to Start by Downloading on Google Play
- Chance to Play and Discover New Fun Mobile Games
Cons
- No Actual Cash Rewards
- Limited Earning Potential
- Slow Earning
Conclusion - Is it Worth it?
Here are the facts:
- You do earn actual rewards from Mistplay.
- You only need to play mobile games.
- And you do not need to pay any fees to start.
But Mistplay is not a sustainable method of earning livable income. The amount you earn from the game is very minimal. Most players take months to earn $20-$40 worth of gift cards. Which would barely be enough to cover the cost of internet or mobile data needed to play the games in the first place.
Mistplay is suitable for those who like to play games. If you already spend hours a day playing mobile games, then the platform can help you do something with that - but not much. There is definitely still the caveat of not getting to play the games you want since you need to pick out from the Mistplay game list.
Overall, Mistplay is a legit app that provides rewards to loyal gamers but it is not a profitable money making opportunity. There are many other alternatives to earning money online.
If you're a bit bummed out by the earning potential of the app, then check out this opportunity with a much higher earning potential. But don't expect to be making easy money playing games.
I downloaded mistplay ahead of a weekend where I would be travelling lots so would be playing games to pass the time. In 3 days I accrued enough points to get a £10 voucher, then my account was banned. I contacted support and they said I had broken the terms and conditions, they refuse to tell me in what way I have broken them and as far as I can tell I have abided by then at all times. Further investigation and I found many complaints from people in similar situations. So I'm concerned that this blog post doesn't touch on the topic, or perhaps this phenomenon has only emerged after this blog post was written.
With so many complaints following the same pattern and mistplay refusing to elaborate I can only speculate, but to me it appears as though they are banning people not for a breach of the terms and conditions but rather because their use of the app does not fit with the casual gamers mistplay would rather have using it.