Chinese New Year is here! On behalf of all the writers at UsCreditCards101, chanye would like to wish all our readers a happy New Year, and thank you for your support. During the holiday season, many friends living overseas probably need to make lots of calls to family and friends back home to send New Year greetings. Here, chanye would like to share a simple method: complete Google surveys, then use the rewards to pay for calls with WeChat’s newly launched WeChat Out service. It’s not a huge amount of money, but if it only takes a few taps, why not?
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Google Opinion Rewards
What Is Google Opinion Rewards?
Google Opinion Rewards is Google’s official market research service. Businesses can use this service to survey consumers. Of course, those businesses pay Google a fee, and Google shares part of that fee with consumers in the form of Google Play credit as compensation for participating in surveys. One big advantage of this service is that it can work together with Google’s other services to target consumers very precisely—for example, by using location data from an Android phone to find consumers who visited Walmart a few days earlier—so businesses can get more accurate and useful survey results.
Why Use Google Opinion Rewards?
There are quite a few apps on the market similar to Google Opinion Rewards, and many of them even pay cash directly. But a lot of those apps can be pretty frustrating. For example, after you answer a bunch of questions, they may tell you that you do not qualify for the survey. Anyone who has used opinion club has probably had that experience. Another common issue is setting a lot of hurdles when you want to cash out, such as minimum withdrawal amounts.
Google Opinion Rewards performs very well in these areas. Its main advantages include:
- Surveys are usually very short, generally with fewer than 10 questions.
- You get rewarded for every survey, no matter what answers you provide.
- The Google Play credit is added to your Google Play account immediately, with no minimum redemption requirement.
How to Use Google Opinion Rewards
Google Opinion Rewards is very easy to use. First, though, you will need a Google account and an Android phone (sorry, iPhone users—at the moment this service is not available on IOS). The steps are as follows:
- Open Google Play on your phone, search for Google Opinion Rewards, and download it.
- When a survey available notification appears, the Google Opinion Rewards icon will show up in the top notification bar. Tap it, and you will see information about the survey.
- In general, surveys are very short, usually around 3 questions.
- After you answer the last question, you will receive a random amount of Google Play credit, and it will be deposited directly into your account.
- Enjoy!
WeChat Out
What Is WeChat Out?
WeChat Out is a VOIP service launched by WeChat. It is currently available only to users in certain overseas markets, including the United States. Built on the WeChat platform, it offers functionality similar to VOIP services such as google voice/skype/localphone/rebtel.
Why Use WeChat Out?
- Low cost: calls to mainland China currently cost only 0.9 cents per minute.
- Convenient: everything is handled inside WeChat, so there is no need to download any other software.
- You can use Google Play credit to top up your balance on the Android platform.
- The person you call does not need to install any software. For them, it is just like receiving a normal phone call. Based on user feedback, call quality is decent.
- When the other party receives the call, your phone number linked to WeChat can be displayed, making it easier for them to recognize the call.
How to Use WeChat Out
At present, WeChat Out is available only to users in certain overseas regions. For overseas users, here is how it works:
- Link your overseas phone number to your WeChat account to enable the WeChat Out feature.
- At the bottom of the “Discover” page, you will see the WeChat Out feature entry.
- After opening WeChat Out, it will read your phone contacts. Tapping a contact will take you to that contact’s subpage. Then tap the contact’s phone number to place the call. Note: it is best to add the international country code before the phone number (mainland China: +86).
- If you want to dial a number directly, tap the nine-dot icon in the upper right corner of the image above. This will take you to the dialer. Then tap the “+x” symbol at the top, choose the international country code for the country/region you want to call, and enter the number directly.
- If you need to add funds, go to the “Contacts” page, tap “Account,” and then tap recharge.
- Select the top-up amount you want, then tap confirm. This will take you to your Google Play account, where your existing balance will be used first. Once the top-up is successful, the amount will be added to your account.
- Enjoy!
Other Uses for Google Play Credit
Google Play Credit can be used to:
- Buy paid apps, songs, movies, books, and more on Google Play
- Pay the monthly fee for Google Play All-Access Music
- Pay for other items that support Google Play Balance as a payment method
In short, using it to support legitimate content—whether software apps, books, or music—is always a good thing. It is also a small but positive contribution to the healthy development of the Android ecosystem.