7 Low-Tech Businesses You Can Run From Your Phone, and How Each One Works

7. Shopping for groceries and delivering them to other people

A jobs app lets you keep a hundred percent of what you charge, plus tips. Here are seven low-tech businesses to run from your phone. Number seven: shopping for groceries and delivering them to other people. Every order ends with a delivery, so you need access to a vehicle.

Instacart begins with an account, and you must be at least eighteen years old. You only shop the orders you decide to accept, and you pass on the rest. Inside the app, you photograph your driver's license and enter your bank details to get paid. Orders begin to appear once the platform approves your account.

For each order you accept, you go to the store and pick the items. When questions come up, you chat with the customer in the app. At checkout, you use the payment card the platform gives you, not your own money. Then you deliver the order to the customer, which completes the job.

The app also shows which stores you can shop for in your area. Pay for each batch depends on order size, driving distance and effort. After a delivery, you can cash out as soon as two hours later. The page also says the platform gives you an estimate of your pay on every order.

By our count, an order delivered at noon could be cashed out from two in the afternoon at the earliest. Noon plus the two-hour wait lands at two o'clock. Two hours is the shortest wait, so a cash out can take longer. Stores, rules and availability differ where you live.

If guides like this help you, subscribe: every step here comes from each platform's own official pages, linked below.

6. Babysitting for families near you

Number six: babysitting for families near you, found and booked through an app. Creating a profile, applying and messaging families cost you nothing on this platform. Joining Sittercity means building a detailed profile that shows off your skills. The platform describes that profile as your online resume for families to read.

Then you search jobs by location, rate, child age and more, and you apply to the ones you like. The app lets you know about new jobs first, and you can apply on the go. When a family is interested, you message them and book an interview with them for free. Many sitters also agree on a contract, so the details of the job are clear on both sides.

Rates vary with the cost of living where you are and the duties in each job, the page says. Work with each family is part-time, so you can take on several families at once. You can pay for a background check on yourself to stand out to families. Some families offer to pay for that check themselves instead.

The page also says the app is always free to use. The only optional cost the page names for sitters is that background check. By our count, that is four steps from profile to interview, all at no charge to you. Profile, search and apply, messages and interviews make four free steps.

A trust and safety team screens accounts for fraud and monitors content on the platform. Rules for child care work and taxes differ where you live.

5. Dog walking and pet sitting for owners who book through an app

Number five: dog walking and pet sitting for owners who book through an app. The page says prices depend on the service and are set by each caregiver. Wag owners start by picking the service their pet needs. Then they choose a caregiver and chat directly to find the right match.

The brand invites pet lovers with pet care experience to become walkers, sitters or trainers in their city. The first step is the page's link for becoming a pet caregiver. Every caregiver on the platform is screened and background checked, the page says. Each one also passes a pet safety quiz before joining.

During a walk, the app tracks the route and sends photo and video updates to the owner. Messages stay inside the app, so owners and caregivers stay connected during each booking. After each booking, owners rate and review the caregiver who did the job. Those reviews come only from verified pet parents, the brand says.

Each booking is backed by up to $25,000 of coverage for the pet and the owner's home. Owners can also let the platform find an available caregiver near them, the page says. By our count, the page's how-it-works steps name four kinds of bookings. Walks, drop-ins, sittings and boardings make four kinds in total.

The coverage is an upper limit, and the brand's own terms set exactly what it covers. Services and caregivers vary by city, and rules differ where you live.

4. Local home jobs that you claim through an app

Number four: local home jobs that you claim through an app. To join, you need paid experience in each service you sign up for on the platform. Angi Services asks you to pick the main kind of work, such as cleaning, furniture assembly or lawn care. Then you explore the jobs near you, with no commitment to start.

You see what customers are paying for a job before you decide to claim it. You are only responsible for a job once you claim it in the app. You decide when you want to work and how often, so the schedule stays yours. The platform says it is not an employer, and it connects pros with customers.

Joining also takes a background check and proof of a valid ID. You attest that you hold any licenses and registrations the jobs you claim require. Payments go out in a weekly batch, for pay weeks that run from Monday to Sunday. Banks can then take up to five business days to post the money.

To get paid sooner, an early cash out costs a fee of $1 and ninety-nine cents. It opens once you have received $50 in total payments. By our count, two early cash outs in one day cost $3 and ninety-eight cents. The page allows up to two of those requests each day.

For now, early cash outs are capped at $1,000 every twenty-four hours. Services, rules and licensing needs differ where you live. That's past the halfway mark: groceries, babysitting, pet care and home jobs so far. The last three cover laundry, lawn care and handyman tasks, with the best last.

3. Doing other people's laundry from your own home

Number three: doing other people's laundry from your own home. Your pay is calculated from the weight of the finished laundry, with a minimum for each order. Once you create an account, Poplin gives you best-practice videos and a ten-minute starter guide. The sign up asks for a photo of your driver's license and consent to a background check.

The app alerts you to orders in your area, and you accept only the ones you want. You also set the radius for those order alerts, so the distance is your call. For each order, you pick up the laundry, then wash, dry and fold it at home. You return the finished order the next day on standard service.

You need a smartphone, access to a washer and dryer, and transport for pickups and deliveries. Detergent, clear bags, labels and a bathroom scale for weighing complete the kit. Some orders include optional add-ons, and accepting them is your choice. Your hours are up to you as well, the page says.

Standard next-day service pays from seventy-five cents a pound, plus any tips. Express same-day or overnight service starts at $1 and fifty cents a pound. By our count, at the starting rate, a thirty-pound standard order comes to $22 and fifty cents. That matches the minimum the page sets for each order, before tips.

To create an account, you must be at least eighteen years old. The service runs only in the cities where the platform operates, and rules differ where you live.

2. Lawn mowing for homeowners who book and pay for it through an app

Number two: lawn mowing for homeowners who book and pay for it through an app. The app charges no signup, bidding or monthly fees to the lawn pros who join. The GreenPal sign up takes under a minute, the page says. From there, you get several free bid opportunities on jobs every day.

Homeowners list a lawn, and the app works to get them five bids within a day. Your bid competes with bids from other local pros, and the homeowner picks the one they want. The platform says it works to vet pros by checking their equipment and talking with their customers. A bank check is also part of that vetting.

Homeowners schedule and pay online or from a phone, all in one place. Customer payments then run through a payout account that you connect to the app. That payout service controls holds, payout schedules and when the money reaches your bank. Billing for all your customers stays organized in one place in the app.

The platform fee is 5%, charged when a customer's payment succeeds. It also applies to tips and approved extras, but not to sales taxes. By our count, on a fifty-dollar mow, the 5% fee leaves $47 and fifty cents. Payment processing fees from the payout service come out separately.

The company says results vary, with no promise of growth or job volume. Fees, taxes and rules differ where you live, and the vendor terms list the details.

1. Handyman tasks and furniture assembly

Number one: handyman tasks and furniture assembly, booked by clients near you. You keep all of what you charge, and tips come on top, the page says. To register with TaskRabbit, you create an account and then continue in the Tasker app. Inside the app, you complete your profile and submit it for verification.

Once your profile is approved, task invitations from clients in your work area can start to reach you. The page says processing time for registration varies by city. You choose from more than fifty categories and set a flexible schedule and work area. You also draw your work area on a map, so clients can find you in search.

You set your own rates, and you invoice clients through the app's secure payment system. Pay arrives by direct deposit into a checking account that you add during registration. Some categories don't necessarily need previous experience, like delivery or errands. Others, like minor home repairs, call for the right skills and tools, or a willingness to learn them.

In some cities, there is a one-time registration fee of $25. The page notes that this registration fee is not refundable once paid. By our count, one sixty-dollar invoice would cover the $25 registration fee in cities that charge it. Sixty minus twenty-five leaves $35, before tips and other costs.

To join, you must be eighteen, consent to an ID check and have a smartphone. Rules, registration fees and active cities differ where you live. So, seven ways: groceries with Instacart, babysitting with Sittercity, pet care with Wag and home jobs with Angi Services. Then laundry with Poplin, lawn mowing with GreenPal and handyman tasks with TaskRabbit.

Rules and availability differ where you live. So open the platform's own help page first, and see what it asks for in your area. Which one would you try first? Tell us the number in the comments.

Results vary, and this is information only, not financial advice. This is Wealth Filings. Next on Wealth Filings, watch seven freelance skills beginners can sell online, and how each one works.