# Donut: Earn 6% APY with DeFi

> DeFi investment app offering high APY on deposits with flexible access. (iPhone/iPad app by Donut, Inc..)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/donut-earn-6-apy-with-defi/id1484997461 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Donut, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1484997172)
- Category: Finance
- Price: Free
- Rating: 4.42/5 from 3,183 App Store ratings · 50 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 11.0 · 90 MB
- Languages: English
- Released: 2020-01-23
- Data updated: 2026-06-10
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/donut-earn-6-apy-with-defi/id1484997461/reviews.md

## What is Donut?

Donut is the easiest way to work your money harder. Invest directly from your bank and earn 20x more interest.

Supported by world class investors and featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, a16z and Coindesk.

SIMPLE INVESTING

Deposit from your bank account, set up a recurring deposit, or round-up the spare change from every day purchases.

NO LOCK-INS

Your money earns interest in real time, 24/7. You add funds or withdraw to your bank with fast liquidity.

SAVE WITH BOXES

Saving up for a vacation, new car, or home? Use Boxes to help you start saving saving towards your special goals.

BOOST YOUR APY

Earn more APY with our special in-app rewards, Boosts. Refer a friend and get +6% APY for 6 days when they make their first deposit.

LEARN MORE

https://www.donut.app

## Key features

- Earn 6% APY on deposits
- Invest directly from bank account
- Recurring deposits
- Round-up spare change
- No lock-ins, fast liquidity
- Savings goals with Boxes
- Referral rewards for boosted APY

## What do users think of Donut?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 🚀 Fantastic customer service
- 💰 High interest rates and APY
- 🔒 Secure platform with over-collateralization
- 📈 Steady growth of funds
- 🤝 Transparent communication from the team
- 🔍 Detailed account tracking and visibility

**Cons**

- 🚧 Withdrawal delays and account freezes
- 🤔 Lack of diversification options
- 🔍 Unclear risk disclosure and investment strategies
- 🤷‍♀️ Inconsistent user experience across updates
- 🔐 Concerns about reliance on third-party lenders

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Account verification issues causing delays
- Occasional app crashes or freezes
- Inconsistent data syncing between app and bank accounts

**Most requested features**

- Ability to create sub-accounts or 'buckets' for different savings goals
- More transparency around collateral and lending partners
- Expanded withdrawal options and faster processing times
- Improved in-app communication and status updates

## Recent user reviews (10 of 50)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/donut-earn-6-apy-with-defi/id1484997461/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Fraud and misappropriation of funds

*2023-01-22, version 3.8.2*

Neel the CEO is going to jail. They lied about diversification through three different failing to disclose that 95% of user funds were lent to Genesis until after they had already paused all withdrawals. Their Assets Under Management for $78 million listed on their website is false, Genesis’ bankruptcy report that was leaked to the public shows that Donut has $78 million in unsecured loans instead. They lied about having 125% collateral and they lied about having 100% liquidity on their website of that was the case why can’t anyone withdraw their funds? The CEO Neel has disconnected his phone number following the announcement of Genesis filing for bankruptcy .If you say anything negative about them on social media they will block. Neel and the entire Donut team should go to prison for fraud, misrepresentation and misappropriation of user funds.

### 1/5 — Scary service!

*2023-01-18, version 3.8.2*

I too feel deceived by their super nice and easy to use app, put all my savings over 200K in their safe and secure savings account for 2 months, trusting I can withdraw anytime but when I tried to withdraw this Genesis mess happened, since November account is blocked and money stuck. Feel so stupid to believe their service is safe, been so scared, don’t know what to do. I’m a single mom, been saving that money for over 10 years to buy a house and my family emergency fund, college education, unemployment emergency- all is in there. It’s been affecting me and my child tremendously - had to stop house search, we live below means, depressed and stressed and scared of losing the only money we have all because of this stupid donut app.  The weekly communications don’t really give comfort that money will come back, it makes my suffering continue. Please Donut have mercy and give me my principal back! My family can’t survive like this! It’s not my fault that Genesis ran into liquidity and didn’t inform you. You stated you were in regular contact with all your lenders how could you not know? How could you not tell your users to withdraw earlier to avoid this stress?

### 1/5 — Do not use

*2023-01-04, version 3.8.2*

All investing comes with risk but Donut did a poor job at actually explains this risk. The company likes to talk about their high rates and how secure their investments are and how their accounts should be viewed as a savings account. This is false advertising.  Last spring one of their investments turned into a loss.  Passed this loss onto to their customers. I was finally about to break even, when another one of their lenders froze their program. This lead to Donut freezing it’s customers accounts.  Over a month later I’m unable to withdraw anything.  So much for using their “buckets” to help save for my life goals.  Even when deposits and withdraws start again I recommend skipping this app.

### 1/5 — DO NOT USE DONUT

*2022-12-20, version 3.8.2*

Their operations are very shady. Please do not invest with Donut. 

Some points to consider before you want to try them:

1. They will randomly deduct money from your account and will give the reason as “Market Adjustment”. Their is no defined percentage for this Market adjustment. They deducted almost 13% from my account and had no explanation to why it was 13%. Tomorrow they can deduct 23% and say it was Market Adjustment and you cant ask them anything more than that. 

2. Their customer service is very poor. The number they have listed on their site does not work. They can only be contacted through chat that too 8 out of 10 of their responses are standard replies.

3. They can stop you from taking money out of your account at any time. They have put a hold on transferring money from Donut for more than a month and now they have changed it to 5% cash out only. So in case you have an emergency and want to cash out YOUR own Money, they can prevent you from doing that. 

4. If you say anything against them on social media, they block your account and remove your comments from their page. I reached out to their facebook page, they deleted my comment and then blocked me from writing any more comments on their page. 

Overall my experience with Donut has been horrible and I would highly recommend you to not use this app. Its better to invest in stocks, you can atleast see whats happening to your money.

PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS APP.

### 5/5 — Not a scam, just crypto volatility

*2022-12-19, version 3.8.2*

Good news to everyone who thinks this is a scam; it’s not! In recent weeks, Donut was forced to pause deposits and withdrawals due to Genesis, their primary lending partner, having a liquidity crisis as a result from panic after FTX collapsed. Yes I have a lot of money wrapped up in Donut right now, and yes it’s made financials for me more difficult when I’m unable to access my savings, but the Donut team is in the same boat. They’re not profiting off of this, and are taking losses in order to protect Donut’s users. Their customer support team is top-tier and are so patient and understanding, and I am convinced that they are doing everything they can to protect the funds in Genesis. They even have updates on the situation twice a week. They’re doing everything right, and I can’t express enough gratitude for the team for what they’re doing right now. After this situation is resolved, I plan on continuing to use Donut for my savings. They have proven themselves to be resilient and worth the risk. Thank you Donut team for everything you do!!

### 1/5 — Países with no hard timeline

*2022-12-06, version 3.8.0*

I loved this app, I thought that it was a safe investment model… long story short it is not safe, if they lose money they will steal your money. They took $5800 from my account due to a small drop in crypto. Also they have paused all activity lately this means no interest and they are blocking the ability to withdraw money. Because of them I lost over 10k and now my money that I was going to use for Christmas is locked in their imaginary jail because the team made bad choices. I highly recommend staying away from this app, it looks super enticing with its touted 5-10% rates but just know that without warning they are able to change that to 0% and they have also if you are interested in being able to withdraw when you need it they might not let you. And on top of that they have super slow customer service. Most of the time I don’t like giving apps 1 star due to the fact that they can be deleted by the company but this app try ely deserves less than 1 star.

### 1/5 — Was great until multiple crypto collapses

*2022-11-28, version 3.8.0*

Don’t be swayed by high APR. it’s great when you are earning but it’s extremely high risk. For example, the UST depeg caused all Grow plan users to lose over 13% of their funds. I lost more than a thousand dollars and was left for a week without knowing if any of my money would be available (withdrawals were frozen for a week). And right now with BTX collapse, all funds are frozen and you can’t withdraw your money. And there’s been no communication regarding this for more than a week with no ETA on when it will be unfrozen. Short story, this is not a safe way to make interest. It’s unpredictability illiquid and you can lose money. You are better off investing in the stock market.

### 5/5 — Amazingly Satisfied

*2022-11-15, version 3.8.0*

I have been with Donut since October 2021. I am very happy with my product. I went through the market decline and took a hit but it did not sway my confidence in Donut. The organization gave some clarity on the situation and I was understanding.  They issued some resolutions that did help and for that I appreciate their efforts. Overall I am completely satisfied with the company and hope to continually grow as the bring new products that will foster greater relationships with existing and new customers.  Keep up the good work. 
Sincerely 
Ronald Wilford

### 5/5 — Not a scam, but no get rich quick

*2022-11-14, version 3.8.0*

This is literally just a savings account, it’s a savings account that give you WAY more apy than any bank you have, i bank with chase. Think about if chase threw a penny in your account every other day or week or hour, (depending on how much you have in the bank) that’s this, I’ve had it less than 3 months and I’ve made $ .16 . Now that’s now a million , but I’ve banked with chase for years and have gotten money taken from me in fees, much less given money lol. And that’s me putting only $20 in because my own skepticism. I will be saving all my money here from now on and watching it grow

### 5/5 — Great APY, Wonderful Company and People

*2022-11-03, version 3.7.2*

The Donut Team has been fantastic and I absolutely love this company and its app.  Where else can we earn a 6% steady return on our idle cash with minimal risks?  Bear in mind though, unless it is government-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, no investment is entirely risk-free.  In that respect, like any other investment, our money placed in Donut is no exception.  But what makes this company stands out is that its team has been diligently looking after our money in both good and bad times.  When UST depegged from the "Dollar", Donut was able to save us from incurring severe losses while other companies in the same industry are reeling in such an unprecedented situation.  Donut also made an effort to compensate those who have incurred minor losses by boosting their APY by an additional 15% for 60 days in order to soften the blow.  And now, Donut uses USDC (one of the safest stablecoins backed by a ratio of 1-to-1 U.S. Fiat Currency) to ensure our money is safer than ever before. Transferring money in and out of Donut is a breeze.   My deposits with Donut earn interest immediately after I hit the transfer button, while withdrawals, from my own experience, have never taken more than 2 business days to arrive back in my bank account.  And whenever I have a question, I sent them an in-app message and always get a response back within one day.  Keep up the good work, Donut!

## Frequently asked questions about Donut

### What does Donut do?

Donut is a finance app that allows you to earn higher interest on your money by investing directly from your bank account. It supports features like recurring deposits, rounding up spare change from purchases, and setting up savings goals with 'Boxes'.

### How can I earn more APY with Donut?

You can earn a base APY of 6% on your investments. Additionally, you can boost your APY through special in-app rewards called Boosts. For example, referring a friend can grant you an additional +6% APY for 6 days when they make their first deposit.

### Is Donut free to use?

Based on the provided information, the app is free to use. There are no mentions of subscription fees or in-app purchases for core functionality. The monetization model is listed as 'free'.

### Can I access my money easily?

Yes, Donut offers 'no lock-ins,' meaning your money earns interest in real time, 24/7. You can add funds or withdraw your money back to your bank account with fast liquidity, providing flexibility for your savings.

### What are 'Boxes' in Donut?

Boxes are a feature within the app designed to help you save for specific goals, such as a vacation, a new car, or a home. They allow you to organize and track your savings progress towards these special objectives.

## Version history (last 1 release)

### 3.8.4 — 2023-02-22

Discontinuing Donut

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the discontinuation of Donut.

- The Donut App will be removed from the App Store by March 31, 2023
- We’ve migrated your account to a new web dashboard where you can view your balance, statements, and make future withdrawals.

Thank you for your believing in the future we were building together. Your kindness, contributions, and encouragement remain in our hearts.

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*
