Emrals vs Downtime Dollars
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Emrals
This app rewards users for reporting and cleaning up litter in their city. Users can earn cryptocurrency by identifying trash, and others can claim rewards for cleaning it up. It aims to create a cleaner, more sustainable world through gamified community action.
- Report litter with photos
- Earn cryptocurrency rewards
- Claim cleanup tasks
- Fund 'Impact Zones'
- Gamified zero-waste system
- Community verification
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Emrals is creating tools for zero waste. Our new mobile app, Emrals, makes it easy for people to help clean up the city. Originally designed as a game and cryptocurrency, Emrals system seeks to reward people for cleaning up trash that is blowing around in the city, on the sidewalks and littering our parks and public spaces. Our goal is to create a beautiful and sustainable world by educating and rewarding people for Zero Waste. We hope to be a powerful force in achieving the NY State 0/30 goals, the reversal of plastic oceans, and the steadying of climate change. Almost every one of New York City’s 10 million plus residents and commuters have a smartphone with a camera and internet connection. It is already a habit to have your phone snapping pics of everything, so why not trash, too? Emrals gives you a platform to report the trash you pass everyday whether it is cigaret butts, plastic bottles, pizza boxes, shoes, broken (or working) furniture, dog waste bags, broken umbrellas, old cds, doggie booties, diapers, bottle caps, derelict bikes, dirty leaves blocking catch basins, or an unidentifiable mash of waste, we want you to post on emrals. Not everyone wants to stop and clean it up. And yet, we all want a cleaner city, now. So how can taking a picture of trash help? Well, what if you add a little monetary incentive for someone to clean it up? People have been collecting cans and bottles for a cash reward for decades. Let’s make it worth it and have more cash rewards for picking up waste and recycling it. Emrals can tell them where theses rewards are. Users can add emrals to the picture, we call “dirt alert” that acts as a reward for a person who can then come and clean it up and upload the clean pic solution. The solution will then be verified by the community and the reward will be released to the person who cleaned it up. What if I don’t like taking pictures of trash but I still want to clean up the city? Users on emrals can create an Impact Zone where their money will be spread out over the dirt alerts in that area. Quality of life issue needs constant care while we rebuild the system of solid waste management and improve our recycling systems. Many people cannot choose to increase a municipal action of funds to keep better care of our streets. We can most of us, contribute a little each month to make a difference in the places that matter most to us. Some parks have much less litter than others. A walk through certain areas of Central Park, even with so many visitors, the grass is greener on that side. There are recycle barrels and constant workers. How is it managed? Private money. So let’s bring that private money everywhere to every neighborhood all over the globe. Fund an Impact Zone. Fund a cleaner environment. What makes the eCan special? To start, in the culture of a gamified world, we have the ecan playing a rewarding thank you every time you throw away an item. In a world of interactive and connected devices, we have the ecan equipped with a touchscreen for visualizing data and connecting to other part of the emrals system, like listing dirt alerts and educating users about recycling. The ecan also keeps track of the items you toss and can identify them with a barcode reader and camera. You can then see the data for the trash that is thrown away like how many daily uses and what kind of product packaging is being tossed. Our next version currently under development, is an auto-sorting device that would use machine learning to identify items and direct them into the correct holding chamber to help achieve maximum recycling. Recycling includes reusing our food waste as it naturally transforms it useful materials like compost and biogas and biofuel. The ecan can help capture these materials and separate them for optimal reuse which will save not just the planet, but also municipal resources and working capital.
Downtime Dollars
Earn rewards by engaging with content you enjoy. Complete surveys, quizzes, games, and offers to accumulate points redeemable for gift cards from popular brands. Turn your spare moments into earnings and enjoy exclusive deals and discounts.
- Earn points through surveys, quizzes, games, and offers
- Redeem points for gift cards from favorite brands
- Access exclusive deals and discounts
- Daily check-in bonus for increased earnings
- Refer friends for bonus points
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Downtime Dollars brings you deals and discounts, your way. Choose to interact with content that matters to you- turn your points into gift cards from your favorite brands and stores! Take short surveys, fun quizzes, play games, watch videos, and complete offers to earn points - points that turn into rewards. Downtime Dollars users have earned over $4 million so far, so don’t miss out on your chance to earn! Earn on Downtime Dollars whenever and wherever you choose. Do a survey while sitting at home watching TV. Watch a short video while standing in line. Play a game while on lunch break...spend your downtime earning with us! It’s simple and safe to join the community. All you need is a US-based mobile # (excludes VOIP phone #s) to start getting some cash back for giving companies your valuable feedback, time and attention. Also, be sure to refer your friends and family to join the Downtime community and earn even more! Earn 2,000 points for each friend that signs up on Downtime Dollars and reaches 1,000 points! FEATURES: Downtime Dollars Streak: Now you can earn up to 15% bonus points on all Downtime Dollars activities when you check in daily- be sure to click DeeDee the dollar. You can even set up reminders so you don’t break your streak! Deals and Discounts: Discounted purchases, exclusive deals, and rebate opportunities from preferred partners!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Emrals at none against Downtime Dollars's shown. Emrals also leads on rating (4.2 vs 3.8) and review sentiment (67% vs 47%). Downtime Dollars's advantage is ratings volume (4.3K vs 5). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Emrals holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Downtime Dollars has 4.3K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Emrals's written reviews are positive against 47% of Downtime Dollars's.
Emrals ships an update weekly, Downtime Dollars every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Emrals | Downtime Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (5 ratings) — better | 3.8 (4.3K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better | 46.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 4.3K — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 11 days |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 49 MB | 91 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Emrals, Inc. | Top, Inc. |
Customer experience
Emrals
Downtime Dollars
Bugs and requests
Emrals
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Downtime Dollars
Reported bugs
3 issues- Surveys not working or not awarding full points
- Ads not loading or not providing expected points
- Account lockouts and verification issues
Requested features
3 requests- More gift card options
- Ability to earn cash instead of just gift cards
- Improved customer support responsiveness
In-app purchases
Emrals
No in-app purchases
Downtime Dollars
No in-app purchases









