Clear! App Review: Is This Receipt Scanning App Worth Using?

Written by Al Baker | Founder & Editor, The Penny Pincher - Last updated: the 6th of October 2026

Once you’ve unpacked the shopping, that till receipt can seem like one more bit of paper to throw away. I keep mine a little longer because uploading it to Clear! earns me a small reward, without having to buy anything extra. It won’t cover the weekly shop, but those few pence can help towards a £5 gift card, especially when you add the app’s surveys and other rewards.

I’ve used Clear! since its iPhone launch and have earned from receipts, surveys, referrals and a client bonus, as well as successfully redeeming rewards. I now use its monitoring features too, so this review covers both the receipt scanning and the wider research you can take part in.

The amounts below include the rates in my own account; they aren’t a promise that every member will earn the same amount or cash out as quickly as I did.

What is the Clear! app and how does it work?

Say you’ve just bought your groceries and have the receipt sitting beside you. With Clear!, you photograph that receipt through the app, submit it and receive a small reward if it qualifies. You can also forward eligible email receipts, which is useful when your shopping arrives with an email confirmation instead of a paper till slip.

The reason you’re paid is that your shopping information has value for market research. Details such as what you bought, the price and the shop help researchers understand shopping habits across groups of people.

Clear! is free to use and has both iPhone and Android apps for accepted members. You need to be 18 or over and apply to join its research panel, rather than assuming that downloading the app will give you an account.

A panel is simply the group of people taking part in the research, and acceptance depends on who’s needed at the time.

How much does Clear! pay?

My account currently pays 10p for a grocery receipt and 5p for another eligible receipt, while the surveys offered to me pay 60p. There are also referral rewards, streaming-account connections and payments when clients buy research based on members’ data. The table shows how those different opportunities work.

To put the receipt payments into perspective, 10 eligible grocery receipts at my 10p rate would earn £1. Even using the full allowance of 22 receipts would earn £2.20 if every one qualified for that rate, before any other rewards. That’s why I treat Clear! as a little extra from shopping I’d already be doing; spending more to collect receipts would defeat the point.

Rates and available activities can change, so use the amounts shown in your own account when working out what you could earn. I wouldn’t budget for a fixed number of surveys or client payments each month. They depend on the research available and whether your information is needed.

How many receipts can you scan?

You can earn on the first 22 eligible receipts submitted in a rolling 7-day period, with a maximum of 3 from the same retailer per day. Receipts must be less than 7 days old, so leaving a pile on the kitchen counter for a fortnight means missing the chance to earn from them. A rolling limit looks back over the previous seven days; it doesn’t simply reset every Monday.

Use receipts from your own or your household’s shopping, rather than collecting discarded receipts or asking friends for theirs. They need to be readable, for personal rather than business purchases, and not already submitted by you or another Clear! member. The Clear! reward rules cover the published receipt limit and wider conditions.

What about email receipts or a receipt that won’t scan?

For online purchases, you can forward eligible email receipts using the instructions in your account. That saves trying to photograph a receipt displayed on another screen. I include these alongside my paper receipts so I’m not overlooking purchases just because there wasn’t a printed slip.

Receipt processing has generally worked well for me, but faded printing or a crease through the total can make a receipt difficult to read. If yours is valid and hasn’t been recognised properly, contact Clear! support and send the receipt for review. Keep the original until it’s accepted, in case you need a clearer photograph or the team asks for more information.

Cashing out: my first £5 Clear! reward

UK members redeem rewards as gift cards in £5 increments. My available options include Amazon, Greggs, Tesco, Deliveroo and Boots, although the selection can change. Choose a voucher for somewhere you’d already spend money, so you don’t end up buying something just to use it.

My first payout was a £5 Amazon voucher, which I earned in under a week. Receipts, surveys, a 60p client bonus and a few referrals all contributed, so that result shouldn’t be read as £5 from photographing receipts alone. Referrals helped me reach the payout sooner than I would have done through my normal shopping receipts.

When I recorded that early experience, I’d already built up £3.90 towards the next £5 reward after cashing out. That’s a snapshot from my original review, rather than my current balance. By comparison, my first Shoppix payout took around five months, so Clear! was much faster for me personally.

Are the Clear! surveys worth doing?

The surveys offered to me currently pay 60p, and those I’ve completed have generally taken less than a minute. For that amount of time, I’m happy to answer a few questions when a survey appears. I’ve had roughly the same sort of frequency as the additional paid questions I used to get through Amazon Shopper Panel.

You might get different surveys from me, or see fewer of them, because researchers often need people with particular shopping habits or household circumstances. A survey about a product you never buy might be relevant to someone else’s account instead. I treat them as useful extras and don’t assume there’ll always be one waiting.

What are client payments, and why does Clear! pay them?

A receipt can show that someone bought a different brand when it was on offer, but lots of receipts together can show whether that happened across a wider group of shoppers. That sort of research helps supermarkets, food brands, household-product companies and other businesses understand how people spend.

Media businesses and online companies can also use research about viewing habits and advertising.

Clear! reads receipt text using OCR, which means software that turns a photograph of printed words into information a computer can process. Products can then be identified and grouped for analysis, helping researchers explore questions such as whether shoppers are switching brands or responding to promotions. Your receipt is one small contribution to that bigger picture.

Clear! returns 33% of the money it earns from clients to its users. That’s a share across the member community, rather than each person receiving 33% of every client payment. Your own client rewards vary, and your level in the app affects what you can receive.

How do Clear! levels work?

Clear! rewards regular participation through different levels, with higher levels increasing client payments. These multipliers apply to client rewards, so don’t assume Level 2 turns every 10p receipt into 20p. The official level FAQs explain that distinction.

To progress, you need to complete the profile survey, submit receipts over consecutive weeks and have both the Usage Monitor and Ad Detector enabled. The app’s Progress page shows what you need to do, and missing weekly receipts can cause your level to fall. At Infinity, the seven-week loyalty bonus requires at least one valid receipt each week.

You can choose whether to enable the monitoring features, but that choice affects access to higher levels. If you’re happy sharing receipts but don’t want to share information about how you use your phone, weigh the extra rewards against that difference.

A higher reward isn’t automatically worth it if you’re uncomfortable with the information being collected.

What do the Usage Monitor and Ad Detector collect?

The Usage Monitor measures online activity, including apps, websites and searches. Depending on the setup, it can use a VPN profile and certificate to measure traffic from supported browsers and apps. The Ad Detector uses background sound to identify media and adverts, turning it into a non-reversible sound fingerprint rather than storing an audio recording.

The exclusions for passwords and card details in URL measurement aren’t a blanket promise that browsing can’t reveal sensitive information. The Clear! privacy policy covers that wider collection, plus service providers and data matching. Read it before enabling monitoring.

I use these features on my current phone and haven’t noticed a meaningful effect on performance, battery life or everyday use. That’s my experience with my device, rather than a guarantee for every phone. I’m comfortable using them, but whether you are is a separate decision from whether the app runs well.

Can you earn from connecting streaming accounts?

Above Level 1, supported streaming-account connections, such as BBC iPlayer when offered, currently pay £1 for each qualifying connection. This lets the research measure what you watch, when, for how long and on which device. Only connect an account if you’re happy sharing that viewing information.

This feature is called RM Connect in the privacy policy. It doesn’t capture or store the connected account’s email address or password as part of the viewing data. Availability depends on the supported services offered in your account.

Does Clear! sell your personal data?

Clients buy anonymised or grouped research insights, not your identity attached to an individual receipt. That doesn’t mean Clear! itself holds no personal information: it needs registration details and processes research data. The rewards are payment for participation and data sharing, so decide whether that exchange suits you.

How do Clear! referrals work?

If someone you know wants to join, you can give them your invite code to enter during the application or setup process. Once you’ve both reached Level 1, you receive 75p and the new member receives 25p. Referral rewards are capped at five successful referrals per month.

I reached that cap quickly when I first shared the app, and referrals contributed to my first payout.

Sharing earlier in the month can make sense if several people have asked you about joining, but there’s no reason to chase endless sign-ups. The reward only follows once the conditions are met.

My Clear! invite code is R92WELK5. You can use it if you’d like to support the site, but there’s no pressure to do so.

The qualifying reward is 25p for you and 75p for me once we’ve both reached Level 1.

How do you apply to join Clear!?

Start with the Clear! application form, which asks about you and your household. If you’re accepted, you’ll receive instructions for accessing the app on iPhone or Android. Enter R92WELK5 if the process asks for an invite code and you’d like to use mine.

Applying doesn’t guarantee a place or immediate access. Research panels need a mix of people, so Clear! may already have enough members who match your household or other details. Wait for the instructions you receive rather than assuming an app download completes the application.

My tips for getting more from Clear!

I upload receipts while I still remember the shopping trip, rather than waiting until they’re too old. I also forward eligible email receipts and answer surveys when the payment feels worth my time. These small habits make more sense to me than buying extra things for a few pence back.

You can sometimes use the same receipt with more than one reward app, provided each service’s rules allow it. I use several apps, so a single shopping trip can contribute to more than one balance without increasing what I spend.

Our UK receipt scanning apps guide compares other options worth checking alongside Clear!.

Is the Clear! app worth using?

For me, it is. Scanning receipts adds very little work to shopping I’m already doing, and I like being able to redeem a reward once the balance reaches £5. The app has been quick to use, receipt processing has generally been good, and I haven’t had any major complaints about the day-to-day experience.

The small receipt payments won’t replace an income, and my quick first payout included referrals and other rewards. The monitoring options also involve sharing much more than a photograph of a till receipt. Those are the two things I’d want a friend to understand before joining: what the rewards realistically add up to, and what information they’re agreeing to share.

I’ve also had positive feedback from other users. An Instagram follower sent me the message below while I was working on the original review, and they gave me permission to include it. It’s another person’s experience, rather than a promise about what anyone else will earn.

If the rewards and data-sharing arrangements suit you, you can apply to join Clear! and use invite code R92WELK5 when asked. I’ll carry on using it for receipts and the other activities I’m comfortable with. The aim is a little extra from everyday spending, without turning it into an excuse to spend more.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Clear! app?

Clear! is a receipt-scanning and market-research app that rewards accepted members for eligible receipts, surveys and other research activity. UK members can redeem their rewards as gift cards.

How much does Clear! pay for receipts?

My account currently pays 10p for grocery receipts and 5p for other eligible receipts. Check your own account for the rates available to you, as rewards can change.

How many receipts can I scan with Clear!?

You can earn on up to 22 eligible receipts in a rolling 7-day period, with no more than 3 from the same retailer per day. Receipts must be less than 7 days old.

Can I forward email receipts to Clear!?

Yes, eligible email receipts can be forwarded using the instructions in your account. You don’t need to photograph the receipt on another screen.

What is the Clear! minimum payout?

UK members can redeem rewards as gift cards in £5 increments. The available retailers can change, so check the selection before choosing a reward.

How much do Clear! surveys pay?

The surveys offered to me currently pay 60p and have generally taken less than a minute. Your survey availability can differ because research projects need particular groups of people.

How does the Clear! referral reward work?

Once both members reach Level 1, the referrer receives 75p and the new member receives 25p. Referral rewards are capped at 5 successful referrals per month.

What is the Clear! invite code?

My Clear! invite code is R92WELK5. Enter it when the application or setup process asks for an invite code if you’d like to use mine.

Do I need phone monitoring to reach higher Clear! levels?

Progressing to higher levels requires the Usage Monitor and Ad Detector to be enabled, alongside the profile survey and regular receipt submissions. You can choose not to enable monitoring, but that affects your access to higher rewards.

Does Clear! affect battery life?

I use the monitoring features on my current phone and haven’t noticed a meaningful effect on performance or battery life. Your experience may differ depending on your device and usage.

Can I use Clear! receipts with other receipt apps?

Sometimes, provided each app accepts the receipt under its own rules. I use several receipt apps, so one shopping trip can contribute towards more than one rewards balance.

How old do you have to be to use Clear!?

You must be 18 or over. You also need to be accepted onto the research panel before you can start using the app.

How do I apply for Clear!?

Complete the current Clear! application form with the requested information about yourself and your household. If accepted, you’ll receive instructions for accessing the app; submitting an application doesn’t guarantee a place.