What happened to the Shopkick app? It shut down. The app and website stopped working in late March 2026, with no advance notice to the people using it. Shopkick, Inc. then filed for relief under chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code on May 29, 2026, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, case number 26-10877.
Chapter 7 is a liquidation rather than a reorganization, so the company is being wound up, not restructured. The app is no longer offered for download and the company website now shows only the bankruptcy notice.
If you opened Shopkick and found your kicks gone, or came looking for a promo code or a way back into your account, none of that exists any more. Shopkick paid real gift cards for well over a decade, so this is not a scam story. This page covers what happened, what it means for kicks you never redeemed, and what is genuinely worth using instead.
Three apps that pay, if you are replacing Shopkick
What Shopkick actually was
Shopkick launched in 2009 and paid you in points called kicks. The appeal was that you could earn without buying anything at all, which very few rewards apps have ever offered.
- How you earned. You collected kicks for walking into a partner store with the app open, scanning barcodes on selected products, submitting receipts and buying through a linked card
- How you got paid. Kicks converted to gift cards at about 250 kicks per dollar, and there was no cash option
- Who it suited. People who were already in those stores every week and did not mind opening an app at the door
The trade off was always the pace. A walk in or a scan was worth a few cents, so a meaningful gift card took a lot of store visits, and most people carried a balance for a long time before they redeemed it. That detail matters for what came next.
What happened to Shopkick
In late March 2026 the app and the website simply stopped working. There was no shutdown date announced in advance and no window to spend down a balance, so people found out when they opened the app in a store and nothing loaded.
Two months later the company made it formal. Shopkick, Inc. filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy on May 29, 2026, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, under case number 26-10877. The company website now carries that notice and nothing else.
The chapter matters. A chapter 11 case is an attempt to keep a business running while it restructures. A chapter 7 case is a liquidation, where the company stops operating and a trustee sells whatever is left to pay creditors. We have not seen any announcement of the app returning under a new owner.
What happens to unredeemed kicks
There is no longer any way to redeem them. Kicks could only be turned into gift cards inside the app, and the app does not work.
In a chapter 7 case a trustee sells the remaining assets and pays creditors in an order set by law. Loyalty points are not money held on your behalf. They are an unsecured claim, and unsecured claims rank near the bottom, behind secured lenders, employees and tax authorities. Claimants at that level are rarely paid anything, so treat unredeemed kicks as lost. The case docket is public under case number 26-10877 in the District of Delaware if you want to follow it, but nobody should tell you a recovery is likely.
If you had already converted kicks into a gift card and kept the code, that is different. The retailer holds that balance, not Shopkick, so the code should still work.
What to use instead of Shopkick
Shopkick paid a few cents at a time, only in gift cards, and only once you had built up a balance that could disappear overnight. The three apps below fix those three problems in different ways. They pay you for short tasks you can do from your couch, and each one puts something in your balance at the start instead of making you grind toward it.
These are the bonus amounts we track through our own accounts. The apps do not publish these figures on their own websites, so treat them as our numbers rather than an advertised rate.
Shopkick paid a few cents for walking through a door. Testerup gives you a $10 welcome bonus straight after sign up for trying new games, and a single goal in a game like Monopoly GO can pay over $200.
Bigcash
Best for a fast first cashoutShopkick balances vanished overnight because people were still saving them up. Bigcash lets you cash out from $1, so there is never much left sitting in the app and you see it pay almost straight away.
Freecash
Best for choice in how you get paidShopkick only paid in gift cards. Freecash starts you with a $10 sign up bonus and pays in cash or crypto, with a low withdrawal threshold.
How the three compare
| App | Bonus we track | What you actually do | Worth knowing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Testerup | $10 | Paid app and game testing | $10 welcome bonus, payouts approved within hours | Visit Testerup |
| Bigcash | $15 | Apps, games and short offers | Cash out from $1, 3,000+ offers live | Visit Bigcash |
| Freecash | $10 | Offers, games and surveys | Pays in cash or crypto, low withdrawal threshold | Visit Freecash |
If you miss the in store side
No app copies the walk in and scan mechanic. The nearest thing still running is Upside, which pays cash back for going to specific gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants rather than for buying a particular brand. You claim the offer in the app before you pay and the cash back arrives once the transaction settles. You can get started with Upside here, and if fuel is your main spend our list of cash back apps for gas compares it properly. Just remember that cash back is capped by what you spend, which is the same ceiling Shopkick had.
Scan and earn apps still running
Each one covers a different part of what Shopkick paid for
| App | What you do | Replaces |
|---|---|---|
| NCP | Scan barcodes with the NCPMobile app | Barcode scans |
| Upside | Claim an offer, fill up, upload the receipt | Store visits |
| Fetch | Snap a photo of your receipt, no offers to pick | Receipts |
| Rakuten | Start your shopping trip in the portal | Purchases |
No app copies the walk in and scan in one place. Whichever you pick, cash out early and often.
What to take from how Shopkick ended
Shopkick was not a scam and it still took people’s balances with it, which is the part worth remembering. An app can be legitimate for years and stop without a day of notice.
- Cash out early and often. A balance you have withdrawn cannot be written off in a bankruptcy.
- Favor a low cashout minimum. The less you have to leave sitting in an app, the less you can lose if it closes.
- Do not treat points as savings. Until you redeem them, they are a promise from a company, not money in your account.
If you only try one, make it Testerup for the $10 welcome bonus. If you would rather see a cashout land first, Bigcash lets you withdraw from $1.
Frequently asked questions
Shopkick shut down. The app and website stopped working in late March 2026 with no advance notice to users, and Shopkick, Inc. filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy on May 29, 2026, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, case number 26-10877. Chapter 7 is a liquidation, so the company is being wound up rather than restructured.
No. The app no longer works and is no longer offered for download, and the company website now shows only the bankruptcy notice.
Nothing suggests it is. A chapter 7 case is a liquidation rather than a reorganization, which means the company stops operating and a trustee sells what is left. We have not seen any announcement of the app returning under a new owner.
No. Kicks could only be redeemed inside the app, and the app no longer works. Unredeemed points are an unsecured claim in a chapter 7 liquidation, ranking behind secured lenders, employees and taxes, and unsecured claimants usually recover nothing. A gift card code you had already redeemed should still work, because that balance sits with the retailer.
No. It paid real gift cards for more than a decade. It failed as a business, which is a different thing from fraud, though it leaves anyone holding kicks in the same position either way.
Where to go next
If scanning receipts was the part of Shopkick you used most, apps that pay you money for receipts covers what is still running. If gift cards were the point, how to get free Amazon gift cards covers the routes that still work. For the kind of apps recommended above, see get paid to play games, and the best money making apps is the wider list these three come from.
