Hello all, I'm new to this forum and excited to be here. I've been mystery shopping since 2023 and really enjoy it. It seems to me the various mystery shopping apps change over time to what is "hot" and "cold" regarding availability of jobs. I'm in Indianapolis area and have signed up for many of the most popular apps. Back in 2023 and 2024, it seemed to me the iSecretShop app was "hottest" at least here. However, now I am not see nearly as many jobs posted in 2025 and so far in 2026. I'm seeing iShopForIpsos (Shopmetrics) and iShopForIpsos (Sassie) as probably the hotter apps now. The Presto Shopping app has also introduced some nice selections of local jobs.

Question - what other apps may be popular or on the rise in 2026? Does this vary a great deal from city-to-city or region-to-region? Maybe a better question is what is the state of mystery shopping in 2026 looking forward? Do we see this industry and the availability of abundant mystery shopping jobs increasing?

Any thoughts or discussion is appreciated! Once again, I'm very happy to discover this forum and look forward to discussing topics.

You have posted this same question multiple times. Not much has changed since 2023-24. If you find new hot apps, let us know too!

Which mystery shop company becomes popular in your area at a specific time depends wholly on what shops they have to offer at the time. If one company suddenly signs or loses contracts in shops attractive to me that will determine how much I use them. I keep hoping some of my past favorite companies will sometime soon acquire a new client or two in my area. I still like the msc but if there is nothing available where I live I do not shop for them,

I am not entirely sure you know what you are asking as Ishopforipsos is a company who posts on multiple platforms (sassi, shopmetrics and some aggregators like Presto -- who I think does most companies that use sassi), Isecretshop is another aggregator but they usually post shops that can only be found on their platform. Some companies have their own apps but most of them aren't great. As for the state of mystery shopping? I think it is a contracting industry with companies finding other ways to control quality and they are spending less money on mystery shop programs.

You're mixing up apps and mystery shopping companies and software platforms. Presto and ISS are apps, they provide access to shops from mystery shopping companies. Presto "insta-shops" are prepaid shops that Presto hosts and then pays the contractor after the MSC approves it. ISS does it differently, they provide the platform, but the MSC approves and pays according to the MSC's regular pay schedule.

Ipsos has 2 software platforms that they offer jobs on, Sassie and Shopmetrics. They also have several, mostly gas station jobs, on Presto as Insta-shops.

Presto has blue, pink, and purple pins that are "insta-shops" which means that the MSC has already paid Presto to host the shop, and Presto will pay either the Monday or Thursday following the day that the MSC approves your shop. The orange pins are the shops that Presto shows on their map that are on each individual MSC website on the Sassie software platform.

There is a list of mystery shopping companies at the bottom of every page on this forum.

Thanks for comments. Yeah it.makes sense Ipsos is both Sassi and Shopmetric. I check those sites independently. It does seem some to me there is a drop in quality jobs offered since I started in 2023. However, the use of smart phones to provide incremental work to check things seems as lean as any option out there. I would think the barrier to start mystery shopping will be lower allowing more to do it....then driving down job fees. But I have a hard time believing something will replace it. I keep thinking there may be new apps posting new jobs that water down the apps we rely on. I dont know...I hope it is not in decline.

I've actually been meaning to ask if anyone is using IvueIt app - I've seen some jobs pop up there but they are to take pictures of people's houses and I'm not 100% if that's my comfort level unless I know the home is vacant.

There was another thread to not bother with Observa - they seem to have mostly photo gigs as well but figure out new and different methods to not pay people, so I would avoid that one.

I was just looking at ivueit also. Im ok with pictures. The question I had is what liability is there if and when you enter a store or house? I saw some posts where they gave you code to lock box like a realtor. My concern is the property owner can blame or accuse ivueit jobber if something goes wrong or missing. Does one need insurance to protect when doing that? Not sure.

How do I find jobs

Well download the ivueit app and setup a new account. Then just see if there are open jobs near you.

I have been following the Ivuit app for a while. All the good jobs are already taken before I see them.

How do those ivueit jobs work? Seems odd to me to enter a house or establishment alone. Not sure how they establish credibility with just being an ivueit jobber. Its not oike a licensed realtor.

The Ivueit app I downloaded has missions taking pictures of items at grocery stores and convenience stores. I discovered Mobee app recently but they pay out in gift cards. This app appears to payout in cash.

I've used the IVueIt app with some success. A lot of the jobs are "print & knock" jobs where you're dropping off a letter telling the occupant that their landlord/lender/etc can't reach them - essentially they're behind on payments/rent and being given a last opportunity to respond to something. I've had several issues with photographing public/commercial locations - they underestimate the time it will take by about 75%, and then they don't give proper instructions and then your account is punished for their lack of proper information.

A lot of the pictures are either for tenants that are behind on rent, reverse mortgages on houses that are being poorly maintained, or some other problem scenario. I'm a Realtor, so it doesn't bother me. When people approach me, I'm honest with them and I am able to speak to them in an educated manner about what I'm doing and why. I'm used to some awkward situations already though! ProxyPics is a similar app, though I believe that I get more jobs on there because I am a Realtor.

For interior jobs on both sites, they typically require a background check. Also, since it was asked, yes I do have insurance to protect me against any claims of damage.

Observa is definitely a scam. They took my photos, said they were too far away (3' or less) and that I added too many photos. The job was never posted again, so I know that my work was good enough that they sold it to the client, they just didn't pay me.

No mystery shopping apps are popular. They are all flawed tools that we are forced to use.