How the OnTopRank Credit System Works
Every credit rule in plain English: your first app comes with 30 credits, a tester reserves 30 when they start, and completing an activity moves those credits across. Give and get, explained.
Credits are the heart of OnTopRank, and the idea behind them is simple: you help another developer, and another developer helps you. Test someone's app and you earn credits. Those credits are what pays the next developer to test yours.
Here is exactly how it works, step by step, with the real numbers.
1. Adding your apps
Your first app is free and comes with 30 credits to get you started. Every app after that is also free to list, but it doesn't mint new credits - the welcome grant is once per developer, not once per app.
One rule keeps the whole system honest:
You need at least 30 available credits for your apps to be visible to other developers.
That's because 30 credits is exactly what one completed activity pays. If you can't cover the reward, your apps step out of the list until you can - so nobody ever spends 10 minutes testing an app that can't pay them.
2. When someone starts testing your app
The moment a tester taps Install on your app, 30 credits are reserved from your balance and held for that tester. The reward is locked in before they download anything, so it can't disappear halfway through.
While that activity is running, your apps aren't offered to new testers - one activity at a time per 30 credits you hold.
The tester then has 15 minutes to install your app and verify it with a screenshot from the App Store or Google Play. If they don't:
- the activity resets automatically,
- your 30 reserved credits come straight back,
- and they have to start again from step 1 if they still want to test your app.
That short window is deliberate. It means an abandoned tap can never lock your credits for long.
3. After the install is verified
Once the screenshot is verified, the tester moves on to the part that actually matters to you: using your app.
The review step unlocks after 5 minutes of real testing - long enough that nobody can install and review in the same breath. From the verified install, they have about an hour to test, write their feedback and submit it.
If they never submit, the whole activity resets and your credits are released again. Activities keep moving; credits never sit blocked.
4. When the activity is completed
When the tester finishes, the 30 reserved credits transfer from your account to theirs. Nothing is created and nothing is burned - the credits simply move from the developer who received help to the developer who gave it.
You'll see who tested your app in your notifications and in your activity history, and you can message them directly in the app if you want to ask a follow-up question.
And that is where Give & Get closes the loop: they test your app, you pay 30 credits - then you test someone else's app and earn those 30 credits right back.
5. Keeping your apps visible
Remember the rule: you always need 30 available credits. "Available" means credits that aren't currently reserved by an activity in progress.
Nothing is lost while your apps are paused - your listings, reviews and history all stay exactly where they are. They simply step out of the queue until your balance can cover a reward again.
6. Boost and Featured
Two options give your app extra visibility.
🚀 Boost - 30 credits
A Boost pushes your app to the top of the list, where it stays until another app is boosted past it. Since you still need 30 credits for your apps to stay visible, plan on having 60 credits before you boost: 30 for the boost, 30 to stay in the list.
⭐ Featured - free, 24 hours
Featured is free to switch on and lasts 24 hours. It pays testers 40 credits instead of 30 on your app, and the bigger reward is what pulls them in. Because each activity then costs you 40, you need at least 40 available credits to turn it on.
7. The Give & Get cycle
Strip everything else away and the system is one loop:
Developers who contribute to the community are the ones who get their own apps tested. That is the whole design - it keeps testing balanced, active and genuinely useful instead of turning into a place where everyone waits for someone else to help.
Good to know
- You can complete up to 10 activities a day. Enough to build a real balance, low enough to keep reviews thoughtful.
- Nobody's reward gets stuck. If a developer doesn't review a submitted install or review within 24 hours, it is approved automatically.
- Talk to each other. Before or after a review, you can chat with the other developer right inside OnTopRank.
- Reviews should be honest. A fair, specific review helps the developer more than a five-star "nice app" - and that's the point of the exchange.
That's the entire credit system. Give a little, get a little, and every app on OnTopRank gets the real installs and honest feedback it needs.