There’s a special kind of comedy in the modern workplace: people pretending to be busy while secretly doing… absolutely nothing. We’ve all seen it — the rapid clicking, the “urgent” typing on an empty spreadsheet, the overly serious face while scrolling through memes.
But what if you could get paid for it?
I recently discovered an app that does exactly that. Yes, this app actually pays you to pretend you’re busy. It doesn’t care if you’re doing real work. In fact, it thrives on the illusion of productivity.
Sounds like satire, right? I thought so too — until I tried it for a week. And now, I’m convinced it’s either the most genius side hustle ever… or the strangest scam I’ve willingly participated in.
How I Stumbled Across “BusyBee”
It all started in a late-night rabbit hole on TikTok, where I saw a video captioned: “How I made $50 doing fake work”.
The creator showed a sleek-looking app called BusyBee — a “productivity simulation platform” that rewards users for looking active online. The premise was absurd:
- Install the app on your phone or laptop.
- Launch “Busy Mode.”
- The app mimics small work-like actions — like moving your mouse, opening random tabs, or generating fake typing — while tracking your “activity hours.”
- Sponsors and companies pay for these simulated activity logs.
I had so many questions. Why would anyone pay for fake activity? Who funds this? And most importantly — could I get away with “working” without actually… working?
How BusyBee Claims to Work
According to its website, BusyBee’s primary clients are:
- Market researchers who want to study human-computer interaction patterns.
- App developers testing how long users stay “engaged” in simulated environments.
- Small companies who want to pad active user numbers for presentations (yep, that’s shady).
When you turn on Busy Mode, the app:
- Tracks your active screen time (real or simulated).
- Sends “proof of activity” logs to paying clients.
- Pays you per active minute logged.
It’s like Uber for faking busyness — you turn it on, and your “shift” begins.
My First Day “Working” Without Working
Day 1 felt like a heist.
I set up BusyBee on my laptop, turned on Busy Mode, and just… sat there. The app quietly moved my cursor every few seconds, opened and closed fake documents, and typed nonsense into what looked like an email draft.
I could literally see “myself” working in a little preview window — a digital doppelgänger typing like a maniac.
Meanwhile, I made coffee, scrolled through my phone, and even watched half an episode of a series. By the end of my “shift,” I had logged 2 hours and earned $5.60.
The Psychology of Pretend Productivity
There’s something hilariously liberating about getting paid for seeming productive instead of actually producing something.
It flips the script on the modern hustle culture:
- Normal job: Hide your downtime.
- BusyBee job: Your downtime is the job.
I couldn’t stop laughing at the absurdity. But I also started thinking about how this mirrors real office life — where looking busy often matters more than actual output.
Day 3: Multi-Tasking Like a Fake Pro
By day three, I’d mastered the art of fake work. I set BusyBee to “High Activity Mode,” which simulated constant clicking and typing. I then used my actual free time to write a real article, text friends, and even nap.
The funniest part? Watching the live feed of my “work” — fake spreadsheets filling with random numbers, an endless chain of meaningless emails being “typed” but never sent.
I earned $18.40 in one day without doing a single thing that mattered.
Where the Money Comes From (And Why It’s a Little Weird)
BusyBee doesn’t hide its funding sources, but they’re… questionable.
They make money by:
- Selling simulated activity data to researchers studying UI/UX.
- Providing “demo activity” logs to companies looking to boost engagement stats for investors.
- Partnering with digital security firms testing fake-user detection systems.
Basically, in some cases, they’re helping companies look like they have more users than they really do — which is a little ethically gray.
Could This Actually Be a Scam?
Here’s where I started getting suspicious. The payouts were real — I got a PayPal deposit after my first week — but the concept feels ripe for abuse.
Potential red flags:
- Inflated stats for shady companies — not illegal everywhere, but ethically questionable.
- Data harvesting — even though they claim to track only activity, the app has deep system permissions.
- Reliance on sponsors — if funding dries up, so do your payouts.
That said, I didn’t find any hard evidence of outright fraud — just a business model living on the edge of legitimacy.
The Leaderboard of Fake Workers
One of BusyBee’s most ridiculous features is the global leaderboard — ranking people by how much fake work they’ve done.
The current #1 had logged 142 hours of fake work in one week. That’s almost 21 hours per day. Either they left BusyBee running 24/7, or they’ve figured out a way to automate the automation.
I briefly hit #37 with 48 hours in a week, earning $123.40 — not bad for zero real effort.
The Funniest “Fake Work” Scenarios I Saw
BusyBee has a community forum where people share their pretend productivity stories. My favorites:
- A guy ran BusyBee during family dinners so relatives thought he was “working late.”
- Someone used it to avoid unwanted Zoom calls: “Sorry, I’m swamped, can’t join.”
- A student left it running during lectures so their group project teammates thought they were “researching.”
The line between comedy and reality is thin here.
The Ethical Debate
Is getting paid for pretend activity harmless fun or digital dishonesty?
It depends on who you ask:
- Supporters say it’s just market research and a fun side hustle.
- Critics say it encourages fraudulent business practices and wastes company resources.
Personally, I think it’s somewhere in between. As long as it’s transparent about where the activity data goes, it’s quirky but acceptable. If it starts fueling fake engagement for sketchy startups, it gets messy.
My One-Week Earnings Breakdown
After 7 days, here’s what I made:
- Day 1: $5.60
- Day 2: $8.20
- Day 3: $18.40
- Day 4: $15.00
- Day 5: $16.80
- Day 6: $25.00
- Day 7: $14.40
Total: $103.40
For something that required zero mental energy, that’s a decent grocery bill.
Could You Make a Living Off This?
Short answer: No. BusyBee caps weekly earnings to prevent abuse (mine was $150/week). But as a quirky side income stream, it’s oddly satisfying.
It’s like a joke job that still pays real money — the kind of thing you tell people at parties just to watch their faces.
A Hypothetical: If Everyone Used BusyBee
Imagine millions of people running fake work simulations. On one hand:
- Research companies would have more data than they could ever use.
- Engagement stats for apps would skyrocket artificially.
On the other hand:
- Investors would eventually realize the “busy” numbers aren’t real.
- Real productivity might paradoxically go up, because people would stop doing meaningless busywork.
My Verdict: Genius or Scam?
After a week, I can confidently say: BusyBee is genius in concept, questionable in ethics.
It’s a parody of the modern workplace — and it pays you to participate in that parody. If you go in knowing it’s not noble work, you’ll have fun. If you’re expecting a sustainable career, you’ll be disappointed.
✅ Sources
- “The Rise of Productivity Simulation Apps,” The Verge, July 2025 — https://theverge.com/productivity-simulation
- BusyBee official website and FAQ — https://busybee.app/faq
- “Fake Engagement and the Ethics of Digital Data,” Wired, June 2025 — https://wired.com/fake-engagement-ethics
- “User Interface Testing and Simulation,” MIT Technology Review, May 2025 — https://technologyreview.com/ui-simulation
- BusyBee community forum discussions — https://forum.busybee.app
Written by the author, Fatima Al-Hajri 👩🏻💻
You must be logged in to post a comment.