How To Use And Earn Gems In Lyka

Written by Marc Adrian

Lyka is a social media platform where users can upload photos, videos, and even post status updates much like Facebook. Their platform can only be accessed by downloading the Lyka app from GooglePlay or App Store, and it’s only available in the Philippines for now. Lyka recently saw tremendous growth in the country in the past year as famous celebrities and influencers have gone viral flexing their earnings from the app. 

If you’re curious about how this social media platform works, we’ve done the research so you don’t have to.

How does Lyca work?

When users contribute a photo or video to this site, they will be rewarded with GEMS (Gift card in Electronic Mode). Additionally, each time a Lyka user interacts with another user’s post, both parties will receive a set quantity of GEMS.

Task	Reward
Uploading a photo	0.05 GEMs
Posting a status	0.05 GEMs
Others MR your image or post	0.05 GEMs
MR other people’s posts	0.02 GEMs
Verified account reward	15,000 GEM

Who is using it?

Thousands of Filipinos have downloaded the app so far, and the number is growing. Celebrities and social media influencers are also experimenting with the app in order to expand their fan base, and these online celebrities are occasionally giving away GEMS to their fans.

However, celebrities and influencers are in a much better position to fully benefit from the app because of their popularity. The more popular you are, the more people will engage with you on Lyka. The more engagement you get, the more GEMs you’ll be rewarded with. 

How to earn GEMs?

There are multiple ways for you to earn these sought-after GEMs, but it can take a lot of work unless you’re already popular. Because the end goal after all is to get more engagements. With that said, here are some pro tips to earn those coins; or GEMs. 

1. Invite people

Although you do not receive GEMs for inviting others to join LYKA, you’ll have more opportunities to earn gems if you have more followers.  This won’t pay off right away, this is a more long-term approach to building a follower base on this platform. Just make sure that when you invite people, you avoid sounding like a network marketer. 

2. Play games inside Lyka

Playing games on this social media platform is rewarding, it won’t buy you coffee for playing only a few times, but the GEMs you get will stack up in the long run. Before you know it, you’ve earned enough to at least make some small purchases on Lyka. 

3. Posting regularly

As we’ve mentioned above, you earn GEMs for every engagement you get from your posts. With that said, the more posts you make in the app, the more engagement you’ll get. 

Pro Tip: Make engaging content that will wow your audience. It can be a short Tiktok video, a blog about some interesting subjects, or even a simple meme. Either way, make your post attention-grabbing!

4. Cross-post

Don’t have an audience yet on Lyka? Promote your post on other platforms! Flexing your Lyka on other social media platforms is free, and you’ll be hitting two birds in one stone: invite people and engage with your post. 

5. Start a community

This needs some work to build. For starters, there isn’t a feature inside the app that lets you form a community like on Facebook. So your option is to build one outside Lyka – most likely on Facebook. Within the group, share some interesting insights about your common interest which are what your community is built upon. Incentivize the member for making a Lyka account and engaging with yours from your cross-posts within the community.  

What you need to know about Lyka GEMs

GEM is Lyka’s in-app currency. When you dine or buy at Lyka’s partner brands and merchants,  and their in-app mall, the GEMs you earn in your Lyka wallet can be used as payment.

When you dine or buy at Lyka’s partner brands and merchants,  and their in-app mall, the GEMs you earn in your Lyka wallet can be used as payment.

The Philippines is the first country where the app has fully operated and successfully partnered with a slew of merchants. Lyka has over 10,000 merchant partners in the service, retail, food, and automotive industries. 

Lyka currently has a long list of merchants, both local and big brands Addidas, Puma, Ford, and Mini cooper, Sheraton, etc. However, the merchants who acknowledge Lyka as a payment method are only limited to the Philippines. 

You can check their full list of merchants here. 

Lyka Mall

This is one of Lyka’s new in-app features, serving as a one-stop-shop for online shopping and digital transactions. Their in-app mall also features Lyka Grocery, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and has no minimum order.

You may buy prepaid loads, pay bills (e.g., utilities, telecom, insurance, credit card, etc. ), remit payments (e.g., gov’t agencies, etc. ), and even pay partner merchants (e.g., schools, real estate, etc.) under the Digital Goods section.

Can I convert GEMs to real money?

Yes, you can sell your gems within the app, but you need a bank account. To do this tap the three white dots on the top right corner of your dashboard > tap “sell my GEMs” > then enter your banking details.

Can Lyka be a major source of income?

The money you’ll earn from Lyka won’t be enough to keep you afloat unless you’re a celebrity or an influencer who has millions of followers. However, if you’re searching for a side hustle to earn a little bit of money, this could be a good source among others. We’re not saying you can earn a significant amount in Lyka from the get-go to pass as a side income. But, if you have the patience to collect a few GEMs every now and then for a long period of time, they can add up and may amount to a significant amount of GEMs that can buy you a dinner or coffee perhaps – and that is still money. As they say, a penny saved is a penny earned. . 

How to install Lyka

1. In the Google Play Store or the App Store, look for LYKA. Download to install on your phone.
2. If this is your first time using Lyka choose to “create a new account.”
3. Fill in your name, gender, birth date, and email/phone number.
4. Fill in the confirmation code that was provided to your email address or phone number.
5. Make a password for yourself.
6. Tap the “Sign Up” button.
7. Start filling in your profile by going to your profile page.

Is your privacy safe with Lyka?

Privacy has always been an issue with free apps and social media platforms since they always involve our identity and personal information. Lyka is no exception and has been a subject of criticism a few times since its inception.

Lyka just like every social media platform collects the information that you input on your profile. While little is known for now whether or not they sell this information to third parties or use it for advertising purposes, it pays to be cautious with oversharing your information in general.

If you put a lot of emphasis on your privacy, joining Lyka may not be a good idea for you. After all, the whole point of this app is to share information to get GEMs in return. You may not necessarily need to enter your credit card information or even SSS number, but sharing some photos or your thoughts may already be enough to breach your privacy. 

However, if you don’t mind uploading a part of your life every now and then on this platform and you’re aware of the risks you’ll be exposed to, then no one should tell you otherwise. At the end of the day, free platforms are free because the payment they get in exchange is the data they get from their users.