Earning Credits by Watching Ads: The Honest Breakdown

The ads-for-credits path exists because we wanted the free tier to have a way out that didn't require a credit card. Here's the honest version.

The rate

Two watched-and-clicked ads equals one credit. Watched-and-clicked means: the ad loaded, played to completion, and you actively clicked through. Passive views don't count.

Why the click matters

Because AdSense pays on engagement, not impressions. If we credited passive views, we'd be paying for something the ad network isn't paying us for. That model isn't sustainable.

How the accounting works

Every eligible engagement writes a row into an ad-views table. A database function counts unawarded rows in pairs, credits the family, and marks them awarded. All of that is visible in your activity log.

Guardrails

We rate-limit engagements per user per day so ad revenue and credit issuance stay proportional. If you try to farm credits, you'll hit the ceiling.

Turning ads off entirely

Admins can toggle the ads-earning card off from the admin panel. When ads are disabled for your family, the earn card disappears — everything else works the same.

Why we chose AdSense

Because it's the least invasive network we could find with predictable payouts. We considered private ad exchanges but decided the transparency of AdSense mattered more.

A worked example

A family that watches 10 ads a week earns 5 credits — roughly a quarter of what they'd get from the Family plan stipend. Meaningful, but not a substitute for a subscription.

What ads never see

The ad network gets none of your vault contents, inbox contents, or family membership data. It sees a page view and an ad slot ID.

The honest limit

For heavy WarpDesk users, subscribing is a much better deal than farming ads. The ads path exists for households that specifically prefer time over money.