App Guides
ReelShort Coins: 60 an Episode, and Why Free Coins Expire
ReelShort coins: 60 an episode once the free ones run out, and $4.99 buys 500. Paid coins never expire; free reward coins usually do, so spend those first.
The dullest explanation for vanished ReelShort coins sits in ReelShort's own FAQ: free reward coins usually expire, and paid coins do not. So spend the bonus balance first, and buy the smallest pack that finishes the drama you are on, not the biggest one on the screen.
TL;DR: An episode costs 60 coins once the free ones run out, and $4.99 buys 500. Two ReelShort pages print two pack tables, one of them pitched as a current offer, so the bonus on a $9.99 pack is 150 or 100 coins depending on where you look. Paid coins never expire; free coins usually do. Of the 566 ReelShort titles we had read by Oct 23, 535 finish on 3,750 coins or fewer. Checked Oct 22, 2026.
As of Oct 22, 2026: coin prices and rewards as ReelShort's pages listed them that day. ReelShort's coin guide says prices change by region and promotion; we recheck and log changes below.
How do ReelShort coins work? (quick answer)
You buy coins in packs or earn them free, then spend them one episode at a time once a drama's free episodes end. A standard episode costs 60 coins, per ReelShort's coin guide. Packs start at $4.99 for 500. Coins you pay for never expire; coins you earn usually do.
Key Takeaways
- 60 coins an episode, per the coin guide: about 60 cents at the $4.99 pack.
- Two price lists: the coin guide's usual tiers and the subscription guide's current offer differ on every bonus the two share.
- Paid coins never expire. Free reward coins "usually come with a time limit".
- Free coins are slow: ads pay 15 to 40 coins each, "175 coins at most".
- Median drama: 2,280 coins to finish, of the 566 ReelShort titles read by Oct 23, by our math.
Graphic: ShortDramaDesk, from ReelShort's coin guide and free-coins pages, Oct 22.
Overview: what ReelShort coins buy
Coins unlock episodes. ReelShort's coin guide says "Typically, the first 8 to 13 episodes of most series are completely free to watch", and then: "Once the paywall appears, a standard episode usually costs 60 coins." Our own catalog agrees on the first part. Of the 566 ReelShort titles read by Oct 23 (Mature titles left out), the median gives 8 free episodes.
Coins do not buy a quiet screen. The same guide warns that paying for an episode does not remove ads: "Unless you upgrade to premium, you will still have to sit through some commercial breaks." Google Play flags the app "Contains ads" as well. Coins are also tied to one login. They follow you from phone to tablet, but "you just cannot gift or send those coins to a friend's profile."
Our ReelShort app page keeps the store's purchase rows and ratings next to 18 other apps.
Analysis: two ReelShort coins price lists
ReelShort publishes two pack tables on its own site, and they do not match. The coin guide lists four packs as "how ReelShort usually sets up its top-up tiers". The subscription guide, written ten days earlier, lists six and pitches them as an offer: "ReelShort is also currently giving out free top-up coins for its users," it says, then tells readers to "hurry". The three packs on both tables get a different bonus on each page.
| Price | Coin guide (Aug 24) | Subscription guide (Aug 14) |
|---|---|---|
| $4.99 | 500 | 525 (500 + 25 free) |
| $9.99 | 1,150 (1,000 + 150) | 1,100 (1,000 + 100 free) |
| $14.99 | 1,800 (1,500 + 300) | not listed |
| $19.99 | not listed | 2,400 (2,000 + 400 free) |
| $29.99 | 3,750 (3,000 + 750) | 3,900 (3,000 + 900 free) |
| $49.99 | not listed | 7,500 (5,000 + 2,500 free) |
| $99.99 | not listed | 20,000 (10,000 + 10,000 free) |
The coin guide hedges: "Pricing and bonus amounts are subject to change based on regional pricing and promotional events." The subscription guide gives its offer no end date. The App Store adds a third view: its purchase list showed seven "One-time Purchase" rows from $4.99 to $29.99 on Oct 22, with no coin amounts at all.
Chart: ShortDramaDesk, from ReelShort's coin guide and subscription guide, Oct 22.
What does that mean at checkout? Look at the coin count on the pack, not its price. On the coin guide's table, the $29.99 pack gives 125 coins a dollar against 100 for the $4.99 pack. The subscription guide's $99.99 pack gives 200 a dollar, if your store offers it. Same $29.99, 150 coins apart.
Why ReelShort coins disappear
There are two balances, and only one of them lasts. ReelShort's web store shows them separately: "Coins : 0 Bonus : 0". The coin guide's FAQ draws the line: "Paid coins never expire." Free reward coins, "on the other hand, usually come with a time limit." ReelShort's is-it-free page is blunter: "Free bonus coins on ReelShort come with a strict expiry date."
So a balance that drops overnight is usually bonus coins timing out. Neither page gives the time limit, and the free-coins page tells you to check "the specific terms on their bonus coins to verify validity periods" in the wallet.
Two other things make coins vanish. Closing your account, or ReelShort closing it, means "all Virtual Currency and Virtual Goods will be forfeited by you," per ReelShort's terms. And a refund is not a given: the terms call coin sales "final and non-refundable", except at ReelShort's discretion. Our legit-and-safe check on ReelShort covers the store refund routes.
GODEEPER: If a weekly VIP plan is draining more than coins ever did, here is where to stop it. How to Cancel ReelShort Subscription: iPhone, Android, Web →
Free ReelShort coins: check-ins, ads and tasks
Free coins are real but small. ReelShort's pages list three sources, and they do not fully agree on the numbers.
- Check-ins. The free-coins page: "Many users receive around 10 coins just for a basic check-in." Its streak table runs 10 coins on days 1 and 2, 25 on day 5 and 30 on day 6. Miss a day and "your streak will reset back to day one". The is-it-free page says daily check-ins earn "up to 165 coins".
- Ads. "For one ad, you can earn up to 15-40 coins each time and 175 coins at most," says the is-it-free page. The free-coins page reports viewers watching "15 to 20 ads daily" for "approximately 250 free coins per day". One page caps ads lower than the other.
- Tasks. "Logging in on ReelShort earns you 50 coins," per the is-it-free page, plus rotating tasks like sharing an episode or turning on notifications.
Chart: ShortDramaDesk, from ReelShort's free-coins and is-it-free pages, Oct 22.
The same free-coins page is blunt about "Free Coin Generators": they are "100% scams". We agree, and we do not link them.
How many ReelShort coins does a drama take?
Most dramas take a couple of thousand coins after the free episodes. We counted locked episodes on the 566 ReelShort titles in our catalog read by Oct 23 and multiplied by 60, the coin guide's per-episode price.
Chart: ShortDramaDesk, from ReelShort's partner catalog (RS Boost) and hand-checked drama pages, read Oct 21 to 23.
Desk note: Of the 566 ReelShort titles read by Oct 23 (Mature titles left out), 535 need 3,750 coins or fewer to finish, the size of the coin guide's $29.99 pack. The median needs 2,280, so one big pack for one median drama leaves 1,470 coins in the wallet, by our math. The paid part carries over to the next drama. Whether the pack's 750 bonus coins sit in the Bonus balance that expires, no ReelShort page says.
Only 159 of those 566 fit inside the $14.99 pack's 1,800 coins. For a single drama, the $9.99 pack twice (2,300 coins) covers the median with a 20-coin margin. Our cost calculator runs the pack mix for any ReelShort title.
GODEEPER: The coin math drama by drama, with the cheapest pack mix for each. Cost to Finish a Short Drama: 13 ReelShort Titles Priced →
Coins or VIP?
The coin guide puts it plainly: coins suit "the casual viewer", and VIP suits viewers "flying through dozens of episodes a day". VIP removes ads and unlocks the library while it runs. The App Store listed three "Subscription" rows at $19.99 on Oct 22; ReelShort's subscription guide prices its standard weekly plan at $14.99.
A week of VIP at $19.99 buys about what two $9.99 coin packs do: one median drama. If you finish more than one drama a week, VIP pulls ahead. If you finish one a fortnight, coins win, and paid coins never expire.
What viewers say
The App Store's newest reviews keep landing on the same two complaints.
- "the remaining coins simply disappear" (App Store review, Oct 20)
- "Can earn the episodes by watching ads but they limit you to 10 per day." (App Store review, Oct 20)
The first fits the bonus-coin expiry above; the reviewer does not say which balance shrank. The second describes a daily ad cap too, at fewer ads than the 15 to 20 the free-coins page reports.
Our take
Spend bonus coins first, then buy the pack that just covers the drama you are on. An episode is 60 coins, and the median of the 566 ReelShort titles we read by Oct 23 needs 2,280 of them. Paid coins keep, free coins usually do not, and no page says which balance a pack's bonus lands in. So a big pack is fine if you will watch again and wasteful if you will not. Watching more than one drama a week? Price a VIP week instead. We recheck both price tables monthly.
What we don't know yet
- How long free and bonus coins last: ReelShort's pages say they expire but give no period.
- Whether the bonus that comes with a paid pack lands in the expiring Bonus balance or with the paid coins: the web store shows two balances, and no page says which one a pack's bonus joins.
- Whether the subscription guide's offer still runs: the page is dated Aug 14 and says ReelShort is "currently" giving out free top-up coins, with no end date.
- Which pack table your store shows: the coin guide and subscription guide differ, and the App Store hides coin amounts.
- How big the daily ad cap is: the is-it-free page says there is "a strict ad limit number" that resets with the daily tasks, but its "175 coins at most" does not say "per day".
How we checked this
On Oct 22 we read ReelShort's coin guide, its free-coins page, its is-it-free page and its subscription guide on reelshort.com (one page each, by hand), its web store page, its terms of use, the App Store listing and the newest App Store reviews through Apple's public feed. The coins-to-finish counts cover the 566 non-Mature ReelShort titles in our catalog read by Oct 23: ReelShort's partner catalog (RS Boost) and our hand-checked drama pages. We did not buy coins. ShortDramaDesk is in ReelShort's partner program; that changes no number here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do ReelShort coins expire? Paid coins do not; free ones can. ReelShort's coin guide says "Paid coins never expire", while free reward coins "usually come with a time limit". Its is-it-free page adds that unused bonus coins "expire from your wallet", and its free-coins page says free coins "sometimes can expire", so spend the bonus balance before the paid one.
How many coins is one ReelShort episode? Sixty. ReelShort's coin guide says that once the paywall appears, "a standard episode usually costs 60 coins". At $4.99 for 500 coins, that is about 60 cents an episode. Most dramas give their first 8 to 13 episodes free, per the same guide.
How much are 1,000 ReelShort coins? About $9.99, but the bonus depends on which ReelShort page you read. Its coin guide lists $9.99 for 1,000 coins plus 150 bonus. Its subscription guide lists $9.99 for 1,000 plus 100 free, inside an offer it says ReelShort is "currently giving out". The coin guide says prices change by region and promotion.
Can I get ReelShort coins for free? Yes, in small amounts. ReelShort's pages list daily check-ins, ads at 15 to 40 coins each with "175 coins at most", and tasks such as a 50-coin login reward. Free coins usually expire and ads have a daily cap, so a whole drama on free coins takes days.
Can I move ReelShort coins to another account? No. ReelShort's coin guide says coins "are locked to your specific login": they follow your account to a new phone or tablet but cannot be gifted. If your account closes, its terms say all virtual currency is forfeited.
Are ReelShort coin generators real? No. ReelShort's own free-coins page calls "Free Coin Generators" "100% scams" and warns that using them breaks its terms and can get an account banned. Only the app's own check-ins, ads, tasks and paid packs add coins.
Related Reading
- Best Short Drama Apps Compared: 13 Apps, One Coin Price: which apps publish a coin price at all, and what the others sell.
- ReelShort vs DramaBox: One Publishes a Price, One Does Not: ReelShort's coins against DramaBox's memberships.
- Where to Watch Just One Kiss: 11 Free Episodes on ReelShort: one ReelShort drama priced in coins, episode by episode.
References
- ReelShort: ReelShort Coins Explained
- ReelShort: How to Earn Free Coins on ReelShort
- ReelShort: Is the ReelShort App Free?
- ReelShort: All About ReelShort Subscription
- ReelShort: Coin store
- ReelShort terms of use: reelshort.com/web-terms.html
- ReelShort on the App Store: apps.apple.com
- App Store reviews feed: ReelShort, most recent
Ask the desk: a question about a kit, a release month or a price? Email contact@shortdramadesk.com. We answer in the article FAQ with the date, not by private reply (how it works).
About the author
Editorial desk
The ShortDramaDesk desk. We read each app's own drama pages, coin price lists and App Store listings on a stated day, and keep our own catalog of where each drama streams. We don't rate dramas we haven't watched.
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Disclaimer
Episode counts, free episodes, coin prices and AI labels come from each app's own drama pages and coin guides; store ratings and in-app prices come from the App Store and Google Play. All are snapshots from the day we checked, and apps change them. Check the price in the app before you pay.
Articles are researched and written with AI tools, and every fact is checked against its source before publishing (see How we use AI). Corrections are made in the article with a dated PATCH line.
ShortDramaDesk is an independent viewer guide: no app owns or reviews it. The site carries no ads. A service can pay to be listed in an app comparison: that listing is marked Sponsored, and the payment never changes its place, its figures or our verdict. Some app links on the site are affiliate links (ReelShort through RS Boost (cps.reelshort.com); DramaBox, ShortMax, NetShort and StardustTV through DramaCPS (dramacps.com)): ShortDramaDesk may earn a commission if you install the app or pay in it after clicking one, and that never decides which dramas, apps, figures or prices we show (see Affiliate links).