While some diseases or conditions are unavoidable, prevention is still the best defense you have to ward off illnesses and protect yourself from expensive health care costs.
According to the National Institute of Health, an inactive lifestyle may weaken your immune system and increase the risk of many chronic diseases. Yet 28% of Americans over the age of 6 are considered physically inactive.
Thankfully, you don’t have to find the motivation to work out all on your own. You can actually make some extra income while pounding the pavement thanks to various apps that pay you to walk.
The Best Apps That Pay You to Walk
Chances are, you have your smartphone on you most of the time. If you need a daily reminder to get off the couch and want to earn some extra cash at the same time, consider installing the following apps.
1. Achievement
- Pros: Additional earning potential through logging daily activities
- Cons: Maximum earning potential of $30 per year
- Compatible Trackers: Over 20 devices and apps including Fitbit, Garmin, Apple Health, Daily Mile, and MyFitnessPal
Achievement is a popular fitness app with over 3 million downloads on the Google Play store and iOS app store. Achievement pays users for staying healthy while collecting data for use in research studies about human health.
Achievement works by using a model that’s fairly standard among walking apps. To make money with Achievement, you must:
- Download the Achievement app.
- Connect a fitness tracking app or device to allow Achievement to monitor your activity.
- Earn points for walking.
- Redeem points via PayPal, direct deposit, or a charitable donation.
Achievement allows users to earn up to 80 points per day for activities such as walking, running, biking, or swimming. You need 10,000 points to cash out at a rate of $1 per 1,000 points.
You can also earn points for logging daily activities such as food intake, weight changes, and your sleep schedule in the Achievement app. However, you only earn six points for doing so. Consistency is the key to earning here.
If you earn 86 points per day, this means Achievement pays you about $30 per year. But earning 86 points each day requires never missing a day of activity, so it’s more realistic to make $10 to $20 per year from Achievement.
2. StepBet
- Pros: Fun competitive element
- Cons: Requires a buy-in to enter; large player pools and low buy-in amounts typically result in low earnings for winning a game
- Compatible Trackers: Garmin, Apple Health, Fitbit
StepBet is an effective way to earn money for walking as long as you’re willing to bet on yourself to achieve personal fitness goals.
Here’s how StepBet works:
- Download the StepBet app and connect it to a fitness tracker.
- The app calculates your personal weekly step goal based on your previous activity levels.
- Buy in to a StepBet game with other players.
- Hit your step goal for a certain number of consecutive weeks, and you’ll split the total prize pool with other successful players at the end of the game.
There are a few catches worth noting.
First, most StepBet games are six weeks long and require a $40 bet to enter. Many games have several thousand StepBet players competing simultaneously. Generally, players earn around $5 to $20 in profit for winning a game.
Second, StepBet takes 15% of the prize pool for nonmember games. Non-StepBet members can only play in one game at a time. StepBet members can join three games at once, including members-only games. However, a StepBet membership costs $50 per year.
That said, StepBet doesn’t want players to lose their money. If you win a StepBet match, you will never lose your bet. StepBet actually forfeits their 15% cut if there are too many players left at the end of a game to prevent players from losing money.
StepBet pays rewards through PayPal. It’s a competitive way to boost your activity levels and make money by walking.
3. Sweatcoin
- Pros: Diverse range of rewards
- Cons: Earning cash is highly unlikely; earnings are more likely in the form of free trials or samples
- Compatible Trackers: Built-in phone GPS tracking or Apple Watch (no fitness trackers)
Sweatcoin is a free app for iOS and Android phones that pays active users through Sweatcoins (SWC), the app’s cryptocurrency.
Sweatcoin rewards users for outdoor and indoor steps — a new feature for the app that previously only worked outdoors. However, indoor steps only credit on Android devices or iPhone 7s or newer.
Sweatcoin is easy to use. Once you download the app and connect it to a fitness tracker, it monitors your outdoor activity with no further input needed from you.
You can sign up for one of four different Sweatcoin membership levels depending on your activity level. Paid levels don’t cost you anything out of pocket; instead, you “pay” for them in steps.
- Mover: Earn up to 5 SWC per day (free)
- Shaker: Earn up to 10 SWC per day (costs 4.75 SWC per month)
- Quaker: Earn up to 15 SWC per day (costs 20 SWC per month)
- Breaker: Earn up to 20 SWC per day (costs 30 SWC per month)
A new level, Trouble Maker, is in the works but not yet released.
One thousand steps equal 1 SWC, minus a 5% commission. The maximum number of Sweatcoins you can earn per day is 19 SWC, or 20,000 steps on the Breaker plan.
Sweatcoins are redeemed through the in-app shop. Reward options typically include free trial access to streaming services or apps, discounted fitness products, and free offers from subscription box companies.
Sweatcoin offers an iPhone X or $1,000 prize for 20,000 SWC, but that’s not exactly a realistic goal. Even with the Breaker membership level, it would require 1,000 days of 20,000 steps, which is nearly three years.
The bottom line is that Sweatcoin is useful for staying motivated to get active and to get discounts for fitness products, apparel, and electronics. It isn’t a direct way to make extra money for most users, so keep this limitation in mind.
4. FitPotato
- Pros: Fun competitive element
- Cons: Requires a small bet to enter; smaller player base than StepBet means potentially lower earnings; must sync steps before each weekly challenge ends; iPhone only
- Compatible Trackers: Built-in iPhone GPS tracker
FitPotato is a free iOS app that rewards you for walking or running.
FitPotato is almost identical to StepBet in that players place a bet to join a group fitness challenge. However, unlike StepBet, FitPotato games only last one week. If you complete three fitness “sessions” within seven days, you make it into the winning group for a challenge.
To complete a session, you must reach 10,000 steps within a 24-hour period. If you regularly hit this step count multiple times per week, FitPotato should be an easy app to win with.
Games require a $5 bet to enter, and the prize pool varies depending on the number of players in a game. But on average, expect earnings of under $1 to around $5 for winning a weekly challenge.
You must sync your steps within the app before a weekly challenge is complete, so don’t forget this crucial step. You can cash out earnings to your bank account at any time.
5. myWalgreens (Formerly Walgreens Balance Rewards)
- Pros: Earn cash back at Walgreens; complete health challenges for bonus cash back
- Cons: Health challenges have a low earning potential
- Compatible Trackers: Over 20 apps and 40 devices are compatible
If you regularly shop at Walgreens, joining myWalgreens is an excellent way to get paid to walk and to save money on your next shopping trip.
Becoming a myWalgreens member is free and requires creating an account on Walgreens’ website. As a member, perks include:
- Earning 10 points in Walgreens Cash for every $1 you spend (1% cash back) on most non-Walgreens-branded purchases
- Earning 50 points in Walgreens Cash for every $1 you spend (5% cash back) on Walgreens branded products
- Saving time and getting in-store or curbside pickup orders from your local Walgreens in just 30 minutes
Online orders also qualify for cash back. It takes 1,000 points to redeem $1, and you redeem points for in-store and online savings.
If you want to earn more points, you can also complete monthly health challenges that include physical activity and lifestyle goals. Examples of activity goals include walking 10,000 steps in a day or biking each week. Lifestyle goals include challenges like taking time to meditate or eating more fruit.
You self-monitor your progress for many challenges. For example, if you eat fruit in the morning, the idea is to log that activity in the Walgreens app to track progress. For fitness challenges, Walgreens syncs with over 20 apps and 40 fitness devices to monitor your activity.
You earn $0.25 for every week of a challenge you complete. You can complete one activity and one lifestyle challenge simultaneously for a total of $2 per month in bonus points.
Earning cash back on everyday purchases in-store and online at Walgreens is the main reason to become a myWalgreens member. But if you want to save even more at Walgreens and get weekly reminders to stay healthy, the fitness component of the program is worth trying.
Final Word
Investing time and energy in your well-being is never a bad idea. Being active has an incredible number of health benefits and greatly reduces the risk of many diseases. Plus, from a financial perspective, a healthy lifestyle can help you avoid costly medical bills.
To make the most of your steps, keep a few tips in mind. First, invest in a solid pair of running shoes. They don’t have to cost a fortune, and they’ll serve you well in the long run by preventing pain and possible shin splints when you rack up the steps.
Second, double-dip on money-making opportunities when you can. For instance, if you walk dogs for Rover, install other apps that pay you for walking, like Achievement, to maximize your earning potential.
Finally, have realistic expectations. Most fitness apps are not incredibly lucrative. The primary focus of many of them is to provide motivation, and monetary rewards are just an extra incentive.
If you’re tight on cash, turn to gig jobs boost your monthly income in a more significant way. But if you’re just in need of motivation, any one of the apps above can be a great way to build a healthy habit and earn a few extra bucks.