What is Sweatcoin?

What is Sweatcoin?

Sweatcoin is an exercise app that counts and tracks your steps and pays you in ‘Sweatcoins’—a type of quasi-cryptocurrency—each time you walk 1,000 steps.

What can you spend Sweatcoins on?

Unfortunately, you can’t actually cash out Sweatcoins directly to your bank or Paypal account. Instead, Sweatcoins can be put towards scratch cards and ‘super draws’ where users can win a variety of goods, services and experiences from partnering companies. Users can buy additional entries into these draws with more Sweatcoins, so they function like raffles.

You may be able to transfer your Sweatcoin to an applicable cryptocurrency exchange, however, at the time of writing one Sweatcoin is only worth about 0.004 Australian cents according to Coinbase.

The app also has offers which can include discounts for everything from clothing, food and other apps and services through to exercise equipment and electronics. At the time of writing, you can also trade Sweatcoins for gift cards up to $15 in value, but only as part of a ‘First Month Special’.

You can also trade Sweatcoins with other users, and if you’re feeling more altruistic, you can donate them to charities such as Save The Children, Cancer Research UK, the African Wildlife Foundation and UNICEF.

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How do you earn Sweatcoins?

The most common way to earn Sweatcoins is from walking. At the time of writing, you earn one Sweatcoin per 1,000 steps (minus a 5% commission that the business takes). So you actually earn about 0.95 Sweatcoin per 1,000 steps. You can also earn coins from visiting partner websites, watching ads, completing challenges or referring new users.

How does Sweatcoin actually work?

Sweatcoin is available on the App Store and Google Play Store and can be used via a smartphone or watch. After downloading the app, you are prompted to enter your name, phone number, email and, crucially, to allow the app to access your GPS location or health related data. With your personal data potentially at stake, there may be privacy concerns to consider. Sweatcoin, however, promises 100% data privacy and says on its website that it would never sell user data.

Once set up, Sweatcoin uses your device’s accelerometer and GPS location to track your steps.

Is Sweatcoin worth downloading?

Whether Sweatcoin is worth downloading will ultimately depend on your own goals and intended usage of the app. If you’re after an app that gamifies walking, functions as a pedometer and could potentially motivate you to walk more, then it might be worthwhile, especially as the benefits of getting more active can’t be understated.

If you’re looking to make money using the app, however, there’s very little chance of doing so, outside of having the ability to refer many new users to the app. For example, you need to sign up 20 new users using your referral code to gain access to the ‘Influencer hub’, where you can be offered cash for additional referrals.

Here are some general takeaways from using the app:

1. Sweatcoins don’t come easy

Unless you’re running marathons consistently, you may find it hard to earn a significant amount of Sweatcoins. The average Australian only walks about 4,000 to 4,500 steps per day or 28,000 to 31,500 steps per week according to research from the University of Sydney. If you were to walk 31,500 steps per week that would translate to about 30 Sweatcoins.

At this Sweatcoin earning rate and assuming there’s no fees associated when using a cryptocurrency exchange and the current value of Sweatcoins don’t change, you could potentially trade your Sweatcoins for $100 in about 84 weeks. Whether someone is willing to buy your Sweatcoins on a cryptocurrency exchange is a whole other consideration.

The app also limits how many Sweatcoins you can earn. For example, the free version of the app only allows you to notch up 10 Sweatcoins each day. To earn more, you would need to upgrade to a paid membership.

2. It can be a drain on your phone’s battery

Sweatcoin tells you to keep the app running in the background at all times so it can accurately track your steps. This can come at the expense of your device’s battery power. Sweatcoin says it has made efforts to solve this problem and recommends that users experiencing issues turn on their phone’s ‘battery saver’ mode.

3. Motivation can turn to obsession

Sweatcoin can tap into some people’s obsession with quantifying various aspects of their lives, particularly in relation to health. Using Sweatcoin, you may feel more incentivised to get outside and get active, such as taking the long way home to try to boost your Sweatcoin steps and earnings.

While all this quantification can provide motivation and potentially get you more active, there can also be downsides. You may feel pressured to reach your daily targets and change your everyday routine or feel guilty for not doing enough.

So does this mean you should ditch your fitness tracker altogether? This will ultimately depend on your personal preferences and needs. If finding motivation to get active is difficult, then an app like this may help.

Cover image source: miss.cabul/Shutterstock.com