Can you really make money just by walking? I downloaded a load of walking reward apps to find out.
You may have seen them.
“Get paid to walk!”
“Turn your steps into cash!”
“Earn rewards just by going for a walk!”
It sounds almost too good to be true. You are going for a walk anyway, so why not get paid for it?
That was my thinking.
So, rather than downloading one walking app and assuming it was wonderful because I earned a few points, I decided to try several walking reward apps at the same time.
My mission was simple:
Could I actually make any worthwhile money just by walking?
And, perhaps more importantly…
How much faffing around is involved?
The reality of getting paid to walk
First, let’s get one thing out of the way.
Yes, you can earn rewards from walking apps.
No, I don’t think you should give up your day job and become a professional walker.
The amount you earn from your steps alone is generally pretty small. And that’s where things get interesting.
Because many of these apps have lots of other ways to earn points.
You can often:
- Watch adverts
- Complete surveys
- Play games
- Complete challenges
- Check in
- Answer quizzes
- Track your sleep
- Log other healthy habits
- Take part in offers
All of these things can potentially increase your balance.
But I wasn’t particularly interested in spending my life clicking buttons on my phone.
I wanted to know what happens if you concentrate mainly on the walking.
And that’s when I discovered that getting paid to walk can involve rather more work than the adverts would have you believe.
My experiment: walking for rewards
I tried several different apps and used them alongside my normal walking.
I wasn’t deliberately walking miles and miles just to make money. I was interested in what an ordinary person could earn from the steps they were already doing.
And I quickly discovered that the phrase “just by walking” needs a little bit of a footnote.
Some apps require you to open them and claim or validate your steps.
Some have adverts.
Some have adverts that aren’t exactly what I’d describe as quick.
And some have lots of additional ways to earn which can make the walking rewards look much more exciting.
And when I say SOME I mean all of them!!!! (* that i tried)
That’s useful to know if you’re comparing these apps.
Because earning 500 points sounds rather impressive until you discover how little those points are actually worth.
The walking apps I tried
1. BetterPoints
My verdict: I couldn’t get it to work!
BetterPoints is a UK-based rewards app which rewards various forms of activity, including walking. However, there’s an important catch: earning BetterPoints depends on being in an eligible sponsored area or taking part in an eligible challenge.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get this one to work properly at all.
So my personal experience isn’t exactly glowing.
It may be absolutely fine for you, and hopefully you’ll have better luck than I did!
My experience: Couldn’t get it working.
Worth trying? Possibly, particularly if you’re in an area covered by one of its sponsored programmes.
What I’d like to know: Have you managed to get BetterPoints working? If you have, let me know!
2. AHEALTH – formerly Moneywalk
My verdict: Easy to understand, but the points aren’t worth as much as they look.
This one is actually quite appealing when you first start using it.
AHEALTH is the app formerly known as Moneywalk, and it rewards various healthy habits including walking and sleep. It also offers points for things such as meals and other activities.
I liked the layout and found it relatively easy to understand.
And there’s something quite satisfying about watching the points pile up.
But here’s the catch:
lots of points doesn’t necessarily mean lots of money.
After around six weeks, I had made £5.
So yes, I had technically been paid for walking, but I wasn’t exactly planning a shopping spree.
AHEALTH also has lots of other ways of earning points, including tracking sleep and other healthy habits.
For me, though, the interesting question was what I could earn from simply doing the walking.
My experience: Easy to use and I liked the layout.
What I earned: Around £5 in six weeks.
The downside: The points look much more exciting than their cash value…
USE my invite code 9CBEVC when you sign up, we both get extra points! (100 points at the moment!)
3. Mooney
My verdict: The balance seemed to grow more quickly, but you’ll probably need to do more than walk.
Mooney was one of the apps where I felt like my balance was building a little faster.
93 words, 12 minutes read time.
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Some of the adverts were also shorter than on some of the other apps, which made the whole thing slightly less painful.
However, I think the problem is that walking alone is unlikely to get you to a cash-out particularly quickly.
There are surveys and other activities you can do to boost your balance.
You can also play games to earn additional points.
My advice?
Don’t bother with the games purely for the points.
At least in my experience, the rewards weren’t enough to make the time spent playing them particularly worthwhile.
And this is where my walking-app experiment became less about “Can I make money walking?” and more about:
“How much of my time am I prepared to spend earning 3p?”
My experience: Balance seemed to build faster than some others.
The downside: You really need to use the extra earning opportunities if you want to build your balance quickly.
Games: Meh. I wouldn’t bother just for the points.
4. WalkPaid
My verdict: I found it annoying.
WalkPaid was one of the apps I found quite frustrating.
There is a page for counting your steps which seemed to keep loading up again and again.
It may have been a glitch on my phone or something specific to my setup, because I’ve seen some positive reviews for the app.
But unfortunately, my personal experience wasn’t great.
And when you’re trying several apps at once, little annoyances become surprisingly irritating.
Especially when you’re thinking:
“I’ve already opened four other walking apps today. Please just give me my points and let me go.”
My experience: Frustrating and glitchy for me.
The caveat: This may have been a problem specific to my phone/app setup.
Would I persevere? Probably not, but your experience may be completely different.
5. Macadam
My verdict: This was my favourite.
And I wasn’t expecting that.
Macadam was probably the app I enjoyed using the most.
It felt more user-friendly and, compared with some of the others, more fun.
Macadam converts steps into coins and has additional bonuses and challenges. You need to validate your steps, and there are other ways to earn coins too, including challenges, surveys, games and adverts.
I particularly liked the fact that it felt more like an actual app rather than a giant collection of buttons saying:
WATCH THIS AD!
DO THIS SURVEY!
CLICK THIS THING!
WOULD YOU LIKE TO WATCH ANOTHER AD?
Macadam does still have plenty of extra earning opportunities, so it isn’t magically passive income. But I found the overall experience much more enjoyable.
The current version also has daily step validation and bonus milestones, so there is a little bit of gamification involved.
My experience: Easy to use and more enjoyable than most.
My favourite: Yes.
The downside: You still need to do the usual app faffing if you want to maximise your earnings.
My Macacdam referral code and link – you get +1,000 coins signing up via this link and code PPT7FT
So… can you really make money walking?
Yes.
But there is a fairly big BUT.
If you’re already walking every day, there is something quite appealing about getting a few extra pounds or some gift cards for doing something you were going to do anyway.
What I wouldn’t do is start walking purely because you think you’re going to make serious money from it.
Because you probably aren’t.
The biggest problem I found wasn’t actually the walking.
It was everything around the walking.
Opening the apps.
Checking the steps.
Claiming rewards.
Watching adverts.
Waiting for adverts to finish.
Clicking things.
Finding out I needed to click something else.
And then discovering there was another way of earning points if I just completed a survey.
It started to feel less like:
“Get paid to walk.”
and more like:
“Get paid a tiny amount while doing several other things on your phone.”
The hidden cost: your time
This was probably the biggest thing I learned from trying all these apps.
When people tell you that you can make money from walking, it’s easy to concentrate on the money.
But you should also think about the time.
For example, if an app gives you extra points for watching adverts, that’s not really money for walking.
It’s money for walking + opening the app + watching an advert + waiting for the advert to finish + clicking the next thing.
And if you then add surveys, games and other offers into the mix, you can spend quite a lot of time trying to increase a balance that is still relatively small.
That’s why I decided to concentrate mainly on the walking.
I wanted to see what happened if I didn’t turn it into another full-time job.
Other walking apps you could try
There are plenty more walking-reward apps around, so my little experiment definitely isn’t the end of the story.
Here are some others you could investigate.
WeWard
WeWard is another major walking rewards app. It converts walking into rewards including cash, gift cards and other offers, and also has challenges and other ways of earning.
Potentially worth trying if: You like apps with plenty of challenges and rewards rather than just a basic step counter.
Sweatcoin
Sweatcoin is one of the better-known walking reward apps. It converts steps into Sweatcoins, which can be spent on rewards and offers through its marketplace.
Potentially worth trying if: You like the idea of earning a specific in-app currency rather than cashing out directly from every step.
Winwalk
Winwalk is a simpler step-reward app. Its current UK listings say you earn coins from your steps and can exchange them for gift cards, with a daily limit on step-based coins.
Potentially worth trying if: You want something relatively straightforward.
StepBet
StepBet is slightly different.
Rather than simply giving you points for walking, you put your own money into a game, receive personalised step targets and, if you complete the targets, share the pot with the other successful players.
So I wouldn’t put this in exactly the same category as the free “walk and earn points” apps.
You’re putting money at risk, and availability can also vary by country because of local laws and regulations.
Potentially worth trying if: You’re looking for motivation to hit walking targets and understand that this involves putting money into the game.
My walking-app experiment: the short version
| App | My experience | My take |
|---|---|---|
| BetterPoints | Couldn’t get it working | Hopefully you’ll have better luck! |
| AHEALTH | Easy to use | £5 after about 6 weeks |
| Mooney | Balance built fairly quickly | Extra tasks seem necessary |
| WalkPaid | Annoying/glitchy for me | Not my favourite |
| Macadam | Easy and fun | My favourite |
| WeWard | One to try | Lots of features/rewards |
| Sweatcoin | Well-known option | Uses its own currency |
| Winwalk | Simple concept | Worth investigating |
| StepBet | Different approach | You put money into the game |
So, would I recommend walking apps?
Well… that depends what you’re expecting.
If you think you’re going to walk your way to a second income, I’d probably lower those expectations considerably.
If you’re already walking and think:
“I might as well get a few pennies or some rewards while I’m doing it.”
Then yes, I think they’re worth experimenting with.
Just don’t forget that your time has value too.
Personally, I preferred the apps where I could mostly leave them alone, let my steps accumulate and then claim my reward.
The minute I’m spending ten minutes watching adverts so I can earn a few extra points, I’m starting to question whether I’ve accidentally created myself another job.
And I already have enough jobs.
My favourite from the ones I tried?
Macadam.
Not because I made a fortune from it – I didn’t – but because I found it the most user-friendly and enjoyable to use.
And that matters when you’re going to be opening an app every day.
Have you tried any of these walking apps?
I’d love to know whether you’ve actually managed to make decent money from them – particularly if you’ve found an app I’ve missed!
A quick note about affiliate links
Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. That means if you sign up or make a purchase through one of my links, I may receive a small commission or other benefit, at no extra cost to you.
I only include links to apps and services that are relevant to the article, and my opinions are based on my own experience where I’ve actually tried the app.
In other words, an affiliate link doesn’t mean I’ve suddenly decided an app is wonderful.
If it annoyed me, I’ll tell you.
