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sweatcoin.jpgCycling app of the week: Sweatcoin
What is it?
Simply put, Sweatcoin rewards you for moving - you earn one 'sweatcoin' per 1000 steps, and the coins can be used to get access to special offers and even for buying whole products for free. You don't need to keep it running in the background (the app takes care of step tracking for you), and after signing up you just need to allow Sweatcoin to access your phone's native GPS recording app, and supply your mobile number and email. There's also a social aspect, with a a leaderboard so you can compete with your friends, and you can also send and receive Sweatcoins to others using the virtual wallet.
The offers change daily, with some noticeably more attractive than others. You can get money off products and free vouchers with relatively few coins - for example, today there's a tub of recovery protein powder going for £4.50 plus 215 sweatcoins, when the RRP is usally £19.50; and a £15 voucher to spend at a clothing retailer for 150 sweatcoins. There are some 'too good to be true' offers, just about obtainable but complicated to take advantage of; such as an iPhone8 and £500 in Amazon vouchers. These are listed under 'group offers', and requires you to pull in Sweatcoins from friends to amass enough to get hold of the iPhone (a whopping 20,000 coins), and you then get entered into a draw for the chance of getting one. The voucher offers are distributed between your group of Sweatcoiners.
Although the algorithm isn't optimised for cycling, the app does record cycling as 'steps' per revolution "in most cases" if you keep your phone in a back pocket. It works best in a cargo pocket at the moment, and Sweatcoin are improving their algorithm so it records cycling more efficiently in the future, so it's worth keeping an eye out for developments.
How can it help me?
If you need some motivation to jump on your bike or walk/jog to work instead of driving, Sweatcoin is about as good an incentive there is. Some of the free products you can get are genuinely useful for tracking your health too, such as a body fat scale and blood pressure monitor on offer at the moment for 2500 and 2000 sweatcoins.
What makes it unique?
There are other reward-based apps, but none that are so simplistic and with such potentially good offers available . Unless you really can't afford the memory on your phone, it's worth having just in case something catches your eye one day - if you forget about it it's surprising how many coins you can amass!
Where can I get it?
Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story).
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8 comments
Not sure it's for cycling. Think it's just steps so walking and running.
I tried it this morning on my walk and logged 9,366 steps and 6.53 coins so will take a while to build up. Will persevere for a while unless the battery drain looks like being too much.
Let me get this straight. I let a private corporation access my location and whereabouts at anytime (app always running in the background) for profits and I get in return access to a little "sweat deal".
Thanks but no thanks.
When it looks to good to be true, it probably is !
The cynic in me suggests you already do. Unless you’re Edward Snowden. Or my Dad, and he’s dead. Are you Edward Snowden?
I downloaded the app to give it a try and walked approx 3,000 steps according to the app, however it converted only 722 into Sweatcoin steps and you need 1000 sweatcoin steps for each Sweatcoin. The app info says that it converts on average 65% of recorded steps into Sweatcoin steps so you'll have to do a lot of walking to earn the daily max of 5 Sweatcoins(on the free version) which equates to 5000 converted steps.
I think I'll leave it on my phone as it's not taking up any real space (58mb) and it works in the background.
Not wishing to be too cynical, but... What's the business model here? Are they selling on contact details? (Haven't read T&Cs or privacy policy, admittedly).
Not sure it would work for me in any case, as I prefer to keep my phone in my saddle bag (gut feeling is it's safer there).
They don't sell contact details, but I do believe they profit from passing on search data and user profiles (things like your age, exercise habits etc) as info like this is useful to big retailers regarding what kind of ads they should serve to you - it's no more intrusive than most social media platforms really. They will also take a fee from the brands/companies running promotions on Sweatcoin.
Not compatable with IPhone 5C...
Better get used to that! Won't be long before most apps are incompatible with 5C and earlier thanks to apple dropping 32 bit support.