So, a few weeks back I came across an altcoin called Sweatcoins. The idea behind the coin is that they pay you for the amount of steps you take. You download the app on your iPhone or Android phone and they compensate you for the number of steps. You use the Sweatcoins to buy things from their store.
Simple, right?
The Sweatcoin concept is nothing new, though, perhaps the first time created with a cryptocurrency involved. As I mentioned to ollivander7 in another post (link below), there are companies like Achievement or Walgreens Balance Rewards that give away rewards for activities like steps, recording food and water intake, sleep, etc. I have used both with my Fitbit and they do work, though, one shouldn't expect to make large amounts of money from these companies.
The companies in return are afforded valuable data without breaking privacy laws. It is my feeling the same thought is behind Sweatcoins.
Unfortunately, I removed the Sweatcoin app from my phone only a few days after downloading it. Why? Three main reasons.
1: The app does not record steps inside a building. Achievement and Walgreens do since they are integrated with my Fitbit and don't rely on an app. I walk at my office a lot as well as at home when cleaning the house. Not sure the reasoning behind not calculating these steps. Perhaps there is a technical limitation.
2: I work downtown in a large city. Apparently, others with the app have had issues also. I am not sure if the problem is with GPS or not, but zero steps were calculated even thought I walk easily 6,000 steps to and from work.
3: The concept seems cool, and the products attractive (new iPhones), however, if you calculate the number of steps necessary to acquire these products it would take forever. The iPhone X on the app would take more than three years to earn! To me this equates to false advertising.
The point of this post is not to bash Sweatcoins, but to describe my experience and see if anyone had a similar or differing experience.
