Sweatcoin · B2C · app that pays you to walk
Pay users 1 coin per 1,000 walked steps, spendable in a rewards shop
Retention far above other fitness apps early on; users walk ~20% more
Workedretentionproduct-activation
What they did
Every 1,000 steps earns 1 sweatcoin. A 'validator' checks steps are real (no phone on a dog, a washing machine or a phone farm). Coins can be turned into products, services, experiences, charity donations or sent to friends. Framed as 'you walk anyway, why not earn something useful' rather than guilt-based fitness messaging. Steps are reframed as a balance that keeps growing instead of a daily counter that resets to zero, so the balance itself acts as a progression system. A daily cap on coins earned keeps the economy sustainable.
What happened
Early retention on the first ~50K users was 'skyrocketing' relative to other health and fitness products; average free user becomes 20% more active; users value their own coins 10-100x more than others'.
- Stage
- launch
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How to Turn Gamification Into a Retention Powerhouse — Anton Derlyatka, Sweatcoin“You walk, we make sure that those steps are real, so we run a piece of software that we call a validator”
“And then, you know, every 1,000 steps give you a sweatcoin, and then you can turn those sweatcoins into, you know, products, services, experiences, donate to charity, and, you know, send to your friends.”
“The moment you reframe and you say these are not steps, these are coins, and here's your balance, and your balance keeps on growing, and you're actually quite rich.”
“Because we were so happy, and we were so proud that our retention was skyrocket, you know, rocketing in terms of other health and fitness products”
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More from this episode
- Sweatcoin: Show two ways to earn on the home screen: walk, or invite a friend for 5 coinsNew users went from under 300 a day to 300, 1,000, then 5,000 a day
- Sweatcoin: Offer a few donated brand products a day, with a new one every daySolved cold start; brands later queued for months to be featured
- Sweatcoin: Pay 1 coin for watching an optional video ad, up to 1-3 times a dayRetention and engagement rose at 1-3 views a day; fell when more were allowed
- Sweatcoin: Let users swap coins for 3 free months of Spotify or Apple MusicFounder says users loved it; instant rewards with no shipping delay
- Sweatcoin: Unlock a secret prize shop after 30 successful invites, for creators with small followingsSpread 'like wildfire'; about 5% of all users came this way
- Sweatcoin: Kick off spikes with friendly creators, then let fast invite chains push store rankings#1 app in the US, Brazil and 65 other countries; now stable growth
- Sweatcoin: Make a fitness app look like a finance app, with a name people react toPress picked it up; first 30-40K users
- Sweatcoin: Build free-tier limits in early, then sell a plan that lifts them and removes adsBasic plan already makes 'considerable' revenue; founder thinks it came 12-18 months late
- Sweatcoin: Let a health service fund extra prizes to keep diabetes program patients engagedProgram completion rose from ~25% to 89%; activity +45% vs +20% on free app