Did you know that while you’re running errands, walking in the park, or taking your dog out for some nice exercise, you could be getting paid for it. Getting paid to walk and rewarded with actual cash! Or gift cards. Gift cards are pretty nice too, right?!

When I tell you that you can get paid to walk it probably sounds too good to be true. It’s not! This is a growing trend, with more and more paid walking apps emerging in recent years. 

Here’s the best part: You don’t have to go on hour-long walks every day, smash out a 5km run at 5am, hit 10,000 step goals, or even own a dog to use most of the paid walking apps. You just need to get outside, move a little, and you can start earning rewards.

This post is your guide to help you dive right into using paid walking apps and I’ll be sharing my favourite app that allows you to get paid to walk. 

How do get paid to walk apps work?

The concept is super simple. You download a free walking app, set up an account, and then you allow the app to run in the background on your phone while you’re going about your daily life.

Some apps automatically run while you’re getting your steps in, or walking your dog, and then you’re rewarded with points – which you can exchange for gift cards or even cash with selected walking apps.

Some walking apps will require you to manually start a walk within the app, and finish it within the app too, such as Biscuit, but others will run the whole time you have your phone turned on with no effort required on your part.

You can get paid to walk by all of these apps – so it may be worth having more than one on your phone.

Most walking apps use your phone’s accelerometer, or even GPS, to count the number of steps that you take, or the distance that you walk, and then reward you accordingly with a few points.

Once you have accumulated a set number of points, you can cash them in on the apps for discounts on products and services, gift cards, or even cash rewards via PayPal or a Bank Transfer with selected walking apps. 

Which apps allow you to get paid to walk? 

There are tons of apps out there, that’ll actually pay you just for walking – it sounds too good to be true, right? Not to worry – I’ve rounded up some of the most popular, tried-and-tested apps that people love, including me!

If you’re curious about making a little extra money, perhaps while you get paid to walk, then you’ll find these apps great:

Biscuit 

The Biscuit app is only for dog owners, but if you don’t have a dog then check out the other apps below.

While you’re walking your dog, you can earn “Biscuits” (their name for ‘points’) which you can convert into discounts against products and services or use to buy gift cards. You can also earn “Biscuits” for providing information on flea & worm treatment, insurance coverage, vaccination history, and weight on a periodic basis. If you sign up to Biscuit with this link you’ll also receive 50 “Biscuits” to start you off!

Within the Biscuit app you’ll find quests that you can complete to work through chapters and earn additional “Biscuits”. This is a great way to edge ever closer to a redemption for another gift card.

There are a variety of great retailers such as Nando’s (this is the one I claim most!), National Trust, Just Eat, Deliveroo, Marks and Spencer, River Island, and Asda.

Voucher prices vary, depending on the gift card you select, and you can even donate to charity if you’d like to. I absolutely love coffee shop gift cards which I can get free coffee with while I also work towards earning myself a free coffee.

If you’re an Animal Friends insurance customer you can get 20% off all vouchers in the Biscuit app Rewards Store.

This is my favourite of all the walking apps, as it’s simple to use, it takes just a few seconds to work the app and the rewards available are brands that I actually know and love. Also, I love the novel idea that Poppy is going to buy me a dinner after we’ve been on a bunch of walks together. Check out the video below to see exactly that!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chloe’s Deal Club (@chloesdealclub)

Note: You’ll need to register your dog’s microchip details to use the Biscuit app. This seems to be to prevent people from using the app fraudulently who do not have a dog.

WeWard  

You can earn daily coins for walking as well as find cards on a virtual map to earn extra rewards on WeWard. There are different activities that you can complete to earn more “Wards” such as challenges, sending e-cards, keeping up streaks of visiting the app daily and much more. 

You’ll need to pop into the app each day, before midnight, to convert your steps and collect “Wards”. 

Bank Transfer is available on WeWard and you’ll also find a bunch of freebies, free trials and a sweepstakes area where you can exchange your “Wards” for a chance to win one of 1000s of prizes.  

If you use the code SomberEagle9291 you’ll get 50 bonus points to get you started.

Sweatcoin

You can get paid to walk, by earning daily “Sweatcoins”, as well as extra by watching adverts and you’ll even unlock scratch cards as you walk. 

Each day you can visit the Sweatcoin app to receive daily rewards. You’ll have the chance to watch three ads and each of those will reward you with a small amount of “Sweatcoins”, plus you can watch three more adverts to spin the multiplier wheel.

You can use your “Sweatcoins” to enter daily prize draws, receive discounts to use against products and services, or redeem for a gift card. 

Note: Many of the discounts and trials you’ll find listed on the Shop in this app are also on cashback sites, such as Quidco and TopCashback, and you’ll receive a cash reward for signing up. 

BetterPoints 

The BetterPoints app will reward you for walking, and if you’re fortunate enough to be in one of the areas that are being sponsored, by local authorities and Universities, then you’ll find greater rewards available to you. 

BetterPoints teams up with councils, charities, and other local partners to reward people in specific areas of the United Kingdom for building healthier habits and living in a more eco-friendly way. There are incentives available in a variety of areas including Surrey, Sunderland, Sheffield, Newham, Brighton & Hove, Renfrewshire, Buckinghamshire, and more. 

You can redeem your BetterPoints for a variety of rewards such as discounts on purchases, free trials and gift cards. They typically have gift cards for a variety of well-known brands such as Tesco, Primark, Sainsburys, Asda, Love2Shop, IKEA, Next, Uber, and many more. Rewards start from just £2 too which is great!

Use referral code WPGR-HRJC when signing up to BetterPoints.

Charity Miles

Okay so this isn’t quite earning you a reward but it is raising money and this time for a good cause – charity! Charity Miles allows you to choose from over two dozen charities such as Save the Children, Alzheimer’s Association and UNICEF, and when you exercise, you earn rewards for your chosen charity. You can even link this to a Strava account if you have one.

There are other walking apps, which I’ve heard good things about, including LifeCoin, WalkTask and CashWalk. Another walking app is Macadam, but I’m not a fan of this app and wouldn’t recommend it to you either. 

If you want to spend money, to incentivise yourself to walk and bet against yourself in challenges, then you could check out StepBet but I’m not sure I’m that committed to walking more so I’ve given it a miss so far! 

What is the best app to get paid to walk in the UK? 

Personally, I’m a big fan of Biscuit because I absolutely love the idea that my dog is buying me dinner for a change! It’s such a fun twist on the traditional way to earn rewards, and I love to see the “Biscuits” building up in the app as I get paid to walk.

I walk my dog every single day already and now I’m earning gift cards in the process – I consider it as Poppy’s contribution to the amount of money she costs me every month! For me this feels like one of the easiest side hustles I’ve ever done, so if you have a dog it’s well worth having.

Every time I take Poppy for a walk I record the walk on the Biscuit app, earning 25 “Biscuits” per day, and once I’ve got enough, I love to redeem them for a Nando’s gift card. If you fancy giving it a go, use this link to join Biscuit link and you’ll receive 50 “Biscuits” to start.

Why is the Biscuit app not recording my walks? 

There are a few reasons why the Biscuit app, or any other walking app, may fail to record your walk properly. Here are a few tips to try if you’re having issues:

• Grant ‘always on’ location access and ‘always on’ background refresh or background location access. This will enable your walk to be tracked even if your phone is in your pocket or handbag.
• Make sure you’re leaving home. Walking apps often use GPS data so you’ll need to actually go out for a walk, rather than just walk at home.
• Stay on your mobile data when you arrive home, or start and end your walk on your home Wi-Fi. Avoid switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data, or vice versa, as this can cause issues.
• Allow the timer to update when you finish your walk. If you’ve had the app closed, or running in the background, give it a few seconds to update before you click the button to manually finish your walk. 
• Keep your apps up to date. Allow any updates to run to ensure you have the newest version available.  

What are the downsides to using apps where you get paid to walk?

Personally I think that some of the apps where you get paid to walk come with a few downsides. I’m going to list the ones that I think are worth trying and then you can decide for yourself if you still want to get paid to walk. 

• Limits on the number of steps that you can earn points for. I’d love it if get paid to walk apps rewarded us more when we have particularly active days. Some days I’m at home, working for a lot of the day, or just enjoying some downtime with Jamie, and other days I’m on long walks in the countryside with my dog Poppy, and I’d love the chance to earn a few more points on those days. 
• You have to walk outdoors as the apps rely either on GPS data or on the built-in accelerometer within your phone – so this means you can’t usually earn reward points when you do other exercises at home. It would be great to be able to earn a few reward points when I’m using my walking pad and watching a bit of TV or just working out from the comfort of my own home! If you’re working during the day, and don’t feel safe to walk after dark, you’re going to be a little limited as to when you can use these apps where you get paid to walk. 
• Manual effort required. Some of the get paid to walk apps require you to open them up, at least daily, to bank coins, or to use scratch cards, watch a few ads and complete some other activities. If you’re a bit forgetful or just busy, then you may forget and suddenly you’ve missed out on points for your next gift card. This feels a little unfair as they’ve already collected the data, since I already walked those steps! 
• Low earnings. You’re never going to get rich with apps that allow you to get paid to walk, even if you have lots of them on your phone at the same time, which isn’t a huge shock I’m sure, but I’d love to see slightly higher rewards – or even just the removal of the manual banking. We should receive the rewards for all of the steps that we take. Right?
• Quick moving goalposts. Some apps where you can get paid to walk seem to move the goalposts for the redemption levels with next to no notice. It can be frustrating to almost be at a redemption level only to find that the goalposts have moved and you’re only halfway there once again. I’ve quit out of using a few apps where you get paid to walk in the past, as it feels like the goalposts constantly move, which is frustrating, and then I begin to feel like I stand next to no chance of ever actually redeeming a gift card. 
• Limited redemption options. On some get paid to walk apps you’ll only find gift cards, and not always ones for well-known stores. Give the people what we want – cold, hard cash! I’ll take a gift card over nothing at all, but would love the option just to receive a Bank Transfer or PayPal payment. Cash is King after all! 
• Privacy concerns. Walking apps track your movement using GPS data, or your phone’s built-in accelerometer, and often require pretty lengthy user permissions to be granted before you can start to earn money from them. Be cautious when downloading get paid to walk apps and stick to recommended and reliable apps, and make sure you only grant access to data that you’re happy to share. Not all of the permissions which pop up when you install a get paid to walk app are actually required to gain access to rewards. 
• Battery issues. As some get paid to walk apps use GPS this can drain down the battery on your phone quite quickly – which is a bit annoying if you’re out for the day and need it to last, or perhaps have an older model phone with lower battery quality. If you notice your battery suddenly begins to drain faster it’s worth having a quick peek at the battery settings on your phone to check which apps have the highest battery use. 
• Adverts. Quite a few of the get paid to walk apps seem to be littered with adverts and they may even want you to watch adverts to bank your coins or unlock other features. 
• Step counts may be inaccurate. I’ve noticed a difference between what the apps state and what my phone has counted throughout the day. This can be a considerable difference of 100s of steps over the day which is a little bit frustrating! 

My top tips for get paid to walk apps

My top tip with apps where you get paid to walk, and any money making apps in general, is to cashout as soon as you reach your reward goal. Avoid leaving points unredeemed in apps as they may change the cashout levels or even close unexpectedly. 

Pay close attention to any of the permissions that you grant when you use apps where you get paid to walk. Often apps will ask to track everything that you do on your phone – but saying yes to this is not a requirement of using most apps.