If you have been looking for an incentive to get outside and get more active, or if you’ve just been looking for another simple side hustle to earn some extra cash, you may have come across Sweatcoin.
With all the scams out there it’s important to do your research before you start giving out any of your personal information. Read on for an in-depth review of Sweatcoin so you can decide if it is a scam or a leit way to earn some extra cash.
What is Sweatcoin
In short, Sweatcoin is a free, downloadable app that rewards you for walking or running (outdoors). Rewards are earned in digital currency which can then be exchanged for products, services and experiences.
You will also see promotions come available where you can exchange your Sweatcoins for Amazon gift cards or cash them out for to your PayPal account.
Offers can change daily so you may want to check back often if you do not see anything that interests you today BUT that also means if you see something you really want, it may be gone tomorrow.
Sweatcoin Supported Devices
Currently Sweatcoin is available for download on the iPhone and Android and it can be used with the Apple Watch. Currently, there is no way to sync Sweatcoin to your fitness tracker or other brands of smart watches.
In my opinion, this is one big downside to Sweatcoin. Many people do not want to pack there phone with them while they go out for a run or walk. If I plan to use the app to motivate me to get in some good steps, I don’t want to be focused on carrying my phone around.
Also, my phone does not work well in my back pocket. In my experience with this app, I do not believe it has tracked my steps as accurately, when I have it in my pocket compared to carrying it while I’m out on my walk.
I’m not saying it will be this way for everyone, it has just been my experience with my phone. This is just one more reason why it would be nice to have the ability to sync it with other smartwatches and fitness trackers.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through one of my links. This is at no additional cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more information.
How to Earn Sweatcoins: The Basics
Sweatcoins can be earned by walking, running, jogging, hiking, bicycling or playing hopscotch with your kids. Simply put, whatever gets you active and moving outdoors.
Unfortunately, some really great physical activities that are stationary like running on the treadmill or using the elliptical or stationary bike will not work due to the algorithm Sweatcoin uses to verify the steps taken.
Make sure you have the Sweatcoin app running on a supported device with you. Currently the app is not supported indoors. However, I have had a lot of my steps taken indoors counted. It will count some of your indoor steps but not accurately and you will miss out on many of them.
Making Money With Sweatcoin
There is definitely some opportunity to make some extra cash or earn some free products with Sweatcoin. Let’s take a look at how Sweatcoins are calculated, how to earn the most Sweatcoins and Sweatcoin hacks
How are Sweatcoins Calculated?
Sweatcoins are earned at a rate of 1 Sweatcoin per 1000 steps minus a 5% conversion fee. This leaves you with .95 Sweatcoins per 1000 steps taken. According to Sweatcoin, on average 65% of the total steps registered by your phone are converted into Sweatcoins.
How To Earn The Most Sweatcoins?
We’ve talked about earning Sweatcoins through your own physical activity but you can increase your Sweatcoin wallet in a few different ways.
Buddy up: Sweatcoin allows you to send your sweatcoins to a friend through the “send to friend” link in the Sweatcoin app. This allows you to buddy up and collect Sweatcoins together.
My husband and I both have the app installed on our phones and at the end of the week he can send me his sweatcoins that he has accumulated so we can continue to save them up.
Earn Sweatcoins with the apps daily bonuses: This is one of the easiest ways to earn some extra sweatcoins. All you have to do is watch a super short video each day. They don’t show you how long they are but I would estimate around 20 – 30 seconds.
On day 1 you will earn 1 bonus sweatcoin. On day 2 you will earn 2 bonus sweatcoins. On day 3 you will earn 4 bonus sweatcoins. This gives you a total of 7 bonus sweatcoins every 3 days. Or 15 sweatcoins a week.
Keep in mind if you miss a day your streak ends and you start back over at day 1.
Refer a friend: Get 5 free sweatcoins for each friend you refer. This is another really easy way to earn some fast sweatcoins. All your friends and family have to do is download the app with your link (or enter your referral code) and complete the registration.
The app is free to download and super easy to setup so if your friends aren’t interested in using the app long term, you might be able to talk them into just downloading the app and registering in order to get you the referral bonus.
Once their registration is complete. Your referral bonus will be added to your account and they can turn around and delete the app if they don’t want to continue earning free products or cash for themselves.
Upgrade your membership: Although the Sweatcoin app and membership is totally free. You are limited to how many Sweatcoins you can earn daily through your steps. The daily max allotted Sweatcoins is 5.
If you do a lot of physical activity or if you are a runner, you may want to consider upgrading your membership in order to bank more sweatcoins daily. The upgraded memberships are at a cost, but the cost is Sweatcoins so technically, you do not have to pay anything out of pocket for these upgraded memberships.
There are currently 4 membership levels with a 5th in the works.
- Mover: This is the basic membership that everyone is started on. This plan allows you to accumulate up to 5 Sweatcoins per day or 150 per month from your converted steps.
- Shaker: This plan is the first level upgrade. On the shaker plan you can accumulate up to 10 Sweatcoins per day or 300 per month from your converted steps. In order to upgrade to this plan it will cost you 4.75 Sweatcoins per month.
- Quaker: This is the second upgrade option. On the Quaker plan you can accumulate up to 15 Sweatcoins per day or 450 per month from your converted steps. In order to upgrade to this plan it will cost you 20 Sweatcoins per month.
- Breaker: The Breaker is the third upgrade option. On the Breaker plan you can accumulate up to 20 Sweatcoins per day or 600 per month from your converted steps. In order to upgrade to this plan it will cost you 30 Sweatcoins per month.
- Trouble Maker: This last plan is still in the works and so far there is not much info about what this plan will include or how many Sweatcoins it will cost to upgrade to this plan.
Sweatcoin Hacks. Get Free Sweatcoins
Although I do not suggest people try to hack the system and get free Sweatcoins without putting in the work, I want to provide all the information I can and try to answer everyone’s questions.
Sweatcoins website addresses people’s desire to hack the system and they are confident that they have created a good system and algorithms to combat the ability to hack your way to more Sweatcoins.
Apparently, it will not work to strap your phone to your dog outside and let it go for a run. 🙂 Although now I kind of want to try it.
Below are the top “Sweatcoin Hacks” that I have found.
This hack is time consuming but works. and is easier if you have two phones to use. To test this hack I used my primary phone with my account and then another old phone that I could download and uninstall the app on with a different phone number generated with the text app.
I also tried the shake method from the video below, but it did not work for me. I was able to get up to the 2000 steps pretty easily just from shaking my phone, but it took much more effort than the example in the video. Once Sweatcoin went through its algorithm to convert the steps into Sweatcoins, only about ⅓ of the steps were actually converted.
Pros of Sweatcoin
Free Mobile App
Fast Easy Setup
Send to Friend Feature
Easy Daily Bonuses
Sweatcoins Never Expire
Get Rewarded to Get Moving
Cons of Sweatcoin
Daily Earning Limit
Drains Phone Battery
Only Works on Your Phone and Apple Watch
Limited Cash Out Options
Sweatcoin. Scam or Legit?
I use Sweatcoin myself and feel confident in saying that it is legit and not a scam. This is not a side hustle I would suggest for making any substantial extra income; however, it is a great way to earn some free cash through Paypal or just a fun way to reward yourself for staying active with their purchasable items.
With that said, anyone can still earn some extra cash or products with Sweatcoin just by walking around and going about your day as usual. If you want to step up your game, get in a little exercise you can earn even more and benefit not only your pocketbook but your health.
I have already mentioned the cons but really the most frustrating thing I have to say about this app is that it kills my phone battery. Of course this could just be my phone.
If you’ve tried Sweatcoin I would love to hear about your experience. Or if you would like to share your thoughts, drop a message in the comments.
