There aren't many, but here I list the top UK apps that pay you to walk, run, or stay active! Compare rewards, payouts, and features of apps like BetterPoints, Sweatcoin, Winwalk, and more. Start earning (slowly) today!
There aren't many, but here I list the top UK apps that pay you to walk, run, or stay active! Compare rewards, payouts, and features of apps like BetterPoints, Sweatcoin, Winwalk, and more. Start earning (slowly) today!
By Scrimpr
Updated 29 Mar 2026 Let’s be honest: most apps that claim to pay you for walking are rubbish. You’ll earn pennies, cash out takes forever, and some probably don’t pay at all. But I enjoy testing these things and making lists, so here’s my complete rundown of every UK walking app I’ve tried – the good, the bad, and the “why does this even exist?”
BetterPoints partners with your local council to reward you for walking, cycling, and making sustainable travel choices.
Connect your fitness tracker and earn coins from running! But this app is riddled with adverts. If you still want to try it, you can get a 20 Sportcoin bonus with my code: Z6IHW9J953C6
Macadam is another get paid to walk app, but Google has limited new sign ups!
Biscuit is an app that rewards your for walking your dog, and to use the app you must share your dog's microchip number. Use my sign up link to get a 50 point bonus to start (worth about £0.60 if redeemed for a Costa voucher).
Sweatcoin may as well be a scam, because you can only buy "scratchcards" to redeem your points. It is also an ad-fest. I strongly recommend completely avoiding this one.
With Winwalk, you earn 1 coin per 100 steps. And 21k coins gets you a £10 voucher. This would take over a year for the average UK adult. It has potential for people who do a lot of walking. But I've no idea if I will ever manage to cashout.
Weward is a very slow burner, but it does pay out.
Atlas Earth lets you buy virtual land plots around where you live and earn rent in real-time. While it sounds fun, you'll need to invest a lot of time (doing surveys etc.) to see any meaningful returns, as the payouts are incredibly small. Plus, beware of in-app purchases and advertising overload! So far I have earned $0.02 from this app...
What they are: Apps that track your steps and reward you with points, coins, or tokens that can supposedly be exchanged for cash or gift cards. They make money from ads and data – you make pennies.
How they work: Install the app, let it track your steps (usually via your phone’s health data or GPS), and accumulate points. Once you hit the minimum threshold – which can take months – you can cash out.
What they actually pay: Most pay around £0.01-0.05 per 1,000 steps. If you walk 10,000 steps a day, that’s roughly 5-15p daily, or £1.50-4.50 per month. Some have cashout minimums of £15-20, meaning you’d need to walk for 6+ months before seeing any money.
The reality: Walking apps are more of a novelty than a money-maker. If you’re walking anyway and don’t mind the battery drain, fine – but don’t expect meaningful earnings. Your time is better spent on GPT sites if you actually want to earn.
Get-paid-to-walk apps promise to turn your daily steps into cash. The reality? Most are a waste of your phone’s battery. But I’ve tested them all so you don’t have to, and there are a couple that are actually worth installing.
How walking apps try to pay you:
The catch? Most have absurdly high cashout thresholds or pay rates so low you’d need to walk to the moon and back before seeing any real money. Many are designed to make you watch ads forever without ever actually paying out.
My honest experience:
Why trust my ratings? I’m not ranking these by affiliate commission (most don’t even have referral programmes worth mentioning). I’m ranking them by whether they’ll actually pay you within a reasonable timeframe – and being brutally honest when they won’t.
Let’s do the maths. Most walking apps pay around 1 coin or point per 1,000 steps, and those coins convert to fractions of a penny. Here’s what you’re realistically looking at:
10,000 steps per day, using one app
10,000 steps daily = ~1p per day
Monthly earnings = ~30p
Time to reach typical £20 cashout = 5+ years
Annual total: ≈ £3.65
15,000 steps per day, using multiple apps, watching bonus ads
15,000 steps daily across 3 apps = ~5p per day
Ad bonuses and multipliers = ~3p per day
Monthly earnings = ~£2.40
Annual total: ≈ £29
25,000+ steps per day, maxing out every app, daily ad watching
25,000 steps daily across all apps = ~10p per day
Maxed ad bonuses and referrals = ~10p per day
Monthly earnings = ~£6
Annual total: ≈ £72
If you’re going to install walking apps anyway, here’s how to avoid the worst pitfalls:
Before installing any app, find out the minimum cashout and calculate how long it’ll take you to reach it. If it’s more than 3-6 months of regular walking, it’s probably not worth your time – or the app might shut down before you ever cash out.
Many walking apps drain your battery by constantly tracking GPS or running in the background. If your phone’s dying by lunchtime, that 0.5p you earned isn’t worth it. Stick to apps that sync with your phone’s built-in step counter instead.
Some apps push paid subscriptions that promise higher earning rates. The maths almost never works out – you’ll pay more for the subscription than you’ll ever earn back in boosted rewards.
Apps that offer prize draws or lottery entries instead of guaranteed cash are usually the worst offenders. Your odds of winning are tiny, and it lets them avoid ever actually paying out.
Check recent App Store and Google Play reviews before installing. If people are complaining about not being able to cash out, accounts being banned, or rewards being slashed – stay away.
Some do, eventually. The problem is most have such high cashout thresholds and low earning rates that it takes months or years to reach them. Stick to apps rated 3+ stars on this list – they’re the ones most likely to actually pay.
With typical daily walking (10,000 steps) and one app, expect around £3-5 per year. Using multiple apps and walking more might get you £20-30 annually. It’s pocket change, not income.
Many do, especially ones using GPS tracking. Apps that sync with your phone’s built-in health data (Apple Health or Google Fit) are much better for battery life. Check reviews before installing.
Yes – your steps count on all of them simultaneously. If you’re going to bother with walking apps, using 2-3 at once makes sense since the same walk earns across all platforms.
UK tax law: earnings under £1,000/year from all “trading income” are covered by the trading allowance. Given walking apps pay so little, you’re extremely unlikely to hit this threshold from steps alone.
Common issues: unreachable cashout thresholds, rewards that mysteriously disappear, apps that stop tracking properly, forced ad-watching to earn anything, or simply never paying out at all. The 1-star apps on this list have these problems.
Sweatcoin is the only one I’d genuinely recommend. It has achievable rewards, syncs with your phone’s health data, and has been around long enough to prove it’s legitimate. The rest are optional extras at best.
Absolutely. GPT sites and reward apps pay far more for less effort. A single game offer can pay £50-100 – more than you’d earn from walking apps in a decade. Check out the GPT sites list for better options.
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