The questions we get most. If yours isn't here, email support@walkorlose.com — we read everything.
Walk Or Lose is a step-fitness app that puts your own money behind your habit. You join a program, make a pledge, and have to hit a daily step goal every day for the length of the program — typically 7 to 30 days. Miss a goal and your program ends. Complete it and your pledge comes back to you.
The pledge is the mechanism: it is your money, held while you walk, returned when you finish — with a return on top for participants who complete. Nothing about it depends on luck. It depends on whether you walk.
Pledges start at free — the Daily Bonus runs every day with no pledge required and a small promo-credit reward. Paid programs you create range from €20 to €1,000; official programs are priced by us and can be lower (a Weekly is around €10). The pledge is the only cost; we don't sell subscriptions.
Walk Or Lose makes money by taking a flat 15% service fee on returns at settlement. That's how the lights stay on.
We don't charge a withdrawal fee — rewards withdraw to your PayPal account.
No. Your phone alone is enough. We read steps from Android Health Connect (or Google Fit where Health Connect isn't available) — which reads from your phone's hardware step counter. That's accurate enough for the program.
You can also connect a wearable that syncs to Health Connect (Samsung Galaxy Watch, Garmin, Pixel Watch, and others) for more accuracy when you're not carrying your phone. Counts are deduplicated at the Health Connect level, so wearing both doesn't double-count.
Note: Fitbit syncs to Health Connect on some devices and Android versions but not all. Check whether your specific Fitbit model writes to Health Connect before relying on it.
Not yet. Walk Or Lose is currently Android only. iOS is on the roadmap — we'll announce a date when we have one.
Walk Or Lose programs are decided by your own steps — you control the outcome by walking, and nothing is left to chance. That matters legally: in most jurisdictions the rules that cover games of chance don't apply to an outcome you produce yourself. (The free Daily Bonus is the one exception, where the recipient is selected at random.)
Paid programs are void where prohibited. Laws around performance-based programs with cash returns vary by country and by US state, and it's your responsibility to confirm that participating is lawful where you live and where you are before joining a paid program. See the Terms §3 for the full eligibility terms.
Consistency programs run for multiple days (Weekly, Monthly, Ongoing, Custom, or Progressive). You hit the daily goal every day or your program ends. Complete it and your pledge is returned to you.
Daily Bonus is one day, free. Walk 5,000 steps and you're automatically included. After the day closes worldwide, one participant is selected by a fair, deterministic method and receives a fixed €0.50 in promo credit (platform-funded, usable toward pledges — not withdrawable). No multi-day commitment, no pledge required — finishing with double the goal gives you no advantage over someone who just hit 5,000.
A Consistency program with no fixed end date. It runs until participants stop completing days — can take a week, can take three months, depending on the participants. The top ~25% by final rank qualify for a return, on a top-heavy curve: qualifiers get their pledge back plus a return on top, with each qualifying place earning about 70% of the one above it. You learn your result each morning — there's only a short (~3-hour) technical sync buffer, not the 24-hour grace the daily-goal modes get.
If nobody reaches the end, results are ranked by who lasted longest and the service fee rises to 30%.
Progressive raises the bar every day. Instead of a fixed goal, the step floor starts at a base number and climbs by a set increment each day. Fall below the rising floor and your program ends.
Progressive also settles differently: instead of every finisher getting the same return, the top ~25% by final rank qualify on the same top-heavy, pledge-protected curve as Ongoing. Ties are decided by the last day completed only — never step count — and a date cap backstops it if participants haven't thinned out.
Fixed programs give everyone the same daily step goal. Dynamic programs set personalized weekly quotas (Active-day and Power-day targets) calibrated to your own step history when you join — so the target meets you where you are.
Yes. You can create a private program and invite friends via a share link. You set the step goal, duration, and pledge. All standard rules apply — you can't change the goal mid-program or reverse a non-completion, even in your own program.
Private programs require a minimum of one participant (two for Ongoing and Progressive). If the minimum isn't reached by kickoff, the program cancels and all pledges are refunded.
Whatever Android Health Connect counts as a step counts for us. We don't second-guess the step API — we just read it. That means walking, jogging, running, hiking, treadmill, and most stair-climbing all count.
What does not count: cycling, swimming, rowing, elliptical, or steps entered manually. The OS doesn't see those as steps and neither do we. GPS-run apps are also denylisted — Strava, MapMyRun, Nike Run Club, and Adidas Running don't count; steps must come through Health Connect.
The time zone your phone reports, read at each sync. So a day runs 00:00 to 23:59:59 in your local device time. If you travel, your local day adjusts — we're not going to lock you into one zone if you cross three time zones halfway through.
No. Walk Or Lose has no grace tokens, no make-up days, no second pledges. Miss the daily goal by even one step and your program ends. That's the deal — the commitment is the point.
The only exception is the sync grace window: if you actually walked but your phone couldn't sync before midnight, your steps for that calendar day have a 24-hour grace window (evaluated in your local time zone) to post. This is for connectivity issues only, not for steps you didn't actually take.
The app attempts an automatic background sync every hour while you're in an active program. For that to work, you need to allow background activity and notifications in your Android settings — if you've got the app on battery saver or restricted background data, it won't sync automatically.
If you've restricted the app, open it before end of day. That triggers an immediate sync. After midnight there's a 24-hour sync grace window (in your local time zone) for steps that were recorded on your device but didn't post in time.
No. Enrollment closes at kickoff (the start date shown on the program card). Late starts aren't allowed because everyone has to walk the same days under the same goal — joining halfway would mean a shorter commitment than the people who started on time.
Every program has a minimum participant count shown on the card (two for Ongoing and Progressive, one for everything else). If a program doesn't hit its minimum by kickoff, it's automatically cancelled and every pledge is refunded in full.
You can withdraw from a free program before it starts and your place is removed. After kickoff, a paid pledge stays committed for the length of the program. The only refund cases are (a) the program gets cancelled for under-subscription, or (b) completion protection kicks in.
Your returned pledge and any return on top are credited to your in-app rewards balance typically within 48 hours of the program's last midnight (there's a 24-hour final-sync window first, then returns settle). From your balance you can:
Minimum withdrawal is €5, capped at €100 per day (rolling 24h) with one pending request at a time. Withdrawals go through an approval queue; no withdrawal fee. Bank transfer is coming soon.
No. You actually have two balances. Your rewards balance is real, withdrawable money (from returned pledges, returns, and refunds) that withdraws to PayPal. Your promo balance — from the Daily Bonus, promo codes, and referrals — is non-withdrawable credit you can only put toward a pledge; when you pledge it's used first, before your rewards balance. Both are virtual credits worth €1 each and represent a claim against Walk Or Lose, not a bank account or licensed e-money account, and are not insured by any deposit protection scheme. We don't invest or lend balances.
A no-loss guarantee for people who do the work. If your return after the 15% service fee would come to less than your original pledge, the program is voided instead. Every participant gets a full refund and Walk Or Lose keeps no service fee.
In plain terms: completing a program can never leave you with less than you pledged. If the settlement would land there, nobody pays a service fee and everyone is made whole.
Probably. Returns are taxable income in most jurisdictions. We're not your accountant — reporting and paying any applicable tax is on you. Talk to someone who does taxes.
If your account goes quiet for 12 months, we'll email your registered address. Balances left unclaimed after 24 months of inactivity (or after account closure where we can't reach you) may be surrendered to the extent the law allows — after we've tried to return them. There are no dormancy fees on rewards you withdraw.
Yes. A pledge is a commitment tool, not a budget line — only pledge what you can comfortably commit. You can set pledge limits or self-exclude at any time in Settings, or by emailing support@walkorlose.com. Before processing returns we may verify your identity (through Persona) and screen against sanctions lists.
Email support@walkorlose.com within 72 hours of the issue. We review cases individually, may ask for exported step data from your device, and aim to resolve within a few business days. See §10 of the Rules for the process.
Several layers. Steps come from Health Connect, not raw accelerometer — hard to fake. We run Google Play Integrity API checks on the device to detect modified Android builds. We analyze step patterns for the irregularities a real human walk has and a paint-mixer doesn't. And we look at account-level signals (shared payment methods, shared devices, multiple accounts).
If our system flags an account it may be reviewed manually. There's also a hard cap of 90,000 steps a day — any day over it flags you, and a flagged participant's return is held for review before it's released (same for returns that touch a suspicious source or an unverified device). Confirmed cheaters are disqualified with no refund.
Not while you're both in programs. Walk Or Lose is one human, one device, one account. If two people in the same household want to take part, you each need a phone (or a phone + a dedicated wearable).
Your dog doesn't have a phone. You're fine.
You, and our system. Step data is private by default — other walkers in a program see your leaderboard rank and step count for that program only, for as long as the program is active or recently completed. Nothing is visible outside of a program you're both in.
Read the Privacy Policy for the full picture.
No. We don't sell, rent, or share step data with third parties for advertising. Step data is the product — we're not going to give it away.
Your personal data, step history, and program records are deleted when you close your account. Financial transaction records may be retained as required by applicable law. After deletion your account name and history are gone and cannot be recovered.
