New year… new you? Easy to say but have you seen the weather outside? Icy winds, pouring rain, and plummeting temperatures. No thank you, we’d much rather turn up the temperature at Sony Mobile HQ and stay indoors until MWC.
However, perhaps our smartphones can help provide the incentive we need. We’re all familiar with fitness trackers, but what about apps that actively encourage you to lace up your shoes, get out there, and start working off all that festive indulgence?
We downloaded some of the most popular apps, watched the training montage from Rocky IV, and headed outside.
Plug in your headphones, step outside and suddenly you’re surrounded. Hundreds of zombies are staggering towards you; all you can do is run for your life. This ultra-immersive running app, set in a zombie apocalypse combines fitness with an epic adventure storyline to help you keep the excitement up, as every run becomes a mission where you are the hero. During each run, you’ll also automatically collect supplies like medicine and food, which you can use to help build your own post-apocalyptic society. The game comes with over 200 missions to enjoy, free players will unlock a new one each week. With over 2.5 million downloads it is clear to see why this app is so popular.
This innovative app allows users to earn money for charity while they exercise. On starting the app, you are given the choice of 40 charities to raise money for including Stand Up To Cancer, Feeding America, Alzheimer’s Association, The Leukaemia & Lymphoma Society and many more. When you have selected one, the app works like a regular pedometer and begins to clock miles as you exercise, converting these into cash to be donated to your chosen charity. Bikers earn 10 cents per mile for their charity; walkers and runners earn 25 cents per mile. The money comes from the Charity Miles company who get corporate sponsors to back them. The aim is to incentivise people to go the extra mile for both their health and the worthy cause in question.
This all-new activity tracker actually pays you to get fit (brilliant) as it converts each of your steps into a digital currency called a Sweatcoin. Once you’ve collected enough, they can be exchanged for exciting gadgets, active wear, once in a lifetime experiences, or you can even donate the money to charity. The app is a great idea, and a fun way to stay fit, the only thing we would say is that you have to clock a fair few miles before you will have enough coins to use on anything nice! For example it will cost you a whopping 20,000 Sweatcoins to win an £100 Amazon voucher but the recommended 10,000 steps per day will only get you 6.5 Sweatcoins, so you better get moving!
A similar concept to Sweatcoin, this app clocks reward points with each run, so users can win exciting prizes while they get in shape. Named ‘Earth Miles’ as a play on the concept of air miles, users can win anything from active wear, health foods to wellness experiences. The app comes as an addition to other run trackers such as Runkeeper, Strava, Map My Run, FitBit and more so you can track results as you usually would, while adding an extra bonus.
The post The best fitness apps that give you a reason to run appeared first on Sony Xperia Blog.
Source: Sony Mobile Blog
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