Sweatcoin . . . watch your step(s)!

I've been using sweatcoin for a couple of weeks now. Overall, the experience has been mediocre. For those not familiar, sweatcoin sells itself as a cryptocurrency that you can "mine" through exercise. Specifically, steps registered by the app are converted into sweatcoin, minus a 5% commission for each conversion.

This sounds great in theory, particularly for those who are already passionate about exercise. You might think, "hell, I can earn some new crypto for doing what I'm already doing." Which sounds good. In theory. However, theory doesn't always translate to reality.

In the three weeks or so that I've been using the app, here's a frustration I can share:

1. Don't expect the app to count or convert all of our steps. In fact, don't count on half of them being converted into sweatcoins. In fact, there have been days where the app registers thousands and thousands of steps . . . only to convert a fraction of them into coins.

2. If you don't live in an urban environment (e.g. New York, Chicago, etc.) where you walk to work, walk to the store . . . and frankly, walk everywhere . . . don't expect to earn much in the way of sweatcoin unless you are committed to walking outside. That isn't practical for a lot of people. Time is a precious commodity and if you are already walking as part of your normal daily routine, this app may work well. But if you are trying to squeeze a job, family an other life commitments into the day, this one can be hard to make worthwhile.

3. If you do walk, make sure you do it outside. To be fair, the app is upfront about the fact that outdoor steps are easier to count than indoor steps. That's because of the GPS tracking of your location to verify steps as legitimate. Unfortunately, that is also impractical for many people, especially if you live in northern climes. For example, last night I took the dog for a walk and slipped and fell on some black ice. Earning steps shouldn't mean putting yourself in danger, particularly if this is an app geared toward improving health while mining.

I'll keep reviewing the app from time to time as I continue to use it. Despite these shortcomings, I will keep running the app (yes, it needs to run in the background at all times to have a higher probability of accurately counting steps) because, after all, it doesn't cost anything and perhaps sweatcoin will have value in the future. If anyone else is using it, curious to hear if your findings are the same or if you have more luck earning coin off the app.