Staying motivated to live a healthy life can be tough, especially when the semester gets busy and free time becomes sparse. That is where Wellcoin comes in. Wellcoin is the brainchild of a local entrepreneur who’s aim is to help people of all walks of life stay on track in their endeavors to lead healthier lives. A few of HC Emerson’s staff writers decided to take the app for a test-drive, and while there were definitely some concerns, overall the experience was a great one!
“I used the health and fitness app Wellcoin for about two weeks. I really enjoyed my experience with the app; it was easy to use and understand, and it was nice to be able to track what foods I was eating. It was also nice to be able to note what I was doing for exercise and when I got a goodnight sleep. When I started using the app, I expected it to be just another fitness and weight loss app, but it turned out to be a general health and wellness app that didn’t only care about how many calories you were consuming, but also took into consideration the benefits of sleep and health vaccinations.” – Izzy
“I’ve been interested in fitness and bettering my own health for a while now, so I’ve spent some time using fitness apps and gadgets. I spent my summer with my new Fitbit, which helped me track my exercise and eating habits and made a significant impact on my health. Wellcoin reminded me a bit of the Fitbit app, though with some extra benefits and a few pitfalls.
My favorite part of the Wellcoin app is the reward concept that it bases on. Other fitness apps are rewarding, but just in the sense that you can see how many calories you’re burning. Wellcoin offers the possibility of tangible rewards, which is something new to me, and something that’s definitely effective. Though it’s not easy to gain thousands of wellcoins and save up for that gift card or what have you, it’s nice to know you’re working for something (other than your health). Having that tangible aspect is very beneficial.
Having experience with other fitness apps, I enjoyed the variety of ways in which the user can earn wellcoins. With Fitbit and other health apps, you’re not usually rewarded for sleeping well or choosing a healthy alternative. Wellcoin lets you reward yourself for healthy choices that aren’t necessarily measurable. I also liked how the app offered lengthy descriptions for the activities (running, resistance training, etc.). While the app didn’t include every exercise under the sun, and while I found that my workouts didn’t always fit into a strict category that was offered, I was able to read the descriptions and make my choices based of that.
That being said, the app isn’t perfect. The layout and design is lackluster, and I often got frustrated when it froze up. I was also disappointed by the inability to lose wellcoins. While the purpose is to work toward a reward by gaining wellcoins, I often felt guilty because I couldn’t lose wellcoins for eating an unhealthy snack. While everyone likes to gain more points, I felt like it defeated the purpose of promoting health. In fact, you can even earn a wellcoin for doing “Something Unhealthy.” I thought that avoiding punishment (and in fact rewarding) for unhealthy behaviors defeated the purpose of the app – as it’s meant to stimulate good health.” – Megan
“I tried the Wellcoin app for a couple days. At first, I really enjoyed it. It was really fun to give myself a little credit whenever I did something small that was good for myself such as “have a healthy drink” or “took the stairs”. I truly enjoyed that boost of ego. Not to mention, the prizes were awesome. Free froyo from orange leaf and gift cards to Whole Foods got me really excited and psyched that I had this app to get some free stuff.
However, after a few days of using the app I found myself really bored and annoyed with using it. It got a little bit tiring to put every good thing I did in my day into the phone all throughout the day when, in reality, there are times when I am too busy to even answer a simple text message. Unfortunately, after a couple of days I found myself often forgetting to put things into the app and forgetting what I did that was good that day. Ultimately, I ended up deleting the app simply for that reason. Even though the benefits and rewards were really cool and exciting, I simply could not keep up with earning all the coins I could have. I would still recommend that other people try this app if it works for them, but for me it did not fit my busy and scatterbrained lifestyle.” – Julia
Wellcoin may not be a perfect fit for everyone’s daily routine, but there is no denying its unique way of incentivizing healthy choices! Here’s hoping it can help you be the heathliest and happiest version of yourself.