If you've seen a clip about a Chinese app where everyone competes on daily steps, or a company paying staff a full month's bonus for running 50km, you've met one of the world's most developed walking-rewards cultures. WeChat Movement is the usual answer, but it is only the front door. China also produced a 100-million-user red-envelope pioneer, a fitness super-app built around collectible medals and a pedometer that quietly became a Western hit.
1. WeChat Movement: the step leaderboard a billion people carry
The "popular Chinese step counting app" most people are thinking of isn't a standalone app at all. WeChat Movement (微信运动, Weixin Yundong) is a feature inside WeChat, the messaging app used by well over a billion people. Switch it on and it counts your steps through your phone's motion sensors, then does the thing that made it famous: ranks you against every one of your friends, every single day.
The leaderboard pushes at 10pm each night. Friends can like your step count, and whoever walks the most that day "occupies the cover" of the ranking, which is exactly as competitive as it sounds. There's no money involved (you can donate steps to charity), but the social pressure turned a pedometer into a national habit: late-night walks to overtake a colleague, phones carried on evening strolls purely so the steps count. It's the purest proof that a leaderboard alone can change how much people move.
2. Ant Forest: walk to plant real trees
Ant Forest (蚂蚁森林) lives inside Alipay, China's biggest payments app. Walking and other low-carbon choices generate "green energy" that grows a virtual tree, and when it matures, Alipay and its partners plant a real tree, mostly in China's arid north. Friends can "steal" unclaimed energy from each other, which turned collecting it into a morning ritual for hundreds of millions of users.
The scale is genuinely remarkable: hundreds of millions of real trees planted, and a Champions of the Earth award from the UN. It's the strongest counterexample to "rewards for walking are gimmicks". The reward here isn't cash at all, and it still changed behaviour at population scale.
3. Yodo Run: the red-envelope pioneer
Yodo Run (悦动圈, Yuedongquan) is the major omission from most English-language lists. Launched in 2014, it combined walking, running and cycling records with social groups, daily challenges and virtual red envelopes containing small cash rewards. Contemporary reporting described medals, certificates, gifts and store discounts too. It was doing the modern walk-to-earn loop before that phrase existed.
Investor NGP Capital reported more than 100 million registered users and six million daily active users within Yodo Run's first three years. Those are historical figures, not a claim about today's active audience, but they show why the app matters: cash incentives, team competition and exercise tracking had already reached enormous scale in China by 2017.
4. Keep: China's fitness super-app and its medal economy
Keep is much broader than a pedometer. It combines guided workouts, running, social feeds, hardware and paid events. Its most interesting reward mechanic is physical: users enter themed distance challenges, record the required run or walk in Keep and receive a real collectible medal after finishing.
These are not generic participation medals. Keep has used licensed pop-culture designs and elaborate physical rewards, turning exercise into collecting and social sharing. Reported entry tiers have ranged from roughly 19 yuan for a virtual medal to around 39 or 50 yuan for physical or boxed versions. Keep has reported more than 300 million registered users, although registration totals should not be confused with monthly activity. The point is the model: people are sometimes paying to earn a beautiful reward, not being paid to walk.
5. Budoduo, Walking Planet and the cash-for-steps crowd
China also has a large ecosystem of standalone walk-to-earn apps. Two frequently cited examples are Budoduo (步多多, "many steps"), which offers red-envelope rewards for steps and tasks, and Walking Planet (走路星球), which mixes movement with collectable character cards. The payout loop is built around small yuan balances and Chinese payment services.
The economics look familiar if you have read our breakdown of what walking apps really pay. The steps create a daily habit; adverts, tasks, games and shopping partnerships fund it. Treat any exact gem conversion or withdrawal cap as temporary because these apps change their rules and regional availability frequently.
6. Pacer and DongDong: the global crossover
Pacer is the rare Chinese-developed pedometer that many Western users already know without realising where it came from. Beijing-based Mandian launched the international product as Pacer and operates a localised Chinese version called DongDong (动动). It began as a straightforward, battery-conscious step counter, then added GPS activity records, plans, groups and subscription features.
Chinese reporting said the combined Pacer and DongDong audience passed 60 million users, with most users outside China. That figure is historical, but the crossover remains important. While many Chinese reward apps depend on Alipay, WeChat Pay and local identity systems, Pacer became a conventional global health app available through Western app stores.
7. Codoon and Joyrun: social running at scale
Codoon (咕咚) and Joyrun (悦跑圈) are better described as running communities than cash-for-steps apps. Codoon combines activity records, training plans, online races, clubs and connected equipment. Its online marathons have offered digital badges, certificates and physical commemorative medals after verified distance completion.
Joyrun focuses more tightly on runners, with training, race discovery, clubs, equipment discussion and online events. Older reports placed Codoon at roughly 80 million users and Joyrun at 30 million; those figures demonstrate their legacy scale, not current active usage. Together they show that China's movement-app market was never just one WeChat leaderboard or a handful of ad-funded cash apps.
8. The story going viral: a full salary bonus for 50km a month
The reason Chinese walking rewards are in everyone's feed right now is a paper company in Guangdong that scrapped performance bonuses entirely and replaced them with distance targets, tracked through a fitness app. Cover 50km in a month and your bonus equals your full monthly salary. Hit 100km and it rises to 130%. Fall short and it shrinks. Hiking counts at 60% of the distance, brisk walking at 30%.
The boss says nearly all of his roughly 100 employees now qualify for the full bonus. Reaction on Weibo was more sceptical, and tying pay to exercise raises fair questions. But as a data point on incentives it is hard to ignore: attach real value to movement and people move.
Can you use these apps outside China?
The Chinese reward systems are mostly impractical abroad. WeChat Movement and Ant Forest live inside WeChat and Alipay, while cash-outs from standalone reward apps tend to depend on Chinese payment accounts and real-name verification. Pacer is the clear exception: its international app was built for global stores and does not require a Chinese payments ecosystem. Joyrun also has an international App Store listing, though its product and community remain China-focused.
The good news is the same idea is now everywhere. The UK's NHS is launching its own walking rewards scheme in 2027. Step apps like Sweatcoin, WeWard and Winwalk pay small amounts for steps today, and we've ranked them all in the highest paying walking apps and our UK guide to getting paid to walk.
And if you want the fuller version of the Chinese model, leaderboards, streaks and rewards on all your movement rather than steps alone, that's what Fitcoin is. It reads steps, workouts, heart rate and active energy from Apple Health and Google Health Connect into a daily FitScore, tracks runs and rides with built-in GPS, logs gym sets, reps and weight, adds Sleep, Recovery and Energy insights with coaching, ranks you in weekly leagues against people at your level, and converts consistency into brand discounts and free items in the rewards marketplace. WeChat-style competition, Ant Forest-style rewards, available in the West.
Frequently asked questions
What is the popular Chinese step counting app?
Usually WeChat Movement, the daily friends leaderboard built into WeChat. For rewards, Yodo Run pioneered cash red-envelope challenges, Ant Forest turns low-carbon actions into planted trees, Keep runs collectible-medal events and apps like Budoduo offer small cash incentives.
Can I download them in the UK or US?
Pacer is widely available internationally, and Joyrun has appeared in Western app stores. The Chinese cash-reward systems are less useful because they depend on local payments and verification. Western equivalents include Sweatcoin, WeWard and Winwalk for steps, or Fitcoin for leagues and rewards across walking and workouts.
Does Ant Forest really plant trees?
Yes. When your virtual tree matures, Alipay and its conservation partners plant a real one, mostly in China's dry northern provinces. The programme has planted hundreds of millions of trees and won the UN's Champions of the Earth award.
Is the "salary for running 50km" story real?
Yes: a Guangdong paper company with around 100 staff ties bonuses to monthly distance logged in a fitness app. 50km earns a bonus equal to a full month's salary, 100km earns 130%, with hiking counted at 60% and brisk walking at 30% of the distance.
More on earning for movement: the highest paying walking apps, how to get paid to walk in the UK, the NHS walking rewards scheme, and the best apps that pay you to exercise.
About the author: Harris Khan is the founder of Fitcoin. He studied at Loughborough University and has more than 15 years of personal experience across strength training, bodybuilding, Muay Thai, and general fitness. Fitcoin was built from the belief that real training should count, not just step totals.