Technology helps you step into healthier lifestyle and benefit society
Spring, and its sense of rejuvenation, has arrived. Time again for the outdoors, walking or more robust exercise, as people abandon their winter hibernation.
Walking certainly seems to be growing in popularity. Chinese people walked, on average, 6,303 steps per day over the past year, according to one report by internet company Tencent. The number of steps has risen for three consecutive years since 2016, and marks the first time that the average exceeded 6,000 steps per day, an indicator of its benefit and appeal, the report said.
Since the dawn of smartphones, technology has made it easier to count the steps.
If you feel like hitting your stride, then the following are some popular apps to help you put your best foot forward.
Joyrun
This app focuses on helping people become better runners. Users can create and join running groups and make new friends.
Setting targets is a popular function. Users can choose from a variety of activities to set goals and those who achieve them may win prizes.
It also offers handy tips on how to avoid injury, with input from coaches sharing their knowledge.
Codoon
This app can track your performance whether running, walking, riding or hiking. It has an active social platform where people can share photos and videos, and it offers running programs. Users can also launch their own activities, inviting people in the same city to join them. For users who wish to engage in a variety of activities, the app provides other workout programs focused on building abdominal strength and thigh muscles.
This platform includes an integrated feature called WeChat Sports, which ranks your steps and those taken by friends each day. It also allows people to "like" the performance of their friends, and the number of daily likes people receive is visible all day long.
Users can choose at most 10 friends to follow and see their daily activities, though the friends they follow will not be informed.
WeChat also has charity programs to help vulnerable groups, such as left-behind children. Users can "donate steps" which enterprises convert to actual amounts of money that gets donated to charity programs.
Alipay
The popular mobile payment app has a charity-oriented activity called Ant Forest, where users' steps are converted into virtual energy, which can help tree planting. The energy needed for different trees varies and the amount of energy converted depends on how many steps people have walked.
The app claims that after receiving an application from a user who has saved enough energy, a real tree will be planted in arid areas such as Alshaa League in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
They also have charity programs in Alipay encouraging users to "donate steps" as well.
Ping An Good Doctor
This app, providing online health services, such as medical consultation, can also count steps, and these can be converted into virtual coins the next day. With enough virtual coins, users can buy health-related products from its online store at discounted prices. In some cases, users only need to pay a small courier fee to get items such as chocolate candies, Band-Aids and tissues.
