The App Store is full of different services designed to help you reduce screen time, count your steps, and more. A new iOS app called Steppin combines these two ideas to help users do both at the same time to bridge the gap between physical and mental health.
Steppin blocks social media apps unless you take a certain number of steps each day. Achieving your daily step goal will free up your time on the most used social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
The app was co-founded by Paul English, who previously launched travel search engine Kayak, which was acquired by Priceline for $1.8 billion. Paul told TechCrunch that he came up with the idea for the app while vacationing in Spain with his son Michael English and fiancée Rachel Cohen.
They found themselves constantly using their phones and scrolling through social media even though they were traveling to places with beautiful scenery. They were aware that there are apps that block social media usage, but wanted to tie this to the number of steps taken during the day. They believed that doing so would help improve people's physical and mental health.
Image credit: Steppin
The app works by helping users decide how many steps they need to take to get one minute of screen time. You can be as aggressive or generous as you want. For example, you might decide that you need to walk 100 steps to earn 1 minute on TikTok. If you need to access a specific app for some reason, you can override Steppin's controls.
Steppin not only connects you to social media apps, but it can also help you reduce your use of other time-consuming apps, like Netflix and certain games.
Although the app is marketed towards Gen Z, Paul says the app can be beneficial to people of all ages, especially since he himself uses Steppin to reduce social media usage. say.
“It really applies to everyone,” Paul said. “Just by talking to friends and family, I find that a lot of parents are saying, 'I want my teenager to take this, my 12-year-old is addicted.' And there are some adults who say, “Yeah, me too.'' There's a problem. It's not just Gen Z. I realized that I was using my phone too much and not leaving the house enough. ” Therefore, it attracts interest from all age groups. ”
Image credit: Steppin
The app will be available for free at launch, but the company plans to offer it through an annual subscription at some point in the future. Steppin hasn't finalized the price, but expects it to be around $20.
In the future, Steppin will be able to track more than just steps, such as yoga classes and other physical activities to earn time on social media.
“We're going to create a leaderboard so you can see who among your friends is using social media the least,” Paul said. “You enter into the app how many days in a row you've successfully used the app. So this is for parents. They can say to their kids, 'Hey, how's Steppin'? . And when the child opens the app, the parent will say, “Wait a minute, you cheated three days ago.” Or maybe you've used it for 30 consecutive days without cheating. ”
Steppin will be available for download on iOS starting Tuesday and will be rolled out to Android users in the coming weeks.