A Japanese mobile health app that turns daily steps into shopping coupons or train tickets helped users walk over 600 extra steps a day, research shows.
The study examined HealthSmart-Senboku, a mobile health (mHealth) app developed for residents and visitors of Senboku New Town in Japan.
It offers two types of digital incentives: step counts can be exchanged for either shopping vouchers at selected local stores or digital train tickets for travel on Nankai Railway’s Senboku Line.
Mobile health apps track activity through smartphones to support health goals, but their impact on walking behaviour has not been widely studied, partly due to variations in incentive design.
Dr Haruka Kato, junior associate professor at Osaka Metropolitan University, investigated how different reward types influenced daily step counts over a five-month period.
The findings showed that users who redeemed steps for train tickets increased their average daily steps by 626.2. Those who used shopping coupon incentives walked an average of 715.2 more steps per day than non-users.
“These findings suggest that HealthSmart-Senboku’s ticket exchange incentives effectively promote active travel,” said Dr Kato.
“The results highlight the potential of mHealth apps to encourage both physical activity and public transportation use toward Healthy New Towns through well-designed incentive systems.”
The study suggests that digital incentive systems may help address low physical activity levels.
While the health benefits of regular walking are well established, many people still do not meet recommended step counts.
Linking physical activity to tangible, locally relevant rewards—such as discounts or transport access—may be more effective than health advice alone in supporting long-term behaviour change.