Though there are several fitness and step counter apps available, Sweatcoin is gaining in popularity because it offers something special – money.

Sweatcoin is a free app that converts the steps one walks into cryptocurrency – 1,000 steps equals 0.95 sweatcoins. The coins can be spent on goods, services or experiences that are offered inside the app, such as music subscriptions, gift cards or even a curved Samsung TV.

The process of earning money seemed easy, and since free cash is not something that is typically given out in this world, I decided to try the app out for myself.   

I was pretty skeptical at first, but I was relieved to find that the app only asked for my email and phone number, and not my credit or debit card number.

In the app, you can see how many coins you have earned, what products are available, your walking records and your profile.

One thing I noticed was that in my profile, I was labeled a “Mover.” There are four different monthly subscription plans with four different limits on the number of coins you can earn in a day: Mover, Shaker, Quaker and Breaker.

“Mover” is a free subscription, but you are limited to earning up to five sweatcoins a day or 150 sweatcoins a month. Each of the next levels of subscriptions allow you to earn more coins, but you have to pay at least five sweatcoins a month to be subscribed. This was the first major issue I found with the app, as I didn’t want to pay extra coins to earn more per day.

But even after that, I wanted to try the app. After two weeks of constant walking with my phone in my hand, I finally saved up 20 sweatcoins. I then decided to check out the products in the “shopping center.”

I was shocked to see that all the good products such as the $50 Amazon gift card or $50 PayPal gift card cost at least 3,650 sweatcoins, which would require two years of walking with a “Mover” subscription.

Other cheaper products were not as good or not worth my attention. With 20 sweatcoins, I could buy a $75 gift card to an online shop called Barbell Apparel, where everything cost above $100. That was just infuriating.

New offers appear everyday but they disappear in about four days, which is not enough time to earn 100 sweatcoins for a pair of jeans.

But I was still willing to go through the pain of waiting just to get that free cash. After all, it’s an app that doesn’t cost anything and can give you money. However, I soon found out the drawbacks of simply having the app on my phone.

Apparently, you can’t force quit the app without losing all of the sweatcoins earned that day. This means the app has to play on the background all day long, which is not good for battery life. My phone started dying before the end of the day, which usually doesn’t happen.

Overall, I would not recommend downloading Sweatcoin if you are impatient and don’t want your phone to die instantly. But if you are someone who is willing to walk for as long as 11 years, carrying your charger everywhere just to get that iPhone X, go for it.