Your rules.
Your money on it.
Achieve your goals and you pay nothing. Miss it and you pay - which is exactly why you do it.
Free to download · Nothing taken up front · Charged only if you miss
What people put money on
- Gym session
- Morning run
- 10,000 steps
- Up before six
- Class on Thursday
- Walk to work
Or write your own. That is the point of it.
How it works
Say it, do it
- 01
Set the goal yourself
The gym on Tuesday. A run before work. A step count you have not hit since March. Whatever it is you keep putting off.
- 02
Say what missing it costs
$10, $20, $40 or $80. Pick the number that would actually annoy you. Make it hurt a little - that is the point.
- 03
Go and do it
Turn up, or walk it. Hit the goal and you are never charged. Miss it and you pay what you said you would.
What you get
Built for the day you would rather not
Your rules, not a catalogue of them
Most of what people put money on is not a step count. It is the class they booked and skipped, the run they moved to tomorrow twice. Write the goal in your own words, set the day and the time, and it exists.
$10$20$40$80Make it hurt a little. That is the point.
Turn up and tap once
For a promise to be somewhere, checking in is a single tap at the place. No always-on location, no geofence draining your battery to save you one tap.
Or let your tracker do it
For anything you walk, connect Fitbit, Garmin, Apple Health or Health Connect. Steps come off the device you already wear, and upload in the background - a day you walked counts even if you never open the app.
Mon8,502Tue9,140Wed14,006Thu3,201Fri6,884SatSunNothing is taken up front
Adding a card saves it. No charge, no hold, no money of yours parked with us for six weeks. We only ever charge the people who missed.
No pot, no payout
You are not playing for anybody else's money, and nobody is playing for yours. Do what you said and nothing is taken at all. Miss, and the amount you chose is charged once - that is what pays for the app, and that is the end of it.
The feed keeps you honest
Everyone in a challenge sees the same board: who kept today, who did not. Saying it out loud to people who are also doing it is half of why it works.
Do it with people, or alone
Join a public challenge and do it alongside other people, or make a promise that is only yours and settle it tonight. Both work the same way: you said it, so you do it.
The rules
How it works
- Nothing moves when you join
- Adding a card saves it. There is no charge, no authorisation hold and no balance we hold on your behalf.
- Do what you said and you pay nothing
- Not a refund - there is nothing to refund, because nothing was taken. People who finish are simply never charged.
- Miss, and you pay what you chose
- The amount you set yourself, charged once after the challenge settles. Never more, and never twice.
- There is no pot to win
- Nobody is paid out. A missed goal is charged once and that is where it ends - it is what pays for the app. Do what you said and no money moves at all.
- It is not a wager
- No odds, no chance and nothing to win. The only question is whether you did the thing you said you would.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
What is Earnest?
A way to make yourself do the thing. You set a goal - a gym session, a morning run, a daily step count - and name what missing it should cost you. Do it and you pay nothing. Miss it and you pay, which is exactly why you do it.
Why is it called Earnest?
An earnest is money put up to show you mean it. That is the whole app.
What kind of challenges can I set?
Two shapes. A promise to be somewhere by a time - the gym by seven, a class on Thursday - which you settle yourself with one tap when you arrive. Or a step challenge over several weeks, scored from your tracker, with other people running the same one alongside you.
How much does Earnest cost?
The app is free and joining a challenge costs nothing. The only money involved is the amount you choose to put behind your own goal - $10, $20, $40 or $80 - and you only pay it if you miss.
When am I actually charged?
Only after a challenge has finished, and only if you missed what you agreed to. It is the amount you picked yourself, taken once from the card you saved. Do what you said and nothing is ever taken.
How much should I put on it?
Enough that missing it would annoy you. That is the whole mechanism - an amount you would shrug off does not get you out of bed. Make it hurt a little.
Where does the money go if I miss?
To us. Nobody is paid out of what you were charged - there is no pot, and finishing earns other players nothing. A missed goal is charged once and that is what pays for the app. It also means we are never holding money on your behalf and there is nothing to wait for.
Which fitness trackers work with Earnest?
Fitbit, Garmin, Apple Health on iPhone and Health Connect on Android. You pick which one a step challenge reads from when you join it. A promise to be somewhere needs no tracker at all.
Is Earnest gambling?
No. There is nothing to win - no pot, no payout, no odds and no chance element. The only money involved is yours, and whether it moves depends entirely on whether you did what you said.
What if my tracker breaks mid-challenge?
Tell us before the challenge settles and we will look at what your device recorded. Losing money to a sync bug is the thing we least want to happen, and it is not how the app is meant to work.
What data does Earnest read from my tracker?
Daily step totals for the days a challenge covers, and nothing else. We do not read heart rate, sleep, workouts or location history, and we never sell any of it. The full detail is in the privacy policy.
How do I delete my account?
From Account settings inside the app, at any time. Deleting removes your profile and your activity history. Charges already settled from a finished challenge stay on record, because they are part of a payment we are required to keep.
Pick the thing you keep putting off
Put a number on it, and go. Nothing is taken unless you decide not to show up.
Free to download · You set the goal · Charged only if you miss