Are you one of those people who brings their phone with them everywhere they go? Do you also like free stuff? If you answered yes, you should get the Carrot app!

A few months ago, I told you all about this app that rewards you for answering simple questions on surveys about healthy living topics. If you want to go back and check it out, you’ll learn all about how it works, what you’ll earn, and who is paying for it, and how you can get extra rewards with my bonus code.

TL;DR…Answer easy multiple choice quizzes, collect loyalty rewards, sponsored by government and charitable organisations aka YOU, Bonus Code: heatherm4933

Now that you’re up to speed, let me tell you why you need to update the app, and maybe your phone.

 

It got even easier to earn rewards!

They added a step counting feature that works with your phone’s native pedometer to keep track of your daily step activity and reward you for meeting your goals.

How?

Most modern phones (iPhone 5S and later, Android phones running Jellybean) can be used with Apple’s HealthKit, or Android’s Google Fit apps. If you’re not familiar with these, don’t worry, they’re probably hiding somewhere in the back of your phone, secretly tracking your steps anyway. All you need to do is search them out and connect/allow Carrot to access the step tracker.

You should probably go check these out anyway, just to set up your emergency medical ID so that first responders can contact your family if you are incapacitated or good samaritans can help reconnect you with your lost phone.

You can also use a FitBit connected to your phone if that’s more your style.

What?

Carrot will look at your daily step numbers for the first two weeks to work out your daily average, then set a daily goal for you that is 1000 steps more than your baseline. You will earn 4 SCENE points for each day that you meet your goal (not yet sure what you get in the other three programs).

In my experience, when you meet your goals on a regular basis, they will eventually up your daily goal a little.

Don’t worry, though. If you aren’t able to meet your goals, they might drop it down and/or offer you an extra incentive, like an extra 20-100 SCENE points if you can make it that day.

They may also offer you a “Step Up Challenge” where you’ll need to meet your daily goal 10 out of the next 14 days to score a 120 SCENE point bonus (on top of the regular 4 points/day you get if you meet your goal).

Who?

As with  the rest of the Carrot app, rewards are brought to you by sponsors. If you have donated to these charities, or paid taxes here, these rewards are brought to you by you, so make sure you get yours.

Why?

You walk a little bit each day. It’s good for you. It’s good for me (and other taxpayers) because the more physically active you are, the less I pay for your health care needs.

If all it takes to motivate you to move a little more is a few More Rewards each day, that’s a good investment.

I was skeptical at first that a measly 4 SCENE points would change my daily routine. But, within a few days of getting the “Congrats! You have achieved your daily step goal.” message, I noticed that I was parking my car a little further away from the entrance, pacing the halls to read the notice boards, and offering to do the coffee run (probably negating the health gains with all the cream I add to my coffee, though), and generally just standing up and moving a little more, just to make sure that I would hit my target steps.

So, Carrot wins by combining health, loyalty rewards and the digital equivalent of a gold star.

You can earn rewards in any of the following programs: Aeroplan, Cineplex SCENE, More Rewards, Petro Canada Petro-Points.

Get extra points when signing up by using my Bonus Code: heatherm4933

 

Bottom Line:

Carrot was already a good way to earn loyalty rewards with very little effort when it was just about doing the survey quizzes. Now, it adds an extra way to earn rewards with just a tiny bit more effort. Most of the time, you probably won’t even think about it and you’ll still be earning rewards. So, why wouldn’t you set this up? As always, use my Bonus Code (heatherm4933) to get yourself some extra starter points.