Upkeep vs MoveSpring: Free Step Challenges for Friends, Not Just Coworkers

MoveSpring: Built for Companies, Not for You

MoveSpring is now Wellbeing+, the corporate wellbeing app from Reward Gateway. Its Admin Center lets an employer build challenges, manage users and configure the program. Users can join challenges, set a personal step goal each month, and see team leaderboards and group goals.

But Wellbeing+ is an employer program. Reward Gateway's page asks you to request a demo, publishes no price and does not describe a sign-up for individuals. If your company does not use it, or if you want to challenge your college roommates, your running group or your family, you need a different app.

This is where Upkeep takes a fundamentally different approach. Upkeep is built from the ground up for individuals and friend groups. You download the app, create an account in seconds, invite your friends through a simple link, and start a challenge immediately. No corporate admin. No employer contract. No waiting for your employer to decide that wellness is a priority this quarter. You are in control of your own accountability group. Members join free.

The Manual Entry Problem

Wellbeing+ lets a user without a wearable connect a smartphone or enter data manually. Reward Gateway presents this as inclusive, and for a workplace program it can be. But in a competitive challenge it means a number on the leaderboard can be typed in, not walked.

In a casual corporate wellness setting, this might be tolerable. Most employees participating in a company challenge are not trying to game the system. But for anyone who takes their fitness seriously, or for groups where real bragging rights are on the line, manual entry turns a step challenge into an honor system. And honor systems do not scale.

Upkeep eliminates this problem entirely. Every step must come from Apple Health on iPhone or Health Connect on Android. Manually entered steps do not count, period. Upkeep checks synced days, and a day that does not look like real walking can be removed from a challenge result. When your friend group sees the leaderboard, everyone knows the numbers are real. That is what makes the competition meaningful and the accountability genuine.

Challenges With Friends, Not Just Coworkers

There is an important distinction between competing with coworkers in a company-mandated wellness program and competing with friends who genuinely hold you accountable. Corporate step challenges often suffer from low engagement because the motivation is external: an HR email, a small gift card incentive, or a wellness credit on your insurance. When the challenge ends, so does the activity.

Friend-based accountability works differently. When your best friend can see that you have not hit your step goal for three days in a row, the motivation is personal. When your college group chat lights up because someone just overtook the leader on the leaderboard, the competition feels real. This is intrinsic motivation, and it is far more sustainable than any corporate wellness incentive.

Upkeep is designed around this principle. Private groups are created by invite link, keeping the circle tight and the accountability genuine. Any host can turn on auto-roll, so a new round with the same people starts when the challenge ends. Your consistency score tracks not just how many steps you take, but how reliably you show up day after day. And because the groups are yours, not your employer's, they persist through job changes, relocations, and life transitions. Your accountability network belongs to you, not your company's wellness vendor.

Wellbeing+ is set up by an employer in its Admin Center. Upkeep's groups are built around the people in them, so they do not depend on where anyone works.

What Happened to MoveSpring?

Reward Gateway | Edenred acquired MoveSpring in March 2023. MoveSpring was the first version of Wellbeing+, which is the product name Reward Gateway uses today. To get Wellbeing+, an employer requests a demo.

Upkeep is a consumer app for friend groups, families and teams. Anyone can download it and start a challenge. Members join free, and only the host pays for a bigger or longer challenge: Upkeep Pro allows groups of 16 to 250 people and challenges of up to 30 days, and a Creator Pass covers one challenge of up to 50 people and 30 days.