Step challenges you can join without knowing anybody
Most step challenge apps ask you to round up friends before you can start. That is the step where most people stop. An open challenge is a public step challenge Upkeep publishes for everyone at once. One tap to join, no invite, no group to organise, and your steps verified automatically from the day you start.
An open challenge is a themed step challenge any Upkeep user whose recent step average fits the target can join in one tap. Upkeep sets the daily step target, the number of days and how many rest days you get; you just join and walk. Steps come straight from Apple Health or Health Connect, never typed in by hand, and the same anti-cheat checks apply as in a private challenge. It is free, it needs no invite, and you can run one alongside your own private challenges.
Running now
Join any of these in one tap
How an open challenge works
Four steps, and only one of them is yours
1. Upkeep publishes the challenge
Each open challenge has a theme, a daily step target, a start date and a fixed run of days. Some allow rest days, some do not. All of that is set before it opens, so everybody who joins is walking to the same rules.
2. You join with one tap
No invite code, no group to assemble, no waiting for anyone to accept. Open the app, find the challenge and join it. If it has already started you can still join. You simply begin from the day you arrive.
3. Your steps count themselves
Upkeep reads your step count directly from Apple Health on iPhone, or Health Connect on Android. There is nothing to log and nothing to submit. Hit the daily target and the day counts; miss it and it does not, unless you have a rest day left.
4. It ends, and you get the record
On the last day the challenge closes and you get the final standings along with your own count of days hit and days missed. Open challenges are one-off events, so a finished one does not restart. New ones are published from time to time.
Finish one, keep the badge
Clear an open challenge and its badge stays on your Open Challenges screen
You earn the badge when you hit the daily step target on enough days to clear the challenge, not only when you finish first. Finish first and your badge gets a gold rim and a trophy. Tap a badge to see the result that earned it.
Open challenge or private challenge?
Same engine underneath. The difference is who is in the room.
| Open challenge | Private challenge | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can join | Any Upkeep user whose recent step average fits the target | Only people you invite |
| Invite needed | ✗ | ✓ |
| Who sets the rules | Upkeep | The host |
| Group size | Open-ended | Up to 250 people with Upkeep Pro |
| Length | A fixed run of days set by Upkeep | Up to 30 days with Upkeep Pro |
| Automatic step verification | ✓ | ✓ |
| Anti-cheat checks | ✓ | ✓ |
| Counts towards your streak | ✓ | ✓ |
| Starts a new round when it ends | ✗ | If the host turns on auto-roll |
| Cost to join | Free | Free |
| Cost to host | Upkeep publishes it | Free; the host needs Upkeep Pro or a Creator Pass for a bigger or longer challenge |
Who open challenges are for
You just installed the app
A private group challenge needs friends to accept your invite before it starts. An open challenge needs nobody. You can be walking against other people on day one instead of waiting for friends to accept an invite.
Your group went quiet
Groups drift. An open challenge gives you something to walk towards that does not depend on anyone else showing up, and it runs alongside your private challenges rather than replacing them.
You want a bigger room
A group of friends is a good group. A public field is a different kind of pressure. If a small leaderboard stopped motivating you, an open challenge widens the field.
Open challenge questions
The things people ask before joining
An open step challenge is a public step challenge that you can join without an invite, if your recent step average fits its daily target. Upkeep publishes them with a theme, a daily step target and a fixed run of days. You tap once to join, and from then on it works exactly like a private challenge: your steps are read automatically from Apple Health or Health Connect and you appear on the standings with everyone else who joined.
A private challenge needs a host to set it up and invite people, and only those people can see it. An open challenge is published by Upkeep, needs no invite and no organising, and is open to every Upkeep user whose recent step average fits its target. A private group can have up to 250 people with Upkeep Pro. Everything else is the same: the same verification, the same daily target, the same rest days, and joining is free in both.
No. That is the point of them. A private challenge needs a group you have already assembled, which is the single biggest reason people never start one. An open challenge lets you start walking against other people on the day you install the app.
Yes. Joining an open challenge is free. There is no entry fee, no stake and no subscription required to join one or to appear on its standings.
The same way as in every other Upkeep challenge. Steps sync from Apple Health on iPhone or Health Connect on Android. Manually entered steps do not count. Upkeep checks synced days. A day that does not look like real walking can be removed from a challenge result.
It finishes on its last day and you get a results screen with the final standings and your own record of days hit and days missed. Open challenges are one-off events rather than a weekly recurring series, so a finished one does not restart. New ones are published from time to time.
Yes. You can run an open challenge alongside a private group challenge or a solo challenge, and every day counts for both.
Join the next one
Open challenges live on the Social tab. Install Upkeep, connect Apple Health or Health Connect, and join whatever is running.
Members join free. Only the host needs Upkeep Pro or a Creator Pass for a bigger or longer challenge.