COMPLETE GUIDE
Family walking challenges that actually get done
Short answer: choose the scoring rule before the app. A raw step race crowns the longest walker, share-of-goal scoring rewards low goals, and a shared target can let one person carry everyone. The challenges that get done score each person against their own goal and cap what any one person adds. The table below sorts five apps and ours by how they score.
A family walking challenge has a harder job than an office one. The people in it range from a teenager to a grandparent, and they will still share a dinner table when it ends. This guide compares the apps by the one thing that decides how a family challenge feels: what each app scores.
We make Chonky Corgo, and its Pack sits in the table with its weaknesses written down. The Pack boss numbers come from our own server code. Each figure carries the date it was checked.
What makes a family walking challenge fail?
Most family walking challenges fail on the scoring rule, not on effort. A raw step race lets one person's 15,000 steps make another person's 3,400 look like failure, even when the 3,400 beat a personal goal. Older family members also have lower useful targets, so equal raw numbers are not equal effort.
A 2022 Lancet Public Health meta-analysis of 47,471 adults found mortality risk kept falling with more steps until about 6,000 to 8,000 a day at age 60 and over. Below 60, the curve flattened at 8,000 to 10,000. One example family, scored four ways with the arithmetic shown, is in family step challenge ideas.
Do family walking challenges actually raise steps?
Yes, in the one family trial that tested it. In BE FIT, 200 adults from 94 families played a points game for 12 weeks and walked 953 more steps a day than control families. Twelve weeks after the game ended, they still walked 494 more. Game families met their goals on 53% of days, against 32%.
A larger trial, STEP UP, adds a warning for co-op designs. Among 602 adults placed in groups of strangers, competition added 920 steps a day and kept 569 after the game. Collaboration added 637 and fell to a non-significant 126. STEP UP's own authors contrast that with BE FIT's families, which suggests social ties matter. Both trials are unpacked in do walking challenges work.
Which scoring model should a family pick?
Pick the model whose failure your family can live with. Raw steps reward the longest walker. Share of own goal rewards effort but tempts people to set low goals. Goal days are fair across ages but cannot recover from a sick day. A co-op target feels friendly, but one person can carry it.
| Scoring model | Who wins | How it breaks | Where you find it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw steps | The longest walker | One person wins most days, and the rest stop checking | Pacer's Step Challenge |
| Share of own goal | Whoever beats their own number by the most | Rewards a low goal unless goals come from real averages and the score is capped | Apple Fitness competitions |
| Goal days | Whoever hits their own goal on the most days | A sick day cannot be won back | Stridekick's Streak mode and Pacer's Daily Step Goal format |
| Co-op target | Everyone together, or nobody | One person can carry it, or a small group can fall short | Chonky Corgo's Pack (ours) |
Mixing two models often beats picking one. A goal-day count keeps everyone in the same game. A capped shared target then gives the family something to win together.
How do the family walking apps compare?
The apps split cleanly by scoring model. Apple Fitness scores share of your own goal, Pacer's default race ranks raw steps, Stridekick offers goal days, StepUp shows step leaderboards and Steps Club keeps no score at all. Chonky Corgo, which we make, is co-op. Every fact in the table was checked on 4 October 2026.
| App | Scoring model | Who can join | Price (US) | Real weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Fitness (built in) | Share of own goal: 1 point per percent of your ring goals, up to 600 a day, for 7 days | One friend per competition. Share rings with up to 40 friends | Free, built into Apple Watch and the Fitness app | The rings measure calories, exercise and standing, not steps. Competitions are one against one, so four people need six matchups |
| Pacer | Raw steps by default: a Step Challenge ranks most total steps. A Daily Step Goal format gives a point per goal day | Friends, family, groups and teams. No member limit stated | Free, with no paywall on challenges | The default race rewards the longest walker, which is the format this guide warns about |
| Stridekick | Several modes. Streak mode scores the share of days each person hit their goal | Free plan: public challenges only, up to 10 people, up to 7 days | Private challenges need Pro 10 at $12.99 a month or $139.99 a year, paid by the organiser | A private family challenge costs the organiser a subscription, and free challenges are public |
| StepUp | Daily, weekly and monthly step leaderboards. Raw steps or share of goal: not documented | Private groups, from a few friends up | Free with ads. Optional purchases remove them | A leaderboard is the only documented format, with no documented personal-goal scoring or shared target |
| Steps Club | No score. A shared feed of friends' steps, with reactions | Free Basic plan: up to 5 friends per club | Pro $4.99 a month, or a $29.99 lifetime offer | Five friends on the free plan, and no stated contest or shared goal to pull the group toward a finish |
| Chonky Corgo (ours) | Co-op: every member's steps hit one daily Pack boss, capped at 12,000 steps each. A Daily Dash race lists members by steps. Personal goals run the solo adventure | A Pack of up to 6, each signed in with Apple | Free to download, with in-app purchases | Pack needs Sign in with Apple and holds 6 people. Boss HP does not shrink for a small Pack, so 2 new players walking 7,000 steps each beat only the 2 easiest bosses. A member with no attack in before the boss falls gets no chest |
Plans and prices change, so check each listing before you commit a family to one. The weakness column holds the thing we would want to know first, for our own row as much as anyone's.
Apple Fitness: share of your own goal, one friend at a time
Apple Fitness competitions last 7 days against one friend. Apple Watch gives 1 point for every percent you add to your rings each day, up to 600 points a day, so the score is effort against your own goals. You can share your rings with up to 40 friends. The catch for families is the pairing: a family of four needs six separate competitions to cover every pair.
Pacer: free, with a raw step race by default
Pacer says creating a step challenge, inviting your group and following the live leaderboard are all free. Pacer's Step Challenge ranks most total steps, which is the raw race described above. Pacer also offers a Daily Step Goal format that gives a point for every day you hit your goal. Pacer's goal-day format suits a mixed family better.
Stridekick: goal days, but private challenges cost money
Stridekick's Streak mode gives each person a checkmark for every day they meet the goal, then scores the percentage of days. A Personalized Goals option lets each person choose a goal within a range the organiser sets. The free plan only makes public challenges, for up to 10 people and up to 7 days. Private challenges need Pro, starting at $12.99 a month or $139.99 a year. Only the organiser pays.
StepUp and Steps Club: leaderboards and a feed
StepUp is free and supported by ads, with optional purchases to go ad-free. StepUp groups get daily, weekly and monthly step leaderboards, and StepUp does not say whether those rank raw steps or share of a goal. Steps Club keeps no score. Its free Basic plan puts up to 5 friends' steps in one shared feed, and Pro costs $4.99 a month.
What happened to Fitbit challenges?
Fitbit removed them. On 27 March 2023, Fitbit discontinued Challenges, Adventures and open groups in its app, as 9to5Google reported that day, and kept private groups with friends. A family that used Fitbit's step challenges now needs another app for the contest itself, such as one of the five in the table.
How does a Chonky Corgo Pack fight a boss?
A Pack is up to 6 players who each sign in with Apple. Every member's counted steps become attacks on one shared boss each day, and the 8 bosses run from the Forest Giant at 2,400 HP to the Giant Dinosaur at 4,800. The server counts at most 12,000 steps per member per day.
Three more server rules shape a family Pack. Only walking that ends after a member joins counts for that Pack, so nobody brings old steps in. Each member earns the day's chest only by landing at least one attack before the boss falls. And the Pack screen also has a Daily Dash, a race that lists members by steps, for families who want one.
How many steps does each member need to beat each boss?
For brand-new players, a solo walker beats only the Forest Giant, and only at 11,500 steps. Three members need 7,750 steps each for the Giant Dinosaur, and six members need 4,000 each. The table gives every boss for Packs of 1 to 6, worked out from the server formula above.
| Boss | HP | 1 member | 2 members | 3 members | 4 members | 5 members | 6 members |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Giant | 2,400 | 11,500 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 3,250 | 2,500 | 2,250 |
| Crystal Beast | 2,700 | Not possible | 6,750 | 4,750 | 3,500 | 2,750 | 2,500 |
| Marsh Monster | 3,000 | Not possible | 7,500 | 5,000 | 3,750 | 3,250 | 2,750 |
| Ice Wolf | 3,300 | Not possible | 8,000 | 5,500 | 4,250 | 3,500 | 3,000 |
| Fire Bear | 3,600 | Not possible | 8,750 | 6,000 | 4,750 | 3,750 | 3,250 |
| Storm Sheep | 3,900 | Not possible | 9,500 | 6,500 | 5,000 | 4,000 | 3,500 |
| Moon Beast | 4,200 | Not possible | 10,000 | 7,000 | 5,250 | 4,250 | 3,750 |
| Giant Dinosaur | 4,800 | Not possible | 11,500 | 7,750 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 4,000 |
Each figure assumes the least lucky timing of the 1.5 times attacks, so it holds on any day. A luckier day can save up to 250 steps in some cells. Solo is capped too: 12,000 counted steps deal about 2,560 damage, short of the Crystal Beast's 2,700.
Damage also grows with lifetime counted steps. A member with 100,000 counted steps deals about 320 damage per 1,000 steps, against about 200 for a new player. Three such members beat the Giant Dinosaur at 5,250 steps each instead of 7,750.
Why does boss HP not shrink for a small Pack?
We chose to keep boss HP fixed, and a small family pays for that choice. The same 8 bosses face a Pack of 2 and a Pack of 6. Two brand-new players walking 7,000 steps each deal about 2,900 damage, enough for the Forest Giant and the Crystal Beast but not the Marsh Monster.
The upside lands on bigger groups. A full Pack of 6 new players beats even the Giant Dinosaur on 4,000 steps each. A couple walking together wins less often, and this page states it plainly rather than leaving you to find out in week one.
Where do personal goals fit in?
Personal goals run the solo adventure alongside the Pack. In version 2.0 each player picks a daily goal from 500 to 10,000 steps, with 3,000 as the default. A day earns up to 3,000 Trail XP, the points that move the story, so a grandparent on 3,000 and a parent on 10,000 move at the same pace.
The rule takes the larger of your share of your goal and your raw steps, capped at 3,000. So 3,000 real steps always count as a full story day. Hitting your own goal also pays 70 Coins and moves your streak forward. Steps beyond 3,000 still count for the Pack, but they do not speed up the story.
How do you run a family challenge that lasts?
Set personal goals from real days, score something fair across ages, cap any shared target and agree an end date. Both walking challenge trials saw steps fall once the game stopped, so the end date belongs in the plan from the start. Then pick the app that matches the scoring model you chose.
- Measure two normal weeksUse each person's average as the starting point. In version 2.0, Chonky Corgo's setup suggests a goal from your last 14 days of Apple Health data, rounded up to the next 1,000.
- Raise goals by a third to a halfThe BE FIT families chose goals 33%, 40% or 50% above their baseline, or at least 1,000 steps more.
- Score goal days or share of goalEither one keeps the grandparent and the teenager in the same game. Cap the daily score if you use share of goal.
- Cap the shared targetCount each person up to a ceiling so one walker cannot carry the family.
- Set the end date and the next roundDecide the next challenge a week before this one ends, so the family is not left with nothing to aim at.
What else is in this guide?
Two supporting pages go deeper. The first reads the BE FIT and STEP UP trials in full, including the result that goes against co-op designs like ours. The second scores one example family four ways, with every number shown, and lists six family formats with the way each one breaks.
ARTICLE
Family step challenge ideas that do not turn into a competition
Short answer: score each person against their own goal, or pool everyone's steps toward one shared target with a cap per person. A raw step race crowns whoever walks most, so a grandparent who beats their goal can still finish last. Below, one family of four is scored four ways with the arithmetic shown, followed by the formats that break and how.
ARTICLE
Do walking challenges work? What two randomised trials found
Short answer: yes, while the game runs, and partly after. In the BE FIT trial, families playing a walking game gained 953 more steps a day than a control group. In the STEP UP trial, strangers who competed gained 920, more than a teamwork version did. After the games stopped, the families and the competitors kept part of the gain. The stranger teams did not.
Who wrote this, and what do they sell?
This guide is written by the person who builds Chonky Corgo, which appears in the comparison table with its own weaknesses. The row is labelled as ours for that reason. Competitor facts come from each company's own pages, and the Pack numbers come from our server code, all checked on 4 October 2026.
Chonky Corgo is rated 12+ on the App Store. This guide is written for adults organising a family challenge, and every app above has its own age rating worth checking.
What else do people ask?
Four questions people ask when they set up a family walking challenge. The answers use the same facts as the tables above, checked on 4 October 2026, so prices and plans may have moved if you read this much later. The Chonky Corgo answers describe version 2.0 and its server rules.
- What is the best app for a family walking challenge?
- It depends on the scoring rule you want. Apple Fitness scores share of your own goal but pairs only two people. Pacer is free and ranks raw steps by default. Stridekick scores goal days but charges the organiser for private challenges. Chonky Corgo's Pack is co-op and needs Sign in with Apple.
- Can a family walking challenge work without a leaderboard?
- Yes. Count goal days on a shared chart, or pool everyone's steps toward one capped target. In the BE FIT trial, families sharing one pool of points, kept or lost by one randomly picked member each day, walked 953 more steps a day than control families.
- How many people can join a Chonky Corgo Pack?
- Up to 6, and each member needs Sign in with Apple. Boss HP stays the same whatever the Pack size, so a Pack of 2 new players walking 7,000 steps each beats only the 2 easiest of the 8 bosses, while a Pack of 6 can beat all of them.
- Do Apple Watch competitions work for a whole family?
- Only in pairs. An Apple Fitness competition is one person against one friend for 7 days, so a family of four needs six separate competitions to cover everyone. You can share your Activity rings with up to 40 friends, which works as a family feed without a shared score.
