Official competition rules

1. Rules for everyone

• Steps that count: only steps measured by a device (phone, watch or band) and recorded in Apple Health or Health Connect. iPhone and Android users compete together under exactly the same rules.
• Manual steps never count. Steps typed in by hand don't count in any challenge, competition or leaderboard. They still count toward your personal goal and streaks.
• A day is your own local day, midnight to midnight wherever you are. Start and end dates for workplace competitions are shown in the company's time zone.
• No daily cap. Every step counts. A day over 50,000 steps, or 10 times your usual daily average, is held for review: it counts only up to 50,000 until our support team checks it. If it's genuine, the rest is added back.
• Syncing: each sync sends today and the previous 2 days. Steps that reach StepsMaxxing more than 3 days late don't count for leaderboards.
• Results lock 48 hours after the last day. Steps synced within 48 hours of the end still count. Then results are final.
• Fair play: cheating (steps you didn't walk yourself) is handled as described in our terms of use. Reviews are done by our support team, never by HR.
• Bots (pace buddies) never take part in challenges or competitions.

2. Personal challenges

Who and how long

• Duel: 2 people. Group race: 3 to 20 people.
• Length: Weekend (Saturday and Sunday), 3, 7, 14 or 30 days.
• You can be in up to 5 live or pending challenges at once.

Scoring

Ranked by total device-measured steps over the challenge.

Starting and joining

• A challenge starts on its start date with everyone who has accepted.
• Duel: the other person must accept within 48 hours of the invite, or the duel is cancelled.
• Group race: needs at least 2 people who have accepted, or it's cancelled and the creator is told. Invitees can still join up to 48 hours after the start, and their steps count from day 1.
• If you hide your steps from friends, the people in a challenge still see your challenge total.

Leaving and cancelling

• The creator can cancel only before the start.
• Anyone can leave at any time. They show as "left" and are no longer ranked. If a duel opponent leaves, the other person wins.

Ties and results

• Duel: a tie is a draw. Group race: tied people share the place.
• Results are final 48 hours after the last day. If a big day is still under review at that point, only its first 50,000 steps count, so results are always on time.

3. Workplace competitions

Organiser and eligibility

• Each workplace competition is organised by the employer (through its HR team), using StepsMaxxing. The employer sets the dates, teams and awards.
• Open to employees the employer invites, who sign in and agree to the consent screen. Joining is always optional.
• Users under 18 can't join workplace competitions.
• A competition lasts 1 to 31 days. Joining closes at the halfway point.

Teams

• HR picks the team type: department, location, custom names, or auto-balanced. Every team has at least 5 people who have joined.
• You can ask to switch teams before the start or in the first 2 days. HR approves or declines, and your steps move with you.

Scoring

• Average steps per member is the default: the team's total device-measured steps divided by everyone on the team who joined, including people who walked zero. HR may choose total steps instead for a competition; the competition screen always shows which one applies.
• Late joiners count from day 1: if you join after the start, your steps from the start date are counted.
• Leaving: you can leave a live competition at any time, but you can't rejoin it. Your team keeps your steps so far, and you still count as a member (at zero for the remaining days) until the end.
• Someone who joined but never syncs counts as zero.
• If a big day is still under review when results lock, the review can still change the result before winners are confirmed.

Tie-breaks

1. If two teams have the same score, the team where a bigger share of members walked on more days wins.
2. If that's still equal, it's a shared win.

Changes during a competition

HR can extend a live competition's end date by up to 3 days, or cancel it. HR can't change scores, see anyone's steps, or change the scoring, team mode or other dates of a live competition.

4. Prizes: company recognition awards

• Prizes in workplace competitions are company recognition awards, provided by the employer, not by StepsMaxxing, Apple or Google. The employer describes each award and is responsible for delivering it.
• Awards are chosen by steps, never by chance. There are no lotteries, raffles or random draws.
• Award types:
  • Top team: the team ranked first. Team awards go to the whole team.
  • Top individual: the person with the most device-measured steps.
  • Most improved: the biggest percentage rise in daily average steps, compared with that person's own 14 days before the competition. You need at least 10 days of synced history in those 14 days to be eligible.
  • Other: an award the employer describes in advance (for example "best team spirit"). The employer chooses the winner on merit, never by chance.
• One person can win at most one individual award per competition. If they would win two, they keep the higher one (top individual first) and the other passes to the next person in line.
• A winner's name is shown to HR only if the winner agrees. If they'd rather stay private, they still get their badge and HR sees "Winner chose to stay private".
• Personal challenges have no prizes beyond badges and share cards.

Apple and Google are not sponsors of, and are not involved in, any competition or prize.

5. Questions

Questions about a workplace competition: ask your HR team. Questions about these rules or a result: hello@stepsmaxxing.com.