WayBetter: Real weight loss 17+

Put some skin in the game...Invest in yourself!

Wow. What a great idea! Turn weight loss into a game! I realize that the whole idea of making it a "competition" isn't for everyone, but it's more about finding that motivation, and knowing you're doing it with a whole community of people along side you!

It's not a "win" or "lose", but it's extremely satisfying to get a few extra bucks in your pocket after successfully completing one of the challenges! The challenges can be pretty easy (drinking a glass of water a day), somewhere in the middle (journaling 3x/wk), or far more difficult (getting in a certain number of daily steps based on your average, then slowly increasing it).

Just sign up already! You won't regret it! Oh...and if you don't feel like spending money to enter each challenge? You can always just tag a friend as an accountability partner...You just won't be in for any of the cash rewards from the pot at the end.

Thinly veiled gambling

I thought I was joining a healthy eating challenge and paid $10 for what I believed would be an engaging and motivating experience and upon downloading and opening the app at the beginning of the challenge I was prompted to gamble with my own money by betting $20 against myself for completing the challenge and sharing the pool of money other users gambled with. Since I didn’t opt to gamble, at the end of the challenge I was declared a “winner” but offered no reward. With over 400 participants and a pool of less than $4000, had we all “won” our takeaway would have been less than $10 so you would essentially be at a loss from the $30 you had already paid out of pocket. I found this whole business model tacky and misleading. Not to mention the poor user experience offered. Each time you log into the app, to view the challenge you participated in requires additional clicks to navigate there. You don’t open the app and arrive at your own challenge feed. Instead there is a feed of all the other challenges happening and if you try to click to read more of the posts that appear you are prompted to pay even more money to become a member and ultimately to join and gamble on those challenges too. Unless gambling is your thing, I’d recommend avoiding this app.

Developer Response ,

Hi there. We'd like to offer some clarification. Our apps are NOT gambling, gambling involves games of chance. For our games, the outcome is 100% up to the player - as long as you meet your goals and show verification, you win. So there is no game of chance with our apps :) All players who reach their goal and place a bet on themselves will share in their cut of the pot. As for the math you referenced, it is incorrect. The $10 was a one-time join fee (because you chose to not join membership), and the optional $20 is what goes into the pot. The pot is then split 100% between all players who accomplish their goals and placed a bet, their take away would be at least $20 if not more, depending on how many players won/did not win.

If you'd like to discuss your thoughts and account further please reach out to us at support@waybetter.com

Great incentives to do what you should be doing anyway!

It’s funny how we often don’t do the things we should do, or DO do the things we shouldn’t do. Just establishing good habits or breaking bad ones should be their own reward - but alas it is part of the human condition that we self destruct (either actively or passively).

Why this silly app with admittedly small rewards is so powerful is that you want to win real money, prizes, and bragging rights. You don’t want to “go it alone”. Now you don’t have to.

Then something amazing happens - the real reward of a changed life starts becoming more tangible and it changes everything. And once you have victory in one are of life, your confidence grows and you’re hooked on self improvement. You discover that one little goal at a time, you can literally do anything.