Boston app service pays users to live healthy

Trips to the gym and balanced meals can now offer more than health benefits, with the help of a new Boston-based service that pays users for their smart lifestyle choices.

Wellcoin, a service launched this week and marketed as the “world’s first health currency,” is a free app that lets iOS and Android users rack up store credit at businesses including Whole Foods, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Pure Barre.

“It creates a reward system,” said Wellcoin founder Dr. Glenn Laffel, a cardiologist who performed heart transplants at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for 13 years. “You can earn Wellcoins for a number of things: volunteer work, seeing a health professional, sleeping for seven hours, helping your child be healthy.”

“We’re not trying to cater to any particular community in health and wellness,” he added. “It’s welcoming and all-inclusive.”

Wellcoin has 14 employees. About 65 partners pay the company commissions. One thousand Wellcoins is the equivalent of $10.

Users can post their healthy activities and can provide four different forms of proof: photos, automated data from products such as Fitbit, or their friends or fitness instructors can back up their claims.

Nancy Sweatt, 40, of Newton, has been using the beta version for about a year and a half and has accumulated 166,000 Wellcoins, some of which she has spent on sport gear for her three kids.

“It gets my family involved. My kids are always thinking of new activities to post,” said Sweatt, who works as a physical therapist. “It definitely keeps me accountable.”

Originally Posted HERE