Earn with steps

Lock Instagram
until you've
hit your steps.

Tonic keeps doomscrolling locked until you've hit today's step goal, counted by your iPhone on its own, with no watch and nothing to log. When the steps are in, it unlocks your apps by itself. Set a goal to hit each day, or bank as you walk, a minute for every hundred steps.

🚶
Walk 6,000 steps today
your iPhone counts them on its own
4,120 of 6,000
then they open: Instagram TikTok
🚶
Or bank it as you walk
100 steps → 1 min of reward time
23 min banked
2,300 steps today

Where the walk goes

You never decide to skip the walk.
You decide to sit down for a minute first.

The shoes are by the door. The phone is in your hand. Twenty minutes of reels later it is getting dark and the walk has moved to tomorrow, again. Tonic puts the steps in front of the feed, so the scroll comes after the walk.

This afternoon, at 3

Six thousand steps. Then the feed.

Here is the whole rule, at the times it happens.

3:10 PM

You reach for Instagram

The lock screen says how many steps are left today and offers to check Apple Health right then, in case you already walked them.

Instagram, locked

1,880 steps to go

Have you walked?
Not yet

3:10 to 3:40 PM

You walk

Nothing to start, log or claim. Your iPhone counts every step in your pocket, live, and Tonic reads the same total the Health app shows.

🚶
Walk 6,000 steps today
your iPhone counts them on its own
5,410 of 6,000
counting
then they open: Instagram TikTok

3:40 PM

The feed opens on its own

One notification, and Instagram and TikTok are open when you reach for them. You never open Tonic to claim it. Very rarely iOS runs a few minutes late; tapping the notification unlocks them right away.

Walk done. Instagram is unlocked. now

Your rules

Two ways walkers set it up.

The steps always come first. You pick the shape of the deal.

The daily gate

Steps first

Until today's steps are in, the scroll apps stay locked. Hit the number, and they open on their own for the rest of the day. Tomorrow morning the count starts at zero and the walk comes first again.

🚶 6,000 steps → Apps open all day

The bank

Earn & spend

Every hundred steps earns a minute, then your rate applies, from three minutes of scroll per minute earned to one per three. Spend it tonight or let it roll over. A long Saturday walk can pay for a week of quick checks.

🚶 3,000 steps → 30 min banked

How locked is "locked"? Either way, you pick.

A pauseA short wait before it opens, and about 15 minutes inside if you push through. Then the lock is back.
A pause that growsYou can push through, but it pushes back harder with every visit that day.
Full lockNo way in until the steps are in.

What counts

  • Steps your iPhone counts in your pocket or your hand, live, with nothing switched on.
  • Steps from an Apple Watch, a Garmin or a Fitbit, through Apple Health, once sharing is on in their app.
  • A walk Apple Health missed, logged yourself from the rule. It counts right away.

What doesn't

  • A walk with the phone left at home and nothing on your wrist. Nothing counted it, so there is nothing to read.
  • Oura and Whoop as step counters. Oura shares steps in a limited way; Whoop has none. A workout goal suits them better.
  • Yesterday's steps. The count starts fresh at your daily reset, 5 AM unless you change it.

A companion, not another step counter

Keep the tracker you already wear.

Tonic reads one number: the step total in Apple Health, the same one you see in the Health app. Your iPhone writes it on its own; a watch or tracker adds the steps you take without your phone. When the goal is reached, Tonic opens your apps by itself.

Counts steps from

📱 ⌚ Garmin Connect Google Health (Fitbit)

your iPhone alone, or any tracker that shares with Apple Health

Apple Health Apple Health
Tonic Tonic
Walk done. Instagram is unlocked. now

One-time setup for a separate tracker: switch on Apple Health sharing in its app (it is off by default) and allow Tonic to read Steps, which sits under Read, a separate list from Write. Your iPhone's own steps need neither.

Which trackers count

Device by device, in plain words.

Tonic never talks to a tracker directly. If its steps reach the Health app, they count.

iPhone on its own

Counts your steps live, with no setup and nothing to buy. If the phone is usually in your pocket, your steps already reach Tonic. A separate tracker only matters when you walk without it.

Apple Watch

The fullest fit: steps, workouts, brisk minutes and daylight all count, mostly with nothing to switch on.

Garmin Connect

Garmin

Works once you turn on Apple Health sharing in Garmin Connect (More, Settings, Connected Apps, Apple Health, with Steps allowed). Steps arrive on a delay, not live; opening Garmin Connect pushes the latest ones into Health within a minute or two.

Google Health (Fitbit)

Fitbit (now the Google Health app)

Writes steps, workouts and mindfulness to Apple Health since its August 2026 update, once sharing is on. Steps land in batches when the app syncs, not step by step.

Oura

Oura

Built for sleep and readiness, not steps; its step and workout sharing is limited. If you wear an Oura and carry your phone, the phone's steps do the work.

WHOOP

Whoop

Has no step counter. If it shares workouts to Apple Health, a workout goal can work instead.

Two devices at once

If your phone and your watch both count, Apple Health uses one at a time and Tonic shows the same total as the Health app. A high count can only reach your goal sooner, never lock you out.

iPad

An iPad on its own has nothing counting steps. With an iPhone or Watch in the picture, steps reach the iPad through iCloud once you have opened the Health app there.

Walkers set up things like this.

"Because it knows when I've hit my steps and unlocks automatically I actually stuck with this one." App Store review, July 2026

Quick answers

Do I need an Apple Watch or a Fitbit?

No. Your iPhone counts steps on its own, live, as long as it is on you. A separate tracker only matters when you walk without your phone.

Does it work with Garmin, Fitbit or Oura?

Garmin and Fitbit, yes, once you switch on Apple Health sharing in their app. Tonic reads the step total in Apple Health, never the tracker itself, and tracker steps arrive on a delay rather than live. Oura shares steps in a limited way and Whoop has no step counter, so a workout goal suits them better.

Do I have to open Tonic after my walk?

No. When your steps reach Apple Health, Tonic notices in the background and unlocks the apps itself, usually within a minute; the exact timing is up to iOS. Very rarely it runs late, and opening Tonic or tapping the notification unlocks them right away.

My steps aren't showing up.

Three things to check. Sharing is on in your tracker's app; it is off by default. Steps is allowed under Read in iPhone Settings, Health, Data Access & Devices, Tonic; Read and Write are separate lists. And opening your tracker's app pushes its latest steps into Health within a minute or two. If Health missed a walk, log it from the rule and it counts right away.

What about a treadmill, or a walk without my phone?

If nothing on you counted the steps, Apple Health has nothing to give Tonic. A watch or tracker on your wrist fixes that. Otherwise log the walk yourself from the rule; only today can be logged, and a log can be deleted.

What does it cost?

Free to start: lock two apps and earn from one source, steps included, for as long as you like. Tonic Unlimited covers your whole phone for $29.99 a year or $9.99 a month, with the first 7 days free.

Steps from Garmin, Fitbit and other trackers, step by step → · Steps not counting?

Checked against the app on September 28, 2026.

Start with two apps and today's steps.

1
Pick the apps that keep you on the couchInstagram, TikTok, the one you open without deciding to.
2
Pick the numberA goal that is a stretch on an ordinary day, or a bank that grows a minute per hundred steps.
3
The walk first, then the feedThe steps happen first, and the apps are simply open when you get back.
Get Tonic free Free to start · no account needed · iPhone and iPad, iOS 17.4 or later

Tonic is an independent companion and isn't affiliated with Apple, Garmin, Google, Fitbit, Oura or Whoop.

Other ways to earn: today's run · any productive app · all of them