Park runs to be rewarded by lifestyle app
Mobile phones at centre of radical government plans to address the country’s burgeoning obesity crisis
A GOVERNMENT app to encourage healthy living will use QR codes at gyms and park runs to verify activity and prevent users cheating the system, the man leading the scheme has suggested.
Participants will also be able to choose their own rewards, which could include practical benefits such as food and fuel vouchers, although details are yet to be finalised. The governmentbacked programme aims to encourage families to switch to healthier food and take more exercise as part of radical plans to tackle Britain’s obesity crisis.
A pilot version of the app will launch at the start of next year in one region and, if successful, will be rolled out across the country.
About three fifths (63 per cent) of adults in England are overweight and 28 per cent are considered obese.
Sir Keith Mills, the entrepreneur behind air miles and the Nectar card scheme, has been tasked by No10 to lead the programme.
It comes after Boris Johnson launched a raft of measures this summer to tackle growing levels of obesity in Britain, including ending “buy one get one free” deals on unhealthy food.
The app will track users’ healthy habits and allow them to “collect currency” that can be redeemed for a range of rewards, including cinema and theme park tickets, Sir Keith said yesterday at the Ukactive conference.
Speaking exclusively to The Daily Telegraph after his speech, Sir Keith said the biggest challenge for the app was how it would verify users’ activities and measure the impact of the programme.
“My experience of running very, very large programmes is that a small percentage, usually less than 10 per cent of people that join, cheat,” he said.
Details of the software to be used to track users’ activities are under discussion but they are likely to feature a QR code check-in system, he added.
“You would turn up [at a park run], you’d show your phone, which would have a QR code on it, and ‘will it follow you all the way around the 5k?’ No, but it will say you’ve turned up to run.
“And if you join Weight Watchers, you have to take your phone every week and get it scanned so we know you’re going.
“It’s not rocket science, but the object of the exercise isn’t just ‘join the program and tell us you’ve lost 20lbs and you get rewarded’, that’s not the way it’s going to work,” he added. It could also be possible to validate a participant’s progress during the programme by working with pharmacies to install electronic scales inside stores that would scan an app user’s QR code and record their weight.
An user’s supermarket shopping could also be tracked through the app by linking it to the retailer’s loyalty card scheme, Sir Keith explained.
Discussions are taking place with major British supermarkets and the early indications are that they are “very willing” to take part, he said.
Healthy food, such as fruit and vegetables, in a shopper’s basket would earn them points and technology to track how many calories are in supermarket baskets could also be used.
“If your calories next week are down, you could get rewarded for it,” Sir Keith said.
A company has now been awarded the contract to run the scheme but which firm, and full details of next year’s pilot, are yet to be disclosed.
It is understood a master contractor will oversee the project and outsource some elements to other companies.
Rewards will be based on what persuades people to stick to permanent healthy lifestyle choices and could differ from region to region and even between people of different socioeconomic status, Sir Keith said.