[One Day Ten Thousand Steps, One Day Thousand Characters] "Walking ten thousand steps is better together... Let's walk together with 'WalkOn'"

Jeong Haegwon, CEO of Swallaby
Operating walking-based health management platform 'WalkOn'
Positive user response through community-based service
"Consistently walking with people around you is important"

"Walking is an exercise that anyone can easily do anytime. Through walking exercise, I want to create a platform where neighbors and friends can connect and develop fun and healthy habits."

Jung Hae-gwon, CEO of Swallaby, which operates the walking-based community healthcare platform ‘WalkOn,’ said this in an interview with Asia Economy regarding future service plans. The intention is to create a service that helps cultivate healthy habits by connecting local communities through walking exercise.

WalkOn is a service launched in 2015 by Swallaby, a Samsung Electronics internal venture. The company name Swallaby was created by adding ‘S’ for Samsung Electronics to ‘Wallaby,’ an animal symbolizing a leap. CEO Jung, who was a Samsung Electronics researcher, conceived a service that provides rewards based on walking exercise, started a startup, and realized it through WalkOn. Although many services now offer rewards based on step counts, this concept was rare at the time.

Description of the functions of the WalkOn app.
[Image source=WalkOn homepage capture]

WalkOn’s development into the current community-centered platform began with customer requests. Local governments and public health centers running health promotion programs for citizens through the WalkOn app expressed a desire to directly manage the health of local residents. In response, a community feature was added exclusively for residents of specific areas or company employees, receiving enthusiastic responses. Users shared their step counts within their communities and experienced the benefits of exercising together.

Based on its community features, WalkOn has grown to have a cumulative user base of 2 million. Especially, the demand for citizen health management communities from local governments is significant. So far, over 250 local governments have operated health management programs using WalkOn. Considering that there are a total of 226 basic local governments in South Korea, almost all local governments are utilizing WalkOn.

WalkOn, which has evolved by emphasizing motivation through walking together, offers community-type services via its app. Users can create walking communities as small groups, recording and comparing their daily walking activities with friends. Companies can manage employees’ walking records and provide appropriate rewards through communities exclusive to their staff. Similarly, local governments can check individual walking records within communities composed of local residents and offer health-related advice and rewards.

Walking monitoring feature of the WalkOn app (left) and walking course recommendation feature around me. [Image source=WalkOn app capture]

There is also a ‘Challenge’ feature that rewards users based on their step counts. Companies partnered with WalkOn provide their products to users who meet certain step count criteria, using this as a promotional tool. Recently, a health food company held a challenge event giving its products to WalkOn users who consistently walked 10,000 steps daily.

Functions that support walking exercise itself are also well implemented. Using smartphone location data, the app shows users’ daily step counts, travel distances, and walking intensity in real time. It analyzes activity levels by time of day to advise on exercise direction and provides daily content helpful for health management. Additionally, it recommends nearby walking-friendly paths, making it easy to plan walking routes.

The reason CEO Jung launched the WalkOn service is primarily because walking is an exercise anyone can do that is beneficial to health. In fact, Swallaby partnered with Seoul Asan Medical Center to monitor patients’ activity levels using WalkOn, and the results showed that patients who walked experienced reduced stress. CEO Jung emphasized, "Walking is a light physical activity that requires no special equipment," adding, "It helps not only mental health but also boosts immunity, prevents adult diseases, and improves lung health."

Jae Kwon Jeong, CEO of Swallaby, which operates the exercise and health management platform WalkOn, is explaining the features of the WalkOn app at the office in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

The walking exercise method he recommends is ‘walking consistently.’ CEO Jung himself got the idea for the WalkOn service from his own experience of having a low daily step count. Because consistency is important, WalkOn incorporates game-like elements such as competition and rewards to motivate users. He advised, "Since I lacked walking exercise in daily life, I wanted to enjoy walking through the platform. Even if you can’t reach 10,000 steps a day immediately, it’s important to walk consistently with people around you."

The future vision of WalkOn is to become a service that creates healthy communities connected through walking exercise. Not only companies and local governments but also small local businesses want to use WalkOn to promote their shops and become a channel where local residents gather around walking. CEO Jung said, "Through WalkOn, I want to create healthy individuals and healthy groups, connect them organically, and build healthy cities," adding, "In the future, I want to expand in a direction that positively impacts society, like plogging."