National Steps Challenge Season 6 - guide to registration, steps tracker collection & rewards

Haven’t you heard? The National Steps Challenge Season 6 is about to begin, on Oct 1, 2021! This will run through March 31, 2022.

Now heartland uncles and aunties will have something to do in between episodes of Vincenzo!

If you have no clue what this whole “HPB step challenge” thingy is, but are intrigued by rumours of a free wearable steps tracker and shopping vouchers just for walking around, you’ve come to the right place.

I’m going to tell you all about the HPB Steps Challenge, what free stuff you can get, and how to sign your lazy ass up.

This article is NOT sponsored by the Health Promotion Board. Don’t anyhow say me. I’m just very committed to getting freebies from the government.

Tell me all about National Steps Challenge Season 6!

In case you’ve been living under a rock this whole time, the Health Promotion Board’s National Steps Challenge is one of the easiest and fastest ways to earn government-sponsored freebies.

It’s free for all members of the public to participate in, as long as you’re aged 17 years old and above and have a valid NRIC or FIN number.

The only problem is that the National Steps Challenge has been on hiatus for over a year thanks to Covid-19.

But now that the virus looks to be under control (at least in Singapore), the National Steps Challenge is back for Season 6. This runs from Oct 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.

Here’s how to sign up:

1. Download the HPB Healthy 365 app
2. Join the National Steps Challenge on the app
3. Link the app to your fitness tracking device (can be your phone as well)
4. Earn Healthpoints based on the number of steps you take each day
5. Redeem your Healthpoints for vouchers

Come on, if tech-challenged senior citizens can do it, so can you.

ALSO READ: HPB wants you to step it up… in bed: Get at least 7 hours' sleep a day and earn up to $30 e-vouchers

Got any free HPB steps tracker to collect?

Yes! The new Season 6 fitness tracker comes with a 1.3-inch colour display, Blood Oxygen (SpO₂) measurement function and sleep tracking function. These trackers will only be available to collect from Oct 11, 2021.

How to exchange a faulty HPB steps tracker

“But my old HPB tracker died on me! How like that?”

Don’t worry though, if your National Steps Challenge Season 4 or 5 tracker is faulty and still within the 1-year warranty period, you can get a 1-for-1 exchange to an Axtro Fit tracker.

To make a 1-for-1 exchange of your faulty HPB steps tracker from season 4 or 5, you’ll have to make an appointment at the following National Steps Challenge customer care centres:

Of course, a 1-for-1 exchange is not without its terms and conditions. View the full list here. Do note that the customer care centres at Bugis Junction and Tampines 1 have ceased operations since 15 Sep 2019.

Earning Healthpoints in the Steps Rewards category

Once you’re all set up with your Healthy 365 app and free HPB steps tracker (or any other compatible tracker), you can start earning points for every step you take… and eventually turn those points into vouchers.

How do you start earning points to get you to that very first voucher? Here’s the earn rates for walking around:

Activity	Healthpoints awarded
Signing up for the National Steps Challenge Season 6	350
5,000 to 7,499 steps in a day	10
7,500 to 9,999 steps in a day	25
10,000 or more steps in a day	Up to 40

Once your total hits 750 Healthpoints, you would complete Tier 1 and can get your hands on your first $5 voucher.

Then you continue walking to level up to the next tier. The “gameplay” is similar to classic console games, where you try to clear tiers.

Every time you clear a tier, you get another $5 voucher. For the National Steps Challenge Season 6, there are 6 tiers, with the biggest reward from tier 2 ($10). Every tier afterwards gets a $5 increment.

For National Steps Challenge Season 6, you can earn a maximum of $30 in vouchers just by walking 10,000 steps a day.

Once you’ve completed all tiers through 1 to 6, you can participate in a new sleep challenge, which rewards you with 25 healthpoints by clocking in at least 7 hours of sleep a day.

ALSO READ: HPB x Fitbit’s Live Healthy SG: Is it worth signing up for a 'free' Fitbit?

Earning Healthpoints in the MVPA Rewards category

In the National Steps Challenge Season 4, HPB realised that there are ways to stay fit apart from walking around all the time. To accommodate this, they’ve released a new “side quest” called MVPA Rewards (MVPA = Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activities). 

MVPA is any kind of activity* that elevates your heart rate above 63per cent of your maximum heart rate. There’s a formula to calculate your maximum: 220 – your age = maximum heart rate (in beats per minute or bpm). To qualify and accrue points for this activity, you must first declare your ability to participate in physical activities. 

Here’s how you earn Healthpoints with MVPA:

Activity	Healthpoints awarded
Signing up for the National Steps Challenge Season 6	350
10 to 19 min of MVPA	10
20 to 29 min of MVPA	25
30 min or more of MVPA	Up to 40

Much like the steps rewards, you will get a $5 voucher when you hit your first 750 Healthpoints. The next level will be another 1500 Healthpoints for tier 2. Then another 750 for each tier from tier 3 to 6.

If you’re active enough to do both the 10,000 steps challenge and the MVPA challenge, you will be able to receive up to $20 in vouchers!

National Steps Challenge vouchers & prizes

Since you gotta do something with all those Healthpoints, here’s a preview of what you can get…

First, you can redeem your HPB Healthpoints for vouchers. There’s a few to choose from, but the standard HPB voucher is pretty damn versatile — it’s almost like actual currency since it’s accepted at so many merchants. (No merchant would decline to work with the gov, I’d imagine.)

You can use HPB vouchers at all the local supermarkets (NTUC FairPrice, Cold Storage, Giant & Sheng Siong), 7-11, Golden Village theatres, shopping malls, chain eateries & bubble tea shops (Koi & LiHO – so you can undo all your hard work with brown sugar milk tea), and even Klook.

Alternatively, you can convert them into PAssion card points (1 Healthpoint = 1 TapForMore point) if you’re a PA fan like Eugenia, or into EZ-Link/NETS FlashPay credit.

If you’re too lazy to manually do the redemption all the time, worry not, there’s also an auto-redemption feature!

Once again, you can stack the rewards to up to $60 in vouchers if you participate in both the steps and MVPA categories.

This article was first published in MoneySmart.