This spring, Come Alive Outside put the finishing touches on its new mobile application. In April, the nonprofit plans to introduce it to the world.
Available for its 30 Miles, 30 Days program, the Mile-A-Day app is poised to change the way people connect with each other during the challenge. Mile-A-Day is a challenge that asks participants to walk one mile each day for a certain number of days.
The spring challenge is 30 days long, from April 14 to May 13 and is the shortest challenge of the year. Participants typically track their miles in a printed logbook or on a PDF, but the new Mile-A-Day app will give them a fun, seamless way to keep track of how much they walk.
Not only will the app track miles, but participants can also high five their competitors and teammates and see how they rank in real time during the challenge. The app is designed to make the Mile-A-Day challenge easier and more fun. And for those who want to leave their phone at home while they walk, there is also a way to input miles manually.
The app will also help Come Alive Outside collect more comprehensive health impact data.
“We’ve never built a mobile app before, but our Mile-A-Day app turned out better than we ever dreamed,” said Program Manager Haley Rice. “We worked with designers in Rutland, California and Sweden and with a powerhouse female coder in India who never seemed to sleep. Finding a time to meet that worked across all the time zones was wild, but we did it. The app-building process gave us an education in structure and function. As a team, I think we deepened our understanding of what the Mile-A-Day challenge can be. One of the big changes is fostering connections between our participants. We can’t wait to see it take off.”
The mobile app will be available to download by April 13.
To sign up for the Mile-A-Day Challenge, visit comealiveoutside.com. On the registration page there are options for having a logbook mailed to you, as well as downloading the mobile app, so if participants are not ready to move over to the mobile app, they may still participate.
Those signing up for the app will receive an email with instructions on how to download the app and how to use the app as well. For questions, email admin@comealiveoutside.com.