Most of you will have a smartphone which will have been used an awful lot during this second lockdown, whether that’s scrolling through TikTok for hours, watching Netflix, or looking through Instagram or Twitter, our mobile phones are a huge part of our daily lives whether we like it or not.
In the abyss that is the App Store or Google Play store, there is a little, lesser-known app called ‘Moves +’, which is an app which has been set up in part by Sportsdock at UEL to keep students moving during the lockdown, especially ones that aren’t particularly interested or invested into Sports.
How to use it
Sian Davey, the head of marketing at UEL, stated “I think around six universities put money together and approached Open Play to put an app together for students who aren’t really interested in sport”. Once you are on the app, you select your organization, and then you are in. You can pick to join certain groups too, whether that is a house group, course group, or in UEL’s case, a school group too. You link the app up to one of your fitness resources such as a FitBit, Apple Watch, or Strava and then you are good to go!
What does it do?
The app tracks your steps each day and converts them into points, for example, if you do 12,186 steps on one day, it equates to 243 points added to your total on your profile and so forth. It also entices people to do more due to the aspect of rewards, for example at UEL there is Akuma Kit up as part of the rewards along with other things such as Starbucks gift cards or a Nando’s voucher (this one is particularly popular). Sian said of the rewards on the app, “I love that only you are responsible for the number of points you earn, and as long as you move, you can still claim rewards. Rather than the rewards going to first, second or third”.
More than just for exercise
The app had a well-timed launch, in line with the start of the second national lockdown in the UK. Students’ mental health and exercise has never been more important than in these times and the relaxed nature of the app, is really encouraging everybody, even one’s that aren’t particularly that interested in sport to ‘get up and go’, “Health gain is a precondition for learning gain, and we wanted to a way to increase student participation in physical activity”. Quotes like this can show just how important exercise can be in helping your mental wellbeing as well as helping reach your physical goals.
Overall, the app seems to have gone down a treat at the University of East London, with Davey adding, “a week before we launched, we asked some staff to have a go, and they all bought into it. And once we promoted it to staff, we got excellent feedback, so I’m really proud to have the backing of staff across the university”. ‘Moves +’ really is a fantastic chance for students to get onto a fitness trail and gain rewards whilst doing so.
So why not hit the download button to get moving and give it a go?
The app is downloadable at https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/moves/id1490523633 for Apple users and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.openplay.moves for Android users.
