Turning steps into rewards in Singapore: how Healthy 365, hiSG and your tracker fit together

Your steps are worth money in Singapore, but a lot less than the marketing makes it feel, and the system is deliberately built so you can't farm it. Walk 5,000 steps and you've hit the daily step cap; walk 20,000 and you earn exactly the same. The realistic prize is a few dollars of vouchers a month, paid out as a nudge to move rather than an income stream.

The confusion isn't really about points. It's that four or five government health things share a vibe and people lump them together. So let's untangle the map first, then do the maths.

The one map that sorts out the confusion

There's one wallet and several feeders. Get this straight and the rest falls into place.

Healthy 365 is HPB's central app and the only Healthpoints wallet. Everything you earn — steps, MVPA minutes, eat-healthy QR scans, enrolment bonuses — pools into this one account, and you redeem from here.
National Steps Challenge is the rewards programme that turns movement into Healthpoints. It feeds the wallet.
hiSG is a separate research study that also pays Healthpoints (more on it below).
HealthHub is your medical records and appointments. Not a rewards app.
Healthier SG is the GP-enrolment scheme. It pays a one-time Healthpoints bonus into the wallet, but it isn't the wallet itself.

The myth to kill: these are not the same thing. Only Healthy 365 holds your points. The others just deposit into it.

How steps actually become Healthpoints

Here's the part people get wrong. Under the current structure (in place since February 2023), steps earn 10 Healthpoints per day once you hit 5,000 steps — and that's it. No bonus for walking further. The reward curve goes flat the moment you cross 5,000.

The other lever is MVPA: moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Think brisk enough that you're breathing harder, sustained for a real block of time. It pays in tiers:

MVPA per day	Healthpoints
10–19 minutes	10
20–29 minutes	15
30+ minutes	20 (max)

Stack the step cap (10) and the MVPA cap (20) and your daily ceiling is roughly 30 Healthpoints. That's the whole game. The design rewards intensity, not heroic mileage, which is why a gym session or a proper run earns more than an aimless 18,000-step shopping day.

One catch that frustrates everyone: the app only credits MVPA for sessions longer than 10 minutes at genuinely moderate-to-vigorous intensity. A gentle stroll adds steps but no MVPA. Three separate two-minute bursts won't register either.

Cashing out: the real conversion and the expiry trap

Healthpoints convert at a fixed, unglamorous rate:

750 Healthpoints = a $5 HPB eVoucher
1,500 Healthpoints = a $10 eVoucher

That works out to roughly 150 Healthpoints to S$1. At a 30-point-a-day ceiling, that's about S$0.20 a day if you max it out — which most days you won't.

You can spend HPB eVouchers at 30 to 50-plus merchant brands across F&B, supermarkets, lifestyle retail and malls, including names like FairPrice, Cathay Cineplexes, Liho Tea and Popular. You can also convert to SimplyGo eVouchers for transport, or donate the points.

Now the trap. Healthpoints expire six months from the month you earn them. Hoarding them just means losing them. The good news: you can opt into auto-redemption that sweeps expiring points into TransitLink/SimplyGo eVouchers so nothing evaporates. Turn that on and forget about it.

Points aren't cash you can stash. Redeem them or auto-convert them, because in six months they're gone.
The Healthpoints expiry rule

What syncs with what

Healthy 365 works with Apple Health, Fitbit, Garmin Connect, Polar Flow, Samsung Health and Actxa. Here's the bit that explains 90% of the "my steps aren't showing" complaints: Healthy 365 doesn't read your watch directly. It pulls step data from each brand's companion-app server.

So the chain is: watch → its own app (Garmin Connect, Apple Health, etc.) → that brand's cloud → Healthy 365. If your watch hasn't synced to its own app first, Healthy 365 shows nothing, and that's not a bug.

You don't need to buy anything fancy. Eligible Singapore citizens and PRs aged 17+ who didn't collect a tracker in Season 5 or 6 can claim a free HPB tracker (the Axtro Fit / Actxa Tempo models). A basic band or even a phone pedometer is enough to earn points. The Steps Challenge has run year-round since 1 April 2022, so there's no seasonal window to miss.

The post-LumiHealth picture for Apple Watch users

LumiHealth — HPB's Apple Watch programme with Apple, running since October 2020 and used by around 377,000 people — shut down on 31 May 2026. Users had until 31 March 2026 to earn coins and were pointed to Healthy 365 instead, with a $10 Welcome Reward in Healthpoints for signing up by that date.

The myth that Apple Watch users still have a separate scheme is dead. If you wear an Apple Watch, you now earn through Healthy 365 via Apple Health, same chain as everyone else.

Fixing the thing that doesn't sync

When steps or MVPA stay at zero, work down this list:

Open your watch's own app first and let it sync to its cloud. Healthy 365 can only see what the brand server has.
Check permissions. For Samsung/Galaxy Watch users especially, Healthy 365 must be set to read the watch model (not the phone) and granted heart-rate and sleep permissions — without those, MVPA stays at zero even while steps tick up.
Remember the 10-minute rule. If your workout was short or gentle, there's no MVPA to show.
Give it time. The hop through three servers isn't instant; data can lag.

hiSG, and whether it's worth it

hiSG (Health Insights Singapore) is a 24-month HPB research study for citizens and PRs aged 18+. Selected participants get a Garmin Forerunner 165 smartwatch, put down a $50 deposit, and earn Healthpoints by wearing the device, logging meals and completing questionnaires. The deposit is refundable only if you see the study through — drop out early and you forfeit it, and keeping the watch then costs a fee. HPB will notify selected participants by 31 December 2026 (the page was updated 4 June 2026).

Honest read: it's a real commitment — two years of wear, food logging and surveys — in exchange for a decent watch and extra points. If you'd actually do the logging and go the distance, the device alone arguably justifies the deposit, since you get it back at the end. If you won't, don't sign up for the points; the admin will outlast your enthusiasm, and the forfeited deposit is the system quietly betting on exactly that.

Stacking it sensibly

A few feeders are worth combining:

Healthier SG enrolment pays 3,000 Healthpoints (worth S$20) after your first Health Plan consultation. Create your Healthy 365 account within 12 months or those points expire; after that the normal 6-month validity applies.
The MediShield Life premium-discount pilot is the one genuinely better deal. From 18 September 2025, residents aged 40+ can redeem Healthpoints for MediShield Life premium discounts at 150 Healthpoints to S$2 — double the usual S$1 voucher rate. About 150 minutes of MVPA a week for a year could fund roughly S$70 of premium discounts. If you're over 40, this is where your points are worth most.

Is it actually worth your time?

For the vouchers alone? Barely. The scheme caps you at about S$0.20 a day by design — nobody's getting rich, and pretending otherwise is the real myth.

The honest case for bothering is the behaviour, not the payout. Singapore's own evaluation of the National Steps Challenge — a cohort of over 411,000 adults — found participation was associated with a mean increase of about 1,437 steps a day, with booster challenges adding more. The catch the same research flags: people drift back toward their old activity once a goal is done. The small reward works as a periodic nudge, not a permanent fix.

So treat it as a free reason to move that occasionally buys you a kopi. If you're over 40, point everything at the MediShield Life discount. And switch on auto-redemption so you never feed the expiry trap.

Bottom line

Healthy 365 is the only wallet; the Steps Challenge and hiSG feed it. Earn caps at ~30 Healthpoints (about S$0.20) a day, points expire in six months, and the best value is the over-40s MediShield Life discount.

What changes often

HPB tweaks these figures regularly, so verify before you rely on them: the point structure (step cap, MVPA tiers), the conversion rate, the merchant list, and pilots like the MediShield Life discount and hiSG. The numbers here reflect the scheme as documented at time of writing — check the official HPB and HealthHub pages for the current version.

Sources

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