WeWard's Walking Mode Named to TIME's Best Inventions of 2026 List
TIME recognizes WeWard's innovative feature that helps users reduce screen time and prioritize daily movement
NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2026/PRNewswire/ -- WeWard, the free app backed by Venus Williams motivating more than 30M people to walk, today announced that its Walking Mode feature was named to TIME's Best Inventions of 2026 list in the Apps & Software category.
Launched in July 2026, Walking Mode was built around one simple idea: walk first, scroll later. The feature allows users to temporarily lock distracting apps, such as social media or games, until they reach a self-selected daily step goal. Once the goal is met, the apps automatically unlock, with restrictions resetting at midnight each day to encourage consistent movement.
"It's an incredible honor to be named to TIME's Best Inventions of 2026 List among such great company," said Yves Benchimol, CEO and Co-founder of WeWard. "We're proud of the way Walking Mode has resonated so strongly among our users and believe it's a clear reflection that we're addressing a very real need, which is that people want to be spending more time outside and moving."
For more than 25 years, TIME's Best Inventions list has recognized products, software and services that change how people live, work and play. TIME's editors, supported by expert contributors, evaluate each entry on originality, efficacy, ambition and impact. This year's list honors 300 innovations, plus 100 special mentions, across fields including health, AI, sustainability and transportation. Other honorees include Apple's iPhone Duo, the GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS, Brick and Divine.
Founded in 2019, WeWard is the free lifestyle app rewarding over 30M users for their daily walking activity, bringing a new kind of gamified approach to exercise motivation. Each day, users can track and redeem their daily steps for incentives like cash deposits, charity donations, or retail gifts, and partake in social challenges, such as leaderboards and collectibles. To date, the company has given $50M in cash back to users, $1.5M to charity partners, and helped save more than 750,000 tons of CO2 from walking activity generated.
This recognition comes during a time of rapid innovation and growth for the company, which crossed 5 million users in the U.S. this year.
Walking Mode is available now on iOS in the WeWard app, with Android coming soon.
About WeWard
Founded in 2019 by Yves Benchimol, WeWard is a free mobile app designed to make walking a more rewarding part of people's lives. Through gamifying and socializing the step count, the app rewards users for their daily walking activity through incentives such as cash deposits, gift purchases, charity donations, and a variety of social and community-based features. More than 30M users have signed up to join the platform, which has been shown to increase user walking time by nearly 25%. It is available in 29 countries across the globe. To learn more, visit
SOURCE WeWard
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