Using this app is simple. Just log-in using Facebook or Twitter (or you can use your email address). You’ll see a donation pool where you can choose the rescue group you want to support with your walks. There are thousands of rescues listed and you can either choose one you know or explore a few you don’t know. You’re also allowed to choose more than one. For our walk, we selected Crazy Cat Ladies unite and AZK9 to receive credit for our walk.
The donation pools vary. This week, it’s $2,600 and every time someone uses the app to record their walk, your rescue receives part of that pool. Your phone’s GPS tracks and maps your route on a very detailed map (which means, you have to actually do the walk). You can pause the app at any time if you decide to stop at a park or visit a friend, but you don’t have to.
The app runs in the background and is very light on power usage – so you won’t need to worry about the battery dying. At the end of every walk, you’ll be offered a reward that, when redeemed, helps fund future donation pools and a summary screen of your walk that includes how many miles you walked and the time taken to do so.
ResQWalk is now available for Android and iPhone devices. Donations are paid on a weekly basis via PayPal to each rescue and statistics are displayed on each rescue’s profile page so you can see how your walks have helped improve the lives of animals.
You can choose a different rescue to benefit on each walk, or set it to your favorite rescues and never touch it. Also, there’s no obligation to share your walk – but if you do, understand that the app does it automatically with a message that says:
“I just walked —.– mi with ResQwalk in support of rescue animals. Thank you to BarkBuddy for sponsoring me! #walk4an”
Currently, the donation pools are being funded by ResQWalk’s Indiegogo campaign, but they hope that the pools will eventually be funded by corporate sponsors and sales generated from the app.
If you are an animal rescue organization, visit this link to sign up for this opportunity.
To download the app and support your favorite animal rescues, visit your Google Play Store (for Android phones) or the Apple store (for iPhones).