Getting started with IWT
From download to your first completed interval walk in about ten minutes.
1. Install and allow Health access
Download IWT — Japanese Walking from your phone's app store and open it. The app asks for access to your health data and your location. Health access is how your walks are measured; location is used to track distance and route while you walk. On iPhone that is Apple Health.
Everything is measured and stored on your own phone. Nothing about your health ever leaves your device — challenges only ever share a nickname and a single number.
2. Your first interval walk
Tap Start and just walk. The app guides you through the Japanese Walking pattern: three minutes at a brisk pace, then three minutes easy, repeated five times — about 30 minutes in total.
You'll get a clear cue at every switch, so the phone can stay in your pocket. On a paired watch the cues come as taps on your wrist.
3. Aim for the weekly rhythm
The research behind interval walking is based on four or more sessions per week. The app tracks your weekly streak — keep the chain alive and the habit builds itself.
4. Join your first challenge
Got a code from a friend or found one on this site? Enter it in the app, or on the Enter code page here, and your walks start counting automatically. See the challenge guides below for details.
More guides
The Japanese Walking method
What 3×3 interval walking is, where it comes from, and what the research from Shinshu University actually found.
Creating a challenge
Set up a challenge for your friends, family or company — codes, PINs, teams and rules.
Joining a challenge & reading the leaderboard
How to join with a code, how results update, and what the leaderboard shows.