Frequently Asked Questions
All answers at a glance
What does taking part cost me? +
Nothing. There is no subscription, no fee and no in-app purchases. All you need is the app and an account.
How do I get started? +
Download the Herz-Kilometer app, create an account, connect your tracker and pick a challenge. From there the counting is automatic. Accounts are created in the app only — on the website you can just sign in.
Do I need a tracker? +
Yes. Your kilometers come automatically from a connected app or watch — Strava, Garmin, Polar, Suunto or Apple Health. Without that connection nothing can be counted; there is deliberately no manual entry, because heart kilometers distribute real money.
Which sports count? +
Running and walking. What counts is the distance you cover on foot — pace and personal bests do not matter.
Do past kilometers count too? +
No. Counting starts the moment you have connected your tracker and picked a challenge. Earlier activities are not imported retroactively.
What if I do not run for a while? +
Nothing happens. The kilometers you have collected stay counted and you can pick up again any time. There is no minimum.
What are heart kilometers? +
Every kilometer you run or walk becomes one heart kilometer – one to one, no conversion. A heart kilometer is not a fixed amount of money: it shows how far you have come together and unlocks a proportional share of your challenge’s impact pool. Up to 50 heart kilometers count per day.
Where does the money for the projects come from? +
From a fixed impact pool per challenge. A company – or Herz-Kilometer itself – puts up an amount for a challenge, say €1,000. Every heart kilometer the community collects unlocks a share of it: half the kilometer goal unlocks half the pool, reaching the goal unlocks all of it. Payment goes straight to the organisation; Herz-Kilometer brokers and documents it but never handles the money. You never pay anything in.
Do I get a donation receipt? +
No – because you do not donate yourself. The donation comes from the company that funded the impact pool, and so does the receipt.
What happens to my data? +
We process your data under GDPR on servers in the EU. From your tracker we only take the activity data needed to count kilometers. You can disconnect at any time and delete your account in the app. Details are in the privacy policy.
Still have questions?
Our team will answer them directly.