Vitality Insurance Members in United Kingdom Can Exercise Their Way to Free Apple Watch Series 3

[MacRumors]

Vitality, a health and life insurance provider, today announced that new and existing members in the United Kingdom can essentially earn their way to a free Apple Watch by maintaining an active lifestyle.

Between now and December 31, members enrolled in an eligible VitalityHealth or VitalityLife insurance plan can get a 38mm or 42mm sized Apple Watch Series 3 with GPS only for £0 or £59 upfront respectively, and pay nothing more if they stay active and earn at least 160 Vitality activity points every month for two years.

Apple Watch Nike+ models also qualify for the £0 upfront offer. Selected GPS + Cellular models will be available later this year.

Vitality members can earn activity points for walking, running, cycling, and other forms of exercise. 12,500 steps tracked in a day is good for eight points, for example, while 30-59 minutes of cycling yields five points. Activity points can be tracked in the Vitality Member app and shared with Apple's Health app on iOS devices.

In the worst case scenario, members who aren't active will be required to pay up to £12.50 per month for 24 months, which is essentially the Apple Watch Series 3's £329 starting price spread out over instalments.

Vitality openly admits that this program benefits both society and the company's profits, which comes about as a result of people being healthier and hopefully submitting insurance claims less often.

There's a lot of fine print involved: members must be at least 18 years old, a credit check is required, the Apple Watch cannot be resold, and members can earn a maximum of eight activity points per day and 40 activity points per week. Be sure to read the FAQ and terms and conditions for complete pricing and eligibility requirements.

Vitality is also the provider of the discounted Apple Watch offer that life insurance provider John Hancock is offering in the United States.

Article Link: Vitality Insurance Members in United Kingdom Can Exercise Their Way to Free Apple Watch Series 3

 

[Pez555]

Fantastic idea

 

[arnoz]

OK, I'm quite in favour of this. Not only for the "free" Watch, but for the actual incentive towards move/exercise. However, I'm really curious to see how this will work our for them/their customer.

 

[darkpaw]

I'm not sure of the numbers on this. I'm currently a member of Vitality through my job. 7,000 steps a day gets me 3 points, 10,000 gets me 5 points, and 12,500 gets me 10 points. I can earn a maximum of 40 points a week.

There are a couple of benefits on top this, too. 12 points in a week gets me a free drink from Starbucks (which would be great if they didn't burn the beans in every cup), and I think it's 10 points a week for a free cinema ticket. You also get discounts on a flight with BA, some bicycle deal with Evans Cycles etc. Some good stuff.

 

[8012R3]

I looked into a health or life insurance policy with Vitality. It was close to £100 per month!

Cheaper to just buy the watch outright. lol

 

[Le Big Mac]

OK, I'm quite in favour of this. Not only for the "free" Watch, but for the actual incentive towards move/exercise. However, I'm really curious to see how this will work our for them/their customer.

Yeah - I'd be fully expecting some hacks/workarounds to be discovered and shared for people to simulate activity.

 

[Exile714]

40/week max, but 160/month needed.

So let’s say you start January 1, 2018 and get 10 points a day. You get 40 for 1/1 to 1/6 (Saturday), 40 for 11/7 to 11/13, 40 for 11/14 to 11/20, and you’re good by 1/24!

But then you get 40 points between 1/28 and 2/3, so you have 0 points starting 2/4. 40 on 2/11, 80 on 2/18, 120 on 2/25... But you can’t get 40 in the last 3 days of February.

Weeks and months don’t work well together. There’s weird overlap that makes the system unbalanced. And if there’s that kind of confusion, you can bet the rest of this program is just as strangely implemented.

 

[Westside guy]

I looked into a health or life insurance policy with Vitality. It was close to £100 per month!

Cheaper to just buy the watch outright. lol

You realize, I hope, that receiving an Apple Watch isn't the main reason for buying a health insurance plan...

 

[coffeemadmanUK]

I looked into a health or life insurance policy with Vitality. It was close to £100 per month!

Cheaper to just buy the watch outright. lol

No idea why yours is so high. I pay £32 a month for the health insurance. 50% off my gym membership alone makes up for the original cost

 

[Ed91]

The numbers seem very tough to achieve if you were hoping to get it for free. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

You need 160+ points per month, but the maximum per week is 40.

To get 8 points a day (maximum daily points) the two easiest goals are (list here):
12500 steps OR
30 minutes running using their app

You'd need to do that five days a week to get the watch free. Or four days of the above, one day with 10000 steps, and another with 7000 (again, easiest goals used for the example). I really doubt many people can keep that kind of intensity up for two years to get the watch free unless you're already an athlete or walk an insane amount all week every week without fail.

Not to say you couldn't get a good discount, but hoping to get one free seems like a stretch.

 

[YanniDepp]

You realize, I hope, that receiving an Apple Watch isn't the main reason for buying a health insurance plan...

It is in Britain, because everyone gets free tax-funded healthcare.

 

[mrklaw]

The numbers seem very tough to achieve if you were hoping to get it for free. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

You need 160+ points per month, but the maximum per week is 40.

To get 8 points a day (maximum daily points) the two easiest goals are (list here):
12500 steps OR
30 minutes running using their app

You'd need to do that five days a week to get the watch free. Or four days of the above, one day with 10000 steps, and another with 7000 (again, easiest goals used for the example). I really doubt many people can keep that kind of intensity up for two years to get the watch free unless you're already an athlete or walk an insane amount all week every week without fail.

Not to say you couldn't get a good discount, but hoping to get one free seems like a stretch.

I wonder if the cost is pro rated if you don’t quite make the necessary points? So you just top it up a bit on quiet months. Limiting points per day and week is tricky - what happens if you go on hols for a couple of weeks - surely you don’t lose the entire amount?


I did look into this on previous offers but their health insurance quotes were really high. Will double check again though

 

[Phonephreak]

The numbers seem very tough to achieve if you were hoping to get it for free. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

You need 160+ points per month, but the maximum per week is 40.

To get 8 points a day (maximum daily points) the two easiest goals are (list here):
12500 steps OR
30 minutes running using their app

You'd need to do that five days a week to get the watch free. Or four days of the above, one day with 10000 steps, and another with 7000 (again, easiest goals used for the example). I really doubt many people can keep that kind of intensity up for two years to get the watch free unless you're already an athlete or walk an insane amount all week every week without fail.

Not to say you couldn't get a good discount, but hoping to get one free seems like a stretch.

Wouldn’t be hard at all. When I wear my Fitbit zip, getting 10000 steps is about 5 miles. I do this almost daily. My AW will show almost twice the steps.

 

[Manatlt]

I'm just waiting for the Cellular model to be released.

 

[NeilHD]

It is in Britain, because everyone gets free tax-funded healthcare.

You know that "tax funded" means you're still paying, right? Assuming you pay tax, I suppose... And private care is still preferable if you can afford it for many things (non-emergency stuff mainly).

This isn't a new thing though - Vitality were offering this on the last Apple watch, too. My wife sells Vitality and went to the product launch for it last year sometime.

We were leaving Vitality though, which was a shame as some of the other benefits were really good. Free Starbucks and cinema tickets, and 1/2 price gym were VERY good. Unfortunately at renewal the price was more than Bupa so, as the company was paying and they only care about the price they're paying rather than the benefits the employees get, we had to switch away.

 

[randomgeeza]

STEER CLEAR! Since getting a quote and looking at their website, they have harassed me all afternoon with unwanted phone calls. Even when I have blocked the number they changed their number and managed to get through again. Hard sell tactics, tell the story of their business model and it is not something I want to be part of. You've been warned!