YuLife vs Edge Rewards: Workplace Wellness Rewards Compared (UK 2026)

YuLife and Edge Rewards both reward you for moving, but the biggest difference is who can join. YuLife is a workplace benefit you normally get when your employer signs you up, while Edge Rewards will be free for anyone with the Edge app from November 2026, and it counts any logged workout rather than mainly steps.

Below is a fair, side by side look at both. Everything about YuLife here comes from its own website and help centre at the time of writing, and anything we could not confirm is flagged.

What is YuLife?

YuLife is a UK employee benefits company. It sells group insurance to employers, including group life insurance, income protection, health insurance and dental cover, and wraps it in a wellbeing app that rewards healthy habits. Employers can also take the app on its own, without the insurance, as a wellbeing and perks platform for their team. Its app listing describes YuLife as an employee benefit. It is built for workplaces, not for individuals shopping for a fitness app.

Alongside rewards, the app brings together other workplace support that depends on what your employer has chosen, such as a virtual GP service and an employee assistance programme. YuLife's own site says it offers group cover for businesses with as few as two employees, so it is not only for big companies.

Can you get YuLife without an employer?

As far as we can tell, no. YuLife's help centre explains that when your employer signs you up, you receive an email with a link to finish registering, and only then do you download the app and log in. The app is free to download, but you need an account set up through your workplace to use it. We could not find any way to join as an individual on YuLife's website at the time of writing.

That means if you are self-employed, between jobs, or your employer simply does not offer it, YuLife is not really an option. It also means your access depends on your employer keeping the scheme going. If you move jobs, it is worth checking with your HR team what happens to your account.

How do you earn YuCoin on YuLife?

YuCoin is YuLife's in-app currency. According to its help centre, everyday earning comes from three kinds of daily activity, pulled in from Apple Health, Google Fit, Health Connect or Samsung Health:

• Steps: YuCoin for every 2,000 steps, up to 12,000 steps a day.
• Cycling: YuCoin for every 1.6km, up to 9.6km a day.
• Mindfulness: YuCoin for every 15 minutes, up to 30 minutes a day.

On top of that, there are daily challenges in the app's Quests tab, including step, meditation and workout challenges, which pay extra YuCoin depending on how well you do. Streaks, chests, surges and community events add bonus YuCoin, and there are leaderboards and duels for a bit of friendly competition with colleagues. It is a genuinely playful design.

Two details are worth knowing. First, your earning rate, which YuLife calls YuCoin Power, is linked to the type of cover your employer provides, so two people doing the same walk at different companies may not earn the same amount. Second, activity only updates when you open the app, and the help centre says that if you do not open it for 30 days, you lose the activity from that period. YuLife does not publish a simple table of exactly how much YuCoin each activity earns, so we have not guessed at one here.

What can you spend YuCoin on?

YuCoin is spent in the app's rewards store. In the UK, YuLife's help centre lists gift cards and vouchers from supermarkets, department stores and sportswear retailers, along with options to put your YuCoin towards social impact causes. Separately, membership itself comes with perks that do not cost YuCoin, such as discounts on fitness wearables, wellbeing apps and experiences. Some employers also switch on a levelled pass that unlocks extra perks the longer you keep up your daily challenges.

One genuine plus for YuLife: according to its help centre, YuCoin only expires if you do not log in to the app for over a year. That gives you time to save up for something bigger. The exact rewards and prices change, so check the app for what is available to you.

How will Edge Rewards work?

Edge Rewards takes the same core idea, rewarding you for moving, and opens it up to everyone. It will be free, with no employer, insurance or subscription needed. It is not live yet: founding members from the waitlist get in on Sunday 1 November 2026, and the public launch is Saturday 7 November 2026. So everything below is what it is designed to do.

Here is how points will work:

• Workouts: 1 point per minute of any logged workout, up to 50 a day. Runs, strength sessions, HIIT, yoga, swims and walks all count, including manual entries and imports from Strava, Apple Health, Garmin and Coros.
• Steps: 2.5 points per 1,000 steps, up to 25 a day.
• Daily max: 50 points a day in total, with no roll-over of unused daily points.
• Monthly reset: points reset to zero at the end of each calendar month.

You spend points in an in-app marketplace on real products from partner brands, a mix of free items and member prices, across categories like coffee and drinks, snacks, bars and gels, protein and recovery, and kit and apparel. Rewards are partner-gifted, and redeeming in person works by showing a one-tap screen at the counter. As a rough guide, about a week of training earns something like a free coffee. Point prices for individual rewards have not been published yet.

Everyone earns and redeems for free. Edge Pro members earn double points with no daily max, and get exclusive prizes and secret offers. You do not need Edge Pro to use Edge Rewards. Our Vitality Rewards vs Edge Rewards guide compares another scheme that is linked to insurance cover.

What is the biggest difference if you train regularly?

Beyond who can join, it is what counts. YuLife's everyday earning is built around steps, cycling distance and mindfulness, with workouts mainly coming in through its in-app challenges. That works well if your movement is mostly walking and commuting by bike. A 45-minute strength session or a HIIT class, though, does not appear in YuLife's list of daily activities, so it will only help through any steps it adds, as far as we can see from the help centre.

Edge Rewards counts the minutes of any workout you log. Take a day with a 40-minute strength session and 6,000 steps: that is 40 workout points plus 15 step points, which would be 55, so it is capped at the 50-point daily max. A rest day with 8,000 steps still earns 20. If your week mixes running, lifting and HIIT, Edge Rewards is designed to reward all of it, not just the walking in between.

How do YuLife and Edge Rewards compare side by side?

Prices and features change, so check each app for current details. Accurate at the time of writing.

Can you use YuLife and Edge Rewards at the same time?

Yes, nothing we have seen stops you. Both can read activity from Apple Health, so the same walk could count towards your YuCoin and your Edge points. If your employer offers YuLife, it makes sense to switch it on, because it is a benefit you already have. Edge Rewards can then sit alongside it and pick up the workouts YuLife's daily activity list does not cover.

The two also behave differently over time. YuCoin can build up for months, which suits saving towards a bigger voucher. Edge points reset monthly, which nudges you to train steadily through the month and spend as you go. Neither approach is wrong, they just reward slightly different habits.

Which one suits you?

• Choose YuLife if your employer already offers it. It costs you nothing extra, it bundles in other workplace support, and its game-style challenges are fun if you like competing with colleagues.
• Choose Edge Rewards if your employer does not offer YuLife, you are self-employed, or you want every kind of workout to count, from a parkrun to a strength session.
• Use both if you have access to YuLife and train in ways beyond walking and cycling.

For a wider view of the options, our round-up of the top fitness reward apps in the UK ranks the main choices, and our BetterPoints vs Edge Rewards comparison looks at another points-for-activity scheme.

Edge treats running, strength and HIIT as one plan rather than three separate apps, and Edge Rewards is designed to sit on top of that, rewarding whatever training you log. With 20,000+ members already training with Edge, the aim is simple: make the movement you were going to do anyway count for a little more, whoever you work for.

This article is general guidance, not medical advice. If you are new to exercise, returning from injury, or managing a health condition, speak to your GP before starting, and see a physio for any niggle that does not settle.