Relay Baton Tips: How to Hit Your Team Step Target in Time

Most step challenges are leaderboards, and leaderboards have a habit of going quiet. One person pulls ahead on day two, everyone else does the maths, and by Thursday the group chat has moved on. Relay Baton works the other way round: the team shares one target, only the person holding the baton has their steps counted, and you either hit the target together before the deadline or nobody wins. That makes it a game of planning as much as walking. The rules are on the Relay Baton game page. This post is about how to win. Relay Baton is live in the app on iPhone and Android, so you can start one today. If you'd rather go head to head, our step race with friends guide covers the competitive version.

Pick a target you can reach

This is where most relays are won or lost, before anyone takes a step. The target runs from 10,000 steps to a million, and the deadline from 1 to 14 days. The defaults are 50,000 steps over a week.

The trap is thinking about the team's total walking. Only one person counts at a time, so a relay moves far slower than everyone's steps added together. A good rule is to add up what the person holding the baton could realistically walk each day, then multiply by the days, then aim a bit under that. For a new pack, 25,000 or 50,000 over a week is a much better first relay than anything with a lot of zeros. Win a small one, then go bigger.

Here's a quick example. Say the people on your team walk around 7,000 steps on a normal day. In a perfect relay the baton would always be with someone who's out walking, and the team would bank something like 49,000 steps in a week. In real life there are nights, workdays and hand-offs that take a few hours, so plan for less. That makes 50,000 a real stretch for a first week and 25,000 a comfortable win.

Choose the right team for the target

You can run a relay with a Walk Pack (up to five people who already share a weekly goal and a chat, and a pack relay needs at least two of you), with your walking buddy, or with one to nine friends.

More runners isn't automatically better. It's more people to pass to, which helps, but only if they'll walk when the baton lands on them. A friend who walks to the station every morning is worth more to a relay than a friend who does one long hike a month, because the relay rewards walkers who are out often, not walkers who go far once. A two-person relay with your buddy, where you both know each other's routine, often goes smoother than a big group where half the people check their phone once a day. Pick the people who'll pick it up.

Plan the hand-offs around real life

The best relays aren't about who walks the most. They're about who's walking next. Before you pass, think about the team's day:

• Give the baton to the early riser before bed, so it's waiting for their morning walk.
• Hand it to the dog walker just before their evening loop.
• Save the big Sunday walker for the weekend.
• Hold it yourself on the day you know you're walking to work.

You can pass to anyone on the team, even someone who has already had a turn, so the same two reliable walkers can carry a lot of the relay if that's how your team works. A sheet shows how many steps you're banking before you choose.

Don't sit on the baton

The team total only grows while the holder is walking. Holding the baton through a long afternoon at your desk wastes the team's time. You need at least 500 steps before you can pass, so if you're not about to walk for a while, get those 500 in and hand it to someone who is.

When it's your turn, you'll get a notification. In a pack, the chat shows who has the baton, how much was banked and how far the team still has to go, and a little banner keeps the holder and progress in view while the relay runs. Glance at it when you open the chat: if you're about to head out and the holder isn't, say so.

Talk in the chat

"Who's walking in the next hour?" is the most useful message in any relay. It turns passing from a guess into a plan. In a pack, the banner in the chat lets you pass straight from there.

And if someone goes quiet, you're covered. If the holder walks no steps for 24 hours, the rest of the team gets a notification that the baton is stuck, and any of them can tap Grab the baton and carry on. It's not a punishment, life happens, but it means nobody can stall the relay for long. If you know you'll be busy, pass it before you disappear.

Know what's at stake

The clock starts the moment the first teammate taps Join. If nobody joins within 48 hours, or everyone declines, the relay is called off and you get your game start back. Once it's running:

• The team wins if the total reaches the target before the deadline.
• Every runner who walked a leg gets 50 XP.
• The best single leg gets 25 more.
• If time runs out, nobody gets XP, and teammates who never took the baton get nothing either way.

That last line is the best argument for getting everyone a leg. A runner who walks one short leg still earns their 50 XP if the team finishes, so pass it around. And celebrate the best leg in the chat. The extra 25 XP is small, but the shout-out is what people remember.

On the free plan, starting a relay uses one of your six weekly game starts, shared across all the games. Joining someone else's relay never costs you one, and Premium has no limit. Each pack can run one relay at a time.

Relay Baton is built for both iPhone and Android and is coming in the next Walk With Me update. Download the app now, set up a pack or find a buddy, and you'll be ready to run when the update lands. The Relay Baton game page has the rules, our team walking challenge ideas post has more ways to get a group moving, and the walking games hub has the rest. Walk With Me is free on iOS and Android.