Frequently Asked Questions

ChalPals is an accountability web app where friends create challenges to stay on track with their goals. Participants check in by uploading a photo as proof. Those who miss check-ins accumulate penalties, and the total penalty pot is split at the end of the challenge among participants who completed all check-ins. Challenges with payments enabled charge real money via Stripe — challenges without payments enabled track penalties for accountability purposes only.

• Sign up with your name, email, and password.
• Create your own challenge and share the link with friends.
• Browse and join public challenges on the Discover page.
• Or accept a challenge invite link from a friend.

• Daily challenges run from 1 to 84 days. Weekly and custom-frequency challenges run from 1 to 12 weeks.
• Check-in frequency (daily, weekly, or a custom number of times per week) is set when the challenge is created.
• Photos are required for check-ins to prove validity.
• If you miss a check-in, you are charged the penalty amount chosen by the challenge creator.
• At the end, the penalty pot is divided among participants who complete all check-ins.

• Private challenges can only be joined via an invite link shared by the creator.
• Public challenges appear on the Discover page and anyone can join, up to the maximum participant limit set by the creator.
• The creator can change visibility when editing a challenge before it starts.

Yes — you can join on the first day of a challenge up until 6 PM Eastern Time (ET). After 6 PM on day 1, or on any day after that, the challenge can no longer be joined.

If you join on day 1, that day is part of your challenge and you are responsible for checking in — no exceptions.

• Before the challenge starts, the creator can edit the challenge name, expectations, and visibility.
• The creator can also enable or disable payments from the ··· menu on the upcoming challenge card.
• Duration, start date, check-in frequency, and penalty cannot be changed once the challenge is created.
• Challenges cannot be edited after they start.

For daily challenges, you can check in once per day toward your required check-in.

For weekly and “you choose” challenges, you can check in once per day toward your weekly quota. Once you've met your weekly quota, you can optionally submit one bonus check-in per day — these are private (visible only to you and the challenge creator) and do not affect your challenge results or standing.

No, you must check in on the correct day before 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET).

• You automatically forfeit the penalty amount per missed check-in.
• Weekly and You Choose challenge misses are calculated at the end of each week.
• You will no longer be eligible to receive a portion of the total penalty payout.

Missed check-ins cannot be removed. Make sure to check in before 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET) each day.

The penalty per missed check-in is set by the challenge creator, up to a maximum of $10 per miss.

Example:

• A daily challenge with 5 missed check-ins and a $5 penalty = $25 penalty.
• A weekly challenge (3 check-ins required and a $3 penalty) where you only check in once = $6 penalty.

Payments are live for challenges where the creator has enabled them. When a challenge has payments enabled, a valid payment method (credit or debit card) is required to join. Unsuccessful participants are charged via Stripe at the end of the challenge. Challenges without payments enabled track penalties for accountability purposes only — no money is collected or distributed.

Your card is not charged when you join. Charges only occur at the end of the challenge if you missed check-ins. Successful participants are never charged — they receive a share of the penalty pot instead.

The total penalty pot is split evenly among participants who completed the challenge without missing any check-ins. If no one missed a check-in, there is no pot to distribute.

If nobody completes the challenge — or if you are the only participant and give up — there are no winners to pay out. In that case the collected penalties are retained by ChalPals and are not refunded.

At the end of a challenge, the total penalty pot is calculated and split among successful participants. Payouts are currently sent manually — you'll be contacted by the ChalPals team when your payout is ready. Automated Stripe payouts are coming in a future update.

If your card is declined or expired at the end of a challenge, you'll receive an email with instructions to update your payment method in Settings. Until the outstanding balance is resolved, you won't be able to join other paid challenges.

Reply to the payment failure email or contact support and we'll retry the charge once your card is updated.

If you have an outstanding balance from a previous challenge — for example, a failed end-of-challenge charge — you won't be able to join new paid challenges until it's resolved. Check your email for a payment failure notice, update your card in Settings, and contact support to retry.

• If the challenge has not started, you can leave without penalty.
• If the challenge has started, you can give up. Your penalty will be calculated as all past missed check-ins plus all remaining future check-ins, with a 25% surcharge applied to the total. This surcharge is meant to motivate participants to never give up. To give up, tap the ··· icon in the challenge card header and select Give Up.

Yes. The creator can give up just like any other participant — the same penalty rules apply. The challenge continues for everyone else.

After giving up, the creator's card moves to Past Challenges on their dashboard. They still retain the ability to cancel the challenge from the ··· menu if they need to end it for all participants.

You upload a photo or take a photo directly in the app. Your photo must be uploaded before 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET) to count.

No. Every check-in requires a photo for proof. This photo should be related to the challenge activity.

Yes, only the challenge participants can see the check-in photos.

We are unable to delete uploaded photos unless they violate our terms of use. If you believe your upload was a mistake, please contact support.

If you miss a check-in, the penalty is automatically applied and cannot be reversed.

Yes — during an active challenge, you can react to other participants' check-in photos and new join events using emoji reactions. You won't see reaction buttons on your own check-ins or join events. Reactions are visible to all participants in the challenge.

Yes. Go to Settings and tap the circle at the top to upload a photo. It is optional, compressed automatically, and will appear next to your name in the participants list and next to your messages in challenge chat.

Each active or upcoming challenge has a speech bubble icon in the challenge card header. Tap it to open the chat for that challenge. All participants can send and read messages in real time.

The icon turns teal when there are unread messages. It returns to gray once you open the chat. Chat is a great way to coordinate before a challenge starts or cheer each other on during it.

Only participants in the same challenge can see that challenge's messages. Messages from different challenges are kept separate.

• Email reminders can be toggled on or off in Settings.
• Push notifications are available — enable them in Settings.
• Challenge creators receive a notification when a new participant joins their challenge.
• SMS notifications are coming soon.

Yes. On the dashboard, tap the ··· menu on any active or upcoming challenge and select Mute Reminders or Unmute Reminders. This affects only that challenge.

Yes — for weekly and “you choose” challenges, you receive a weekly digest the morning after each week ends. It shows your check-in count for that week, whether you hit your goal, how your teammates did, and how many weeks are left. It arrives at 7:00 AM Eastern Time.

Yes, you can turn email and push reminders on or off in Settings. An SMS notification toggle will be available when that feature launches.

Bonuses count the extra check-ins you've made beyond your required weekly quota — a sign you're going above and beyond. They only apply to weekly and “you choose” challenges; daily challenges do not generate bonus check-ins.

Firsts counts the number of weeks where you were the first person in a challenge to complete your weekly check-in quota. Like Bonuses, Firsts only apply to weekly and “you choose” challenges.

Completion Rate is the percentage of required check-ins you've actually completed across all your challenges. For daily challenges, each day is one required check-in. For weekly and “you choose” challenges, the required count per completed week equals your weekly quota.

A Win is recorded when a challenge ends and you completed all required check-ins without missing any. Your Wins card shows your total wins along with your win rate (wins out of finalized challenges).

Check your challenge details on the dashboard or contact support.

Contact support with details, and we'll review the case.