Frequently Asked Questions

A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) has two distinct ways to play:

OUTBREAK VIRTUAL RACES

• Distance-based: Virtual race missions require players to reach a certain distance and the mission ends immediately when the distance is reached.
• Swag is available for finishers: Virtual race missions have optional medals and/or other collectibles for those who complete the race, unless otherwise noted.

OUTBREAK VIRTUAL CHALLENGES

• Duration-based: Challenge missions require players to stay active for a set amount of time, ranging from 2-6 weeks in length, depending on the mission. The mission ends only when time expires.
• No swag is included: Challenge missions do not come with medals or other collectibles.

No. Medals are only available for A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) virtual races.

Medals are not included with A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) challenges.

Yes, we ship worldwide out of our Atlanta, GA fulfillment center. Just add your item(s) to your cart and enter your shipping address at checkout to calculate shipping and handling costs.

Yes! When you invite other players to your Mission you have two options:

1. Send Invites With Tickets
When you send invites with tickets, recipients will be able to use one of the tickets in your ticket wallet.

Example: if you’re playing with your spouse and you want to pay for both of you, you’d purchase 2 tickets, and send an Invite With Ticket to your spouse.

2. Send Invites Without Tickets
When you send invites without tickets, recipients will be prompted to purchase their own ticket to join your Mission.

Example: if you’re playing with a group of friends and you want everyone to pay for their own ticket, you’d send Invites Without Tickets.

Medals ship in 4-6 weeks from the time of your order. Once items are shipped, transit times vary depending upon distance from our Atlanta, GA fulfillment center.

All medals are shipped with tracking services enabled and you will receive a tracking number for your shipment at the email you provided during checkout.

Not to worry, if you don’t finish your virtual race within the 365-day maximum time limit just send a note to our support team to receive a retry code for free.

All sales are final. Fitness Interactive Experience, Inc can, at its sole discretion offer refunds or store credit for any claims or issues experienced by its users. Fitness Interactive Experience, Inc’s general guidelines are as follows:

For instances of user error including but not limited to: 

Customer cannot connect a supporting application that is known to work. Customers do not read or follow user instructions and tutorial and cannot operate the application correctly. Customers do not install the application on their phone. Customers do not have the current version of: The Outbreak App, their phone OS, their supporting tracking software (Fitbit, Google Fit, Apple Health, etc.) current version. Customers do not have their phone or wearable device present at the time of exercise/movement. 

These customers are generally offered Customer Service Support, and a store credit to restart their mission.

For instances of user inoperability including but not limited to:

Customers have an incompatible phone. Customers being located in a world location that blocks access to our servers. Customers being injured or deceased and unable to use the application. Outbreak Server Failure in excess of 5 days. Outbreak Application failure in excess of 7 days.

These customers are generally offered a refund, except in the instances of injury where they are offered store credit for use at a later date. 

For instances of user purchase error including but not limited to: 

User purchases the service in error. User purchases the service but cannot use it due to personal reasons. 

These customers are generally offered a store credit for the purposes of doing their program at a later date. 

We sure do! Hundreds of companies, big and small, have used A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) for their corporate health and team building needs, including Coke, Amazon, EY, MetLife and many others. In fact, A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) has an unheard of 94.4% completion rate for corporate challenges (meaning that over 9/10 participants in an A Step Ahead™ Challenge stay active all the way through to the end). Nothing else comes even close!

If you’re a company and expect less than 300 participants, we recommend going the “self serve” route by purchasing a Mission on this store.

If you expect over 300 participants, please get in touch with our corporate sales team so we can walk you through the best options for your group.

You can also find much more info about A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) for corporate wellness and team building at our sister site, asachallenge.com.

It’s both! A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) is a fitness game that unfolds via the A Step Ahead™ app. You control your character through your real-world steps and exercise, which are synced into the game via Apple Healthkit, Google Fit, Fitbit, Apple Watch etc.

Our Virtual Races also include real-world finishers medals that we mail to you once you finish your race.

Yes, all of the action plays out in the interactive A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) app. This is where you’ll sync your activity, run from/do battle with enemies and obstacles, and interact with other players in your Mission.

No. A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) can pull activity directly from Apple Healthkit on iPhones, and via Google Fit on Android smartphones with motion tracking (most modern devices), so while we recommend a fitness wearable for the best experience, you can absolutely play A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) using just your smartphone as long as you’re willing to carry it around!

A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) syncs activity from Apple Healthkit (iOS) and Google Fit (Android) which in turn accept steps and workout data from a wide range of fitness trackers and apps, like Fitbit, Apple Watch, Garmin and others. Please consult your individual fitness tracker or app to ensure it syncs to Apple Healthkit or Google Fit.

We maintain a list of compatible fitness trackers and apps on our COMPATIBLE TRACKERS AND APPS page.

Absolutely. Head over to A Step Ahead Community Facebook Group to find other wasteland survivors looking to join or recruit new adventurers.

Absolutely! Just remember that your steps provide your primary form of movement in the game, so if your fitness wearable is on your wrist, resting your hands on the treadmill grips may affect the step counting. 

The primary way you move your character (or team) in A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) is via steps, so while you can sync your bike rides, swims, elliptical sessions etc. as exercise that will help you do battle with obstacles, you’ll still want running/walking to be your primary way to generate steps for in-game movement.

All A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) missions can be played either solo or on teams. To play solo or to compete as individuals, simply create a team (or teams) of 1.

When players enter your invite code into the A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) app they’ll be prompted to choose (or create) a team in the mission.

Anyone who creates a team becomes that team’s “captain” in the app, and can choose to leave the team open to anyone or lock the team with a passcode.

Teams can be 1-10 players, and there can be any number of teams in a Mission.

The target distance for virtual races is per team member. For example, if you’re doing the Escape Virtual Race by yourself, the target distance is 60 miles. If you have 3 players on your team, your team’s target distance is 180 miles (60 miles x 3 players), which you can divide any way you like among the teammates.

Yes! A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) features some very mild cartoon violence (i.e. you want to see your character smash the zombies, right?). The art style and overall tone are lighthearted and appropriate for all ages.

When you start A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) for the first time, you’ll be prompted to track steps and activity using your smartphone’s internal tracker, or to connect a fitness wearable. Simply follow the on-screen prompts to select the option that works best for you and grant permission for A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) to import your activity data from the source you select.

Once connected, A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) will sync to your device every 30 seconds or so that you have the app open on the gameboard.

Each A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) mission has its own activity prescription, with most featuring a standard intensity and an extreme intensity. 

A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) challenges are multi-week events that start easier and ramp up the intensity over the course of each chapter. The standard intensity is plenty for most people, though if you’re a runner or spend a lot of time on your feet you may want to consider the extreme intensity.

A Step Ahead™ (formerly The Outbreak™) virtual races have a distance requirement. Scoring is based upon time, team size, and race length, so the quicker you can complete the distance, the better your score.