The scoring system in JouleBug rewards you for taking sustainable actions and participating in challenges. It combines multiple types of points and bonuses to reflect both your real-world impact and your engagement in the app.
At its core, JouleBug operates on the honor system. While it’s possible to log actions you haven’t completed, the goal is to encourage awareness and real behavior change. The app is designed to motivate honest participation and meaningful impact.
How points are awarded
When you log an action, you earn points based on several factors:
Action Points: Base points awarded for completing an action. These reflect the value of building sustainable habits.
Impact Points: Additional points based on the real-world impact of your action, such as:
Carbon saved (Earth)
Money saved (Wallet)
Calories burned (Fitness)
Nutritional value (Nutrition)
Or a custom Impact Bonus designed by your organization
Social Bonuses: Earn extra points by helping inspire others and increasing engagement.
Adding a photo
Writing a caption
Fun Bonuses: Occasional rewards.
Logging an action for the first time
Maintaining streaks
Participating in challenges
Staying motivated during competitions
Note: The exact point totals may vary depending on activity, engagement, and challenge settings.
See a breakdown of your points
After logging an action, you can view how your points were calculated.
Log an action in the app
Review the points shown in the confirmation pop-up
Tap Show More to see a detailed breakdown
If the action is part of a challenge, you’ll also see:
Points earned for that challenge
Your total challenge score
Your current leaderboard ranking
Understanding the different scores
During a challenge, you may see multiple types of scores. Each one represents a different way of measuring progress:
Personal progress score
The personal progress score, found on your profile, represents the base or "raw" points you earn from logging actions. Unlike other scores, it does not include any challenge-specific bonuses. This score reflects your intrinsic motivation and everyday habits, providing a clear picture of your consistent individual efforts over time.
Challenge Score: Individual
Visible in the Challenge leaderboard (”User Ranking View” if you're participating in a team-based challenge), includes all action points earned during the challenge as well as any challenge-specific bonuses. This score can sometimes exceed a user's personal progress score, since it accounts for both regular and bonus points available only during the challenge period. The user’s challenge score is used to rank individuals within the context of a challenge.
Challenge Score: Team
Visible in the Challenge leaderboard (”Team Ranking View” if you're participating in a team-based challenge), it is based on calculated points earned from members of the team. In team-based challenges, your activity contributes to your team’s overall score. JouleBug implements two scoring methods for team challenges:
Aggregate score: is calculated by summing the individual scores of team members during the challenge.
Example: If Alex logs an action and earns 10 points, Alex’s team will earn 10 points for that action.
This method is recommended for teams of uniform size.
Moving average score: is calculated by summing the individual moving average scores. The individual moving average score is the sum of each individual's points earned, divided by the total number of team members at the time of each log.
Example: If Alex logs an action and earns 10 points when there are 20 people on their team, Alex’s team will earn 0.5 points using moving average scoring (10 ÷ 20 = 0.5).
This method is recommended for teams of varying sizes.
Individual User’s Team Contribution Score - Moving Average Scoring
If you’re participating in a team-based challenge with teams of varying sizes, moving-average scoring is used. As an individual, you will notice that your Team Contribution score is lower than your Individual Score when comparing Team Leaderboard to Challenge Leaderboard User Ranking View.
Your Team Contribution Score can be found on the Team Leaderboard. When viewing the Challenge Leaderboard, click on your Team Name to see how members of your team rank. Remember, this leaderboard is based on a moving average calculation. Meaning that as more people join your team, your overall contribution per action logged will be smaller.
Example:
On day 1 of the challenge, Alex logs an action and earns 27 points. When there are only 3 people on their team, Alex’s Team Contribution Score is 9, and their team will receive 9 points as well (27 ÷ 3 = 9).
On day 10 of the challenge, Alex logs an action and earns 15 points. When there are 20 people on their team, Alex’s Team Contribution Score is 0.75, and their team will receive 0.75 points as well (15 ÷ 20 = 0.75).
When using Moving Average Scoring, your Team Contribution Score will be lower than your Individual Challenge Score. The moving average scoring system is designed to keep team competition fair across teams of different sizes.
Why scores may look different
It’s normal to see different numbers across the app. That’s because:
Personal progress excludes challenge bonuses
Challenge scores include extra incentives
Team scores may use averaging to ensure fairness
Each score tells a slightly different story:
Personal progress = your habits
Challenge score = your competitive performance
Team score = your contribution to the group
TL;DR: JouleBug operates on the honor system for action logging, and point totals are approximate, varying with activity and engagement. Certain bonuses are only available during active challenges, and team scoring methods may change depending on the challenge setup.