IRL Arena™FAQ
Common questions about IRL Arena — how arenas and points work, how kids compete without accounts, what integrations are coming, and how your data is handled.
Getting started
What is IRL Arena?
IRL Arena turns real-life activity into a friendly competition. You create a group (an arena), decide which activities score points and how many, invite friends or family, and everyone logs what they do — the leaderboard and race chart show who's winning the week, month, or year.
Does it cost anything?
No — creating arenas, inviting people, logging activities, and racing are all free.
Do I need to install an app?
IRL Arena runs in your browser at app.irlarena.com. iPhone and Android apps are on the way.
How do I join a friend's arena?
Ask them for their arena's 6-character invite code, then choose Join with code in the app. That's it — you're on the board.
Do I need a GPS watch or fitness tracker?
No. Logging an activity takes a few seconds — pick the activity, enter the miles or minutes, done. Automatic import from Strava and Garmin is on the roadmap for those who want it.
Points & scoring
How do points work?
Each arena picks which activities count and sets how many points one unit earns — for example biking 1 point per mile, running 3, swimming 10. Your score for a period is simply the sum of everything you logged.
Which activities can score points?
Biking, running, swimming, walking, and hiking (by miles), plus strength training (by minutes). More activity types are coming.
I'm in several arenas — do I have to log everything twice?
No. You log an activity once, and it automatically scores in every arena you belong to that counts that activity type.
What periods can we compete over?
Week, month, year, or all-time — switch between them any time on the leaderboard. Weeks start on Monday.
What stops someone from cheating?
The same thing that stops them from cheating at the dinner table: every log is visible to the whole arena, and the whole arena is your friends and family. IRL Arena is scorekeeping on the honor system.
Families & kids
Can my kids compete without their own accounts?
Yes — that's what managed members are for. Add a managed member to your arena and a parent or guardian logs activities on their behalf. They appear on the leaderboard like everyone else; they just don't have a login.
Who controls a child's information?
The guardian who created the managed profile. We collect no contact information from the child — only the display name and the activities the guardian records. See our privacy policy for details.
Roadmap & data
Will IRL Arena sync with Strava or Garmin?
It's planned — automatic activity import is one of the first things on the roadmap, so rides and runs can score without any manual logging.
What else is coming?
Team vs. team competitions, weekly mini-team pairings within an arena, badges for feats like most climbing in a week, and alerts when someone overtakes you.
How is my data handled?
Your activity data is shown to members of your arenas — that's the product — and nobody else. No ads, no selling your data, and the app doesn't track your location. Details in the privacy policy.