ChallengeForFriends

A Telegram bot, not another app

Promises into a system. Inside your group chat.

Your friends said they'd run 3x a week. Hit 10k steps. Read every day. ChallengeForFriends keeps score — and tells the chat when someone slips.

Add to your groupHow it works →
Friday squad · 4 members
A
Anna
11,420 steps today ✅
M
Maxim
Skipped gym. I owe a fant 😅
B
Bot
Daily summary · 3/4 hit Steps. Maxim used 1/3 rest days.
L
Lena
1,800 / 2,000 kcal — 200 left
V
Vlad
📷 squat photo

Why this works where habit trackers don't

Solo apps fail because nobody's watching. A friend group already is. We just give the group a scoreboard, a referee, and stakes that don't involve money.

01

One engine, every kind of challenge

Steps, sport, calories, reading, language streaks, no-drink weeks — they're all variations of three primitives the bot already speaks. Build whatever your group cares about.

02

Honor system, peer-visible

No AI photo verification (which gets it wrong anyway). The bot trusts your number; the group sees the photo. Lying in front of five friends is a different game.

03

Forfeits, not money

Group seeds a library of fants — silly forfeits voted on 2-of-N before they become drawable. Lose a week, draw a fant. Nobody has to set up an escrow account.

04

Built for 3–15, not the internet

The whole product assumes small trust. No moderation, no antifraud, no public leaderboards. Just your group, the rules you agreed on, and the receipts.

Four templates. Start in two minutes.

Pick one and override anything. Templates are starting points, not handcuffs — every field is editable at creation time.

Steps

steps
Rule
≥ 10,000 steps a day
Proof
Screenshot of your step counter
Freebie
1 rest day per week

Your friend group decided to walk more in the spring.

Sport

sport
Rule
3 training sessions per week
Proof
Photo from the gym or right after
Freebie
None — sport is sport

You said you'd actually go to the gym this quarter.

Calories

calories
Rule
≤ 2,000 kcal per day
Proof
Numbers — type as many times as you want and the bot sums
Freebie
1 cheat meal per week

Cutting before summer. No one judges; everyone counts.

Habit

habit
Rule
Yes / no daily check-in
Proof
Tap the button. Optional photo.
Freebie
2 skip days per month

Read every day. Meditate. Skip alcohol. Anything binary.

Three steps. Then the bot runs the rest.

  1. 01

    Add the bot to your group

    One tap. The bot picks up the existing members; new joiners get an opt-in DM.

  2. 02

    Run /new_challenge

    Pick a template, set the period, decide on fants and freebies. The wizard walks you through it.

  3. 03

    Live in the group chat

    Send proof when you do the thing. Skip a day, get pinged in the evening summary. End of the period — leaderboard.

When you need more than chat

Most things happen in the group. For long stat views, history, and the fant editor, the bot opens a Mini App right inside Telegram — no separate login, no separate install.

  • Dashboard with all active challenges
  • Personal stats with charts (Recharts)
  • Leaderboard history across periods
  • Fant library editor with the 2-of-N approval flow
Friday squad
May 2026
Steps
11/14 days
Calories
9/14 days
Readingstreak
14/14 days
Leaderboard
1Lena
210
2Anna
180
3Vlad
140
4Maxim
70

Frequently asked

Is it really free?

Yes, fully free for the MVP. We have no payment processor wired and no plan to introduce one until at least a thousand active groups exist.

Does the bot store our photos?

No. We only keep the Telegram `file_id` reference. Photos live in Telegram's CDN and are never copied to our servers.

What if a friend doesn't want to play?

Each person can run `/optout` from any challenge — and `/optin` later. The bot also has `/forget_me`, which anonymizes their record entirely (GDPR).

Can we run more than one challenge at a time?

Yes. A group can run any number of parallel challenges. When proof could match more than one, the bot asks which one you mean.

How does it stop turning into bullying?

Multiple guardrails: max one public call-out per user per day, quiet hours (23:00–08:00), a 7-day observer mode for new joiners, and a group-wide ping tone (friendly / strict / roast — roast requires majority vote).

What languages are supported?

English and Russian on day one, auto-detected from each user's Telegram language. You can switch via `/lang`.

Does it work in supergroups?

Yes, including when a group is upgraded mid-challenge — the bot listens for `migrate_to_chat_id` and rewires everything without losing history.

What are fants?

Optional forfeits the group seeds itself (e.g. "send a five-star Yelp review of the gas station you dislike"). New fants need 2-of-N member approval before they become drawable, to keep things from going off the rails.

Is this useful for couples / pairs?

It works, but it shines in groups of four or more — the social pressure dynamics get more interesting with multiple peers watching.

How long is the MVP runway?

60 days from public launch. If the product does not find traction with real friend groups by then, the factory kills it — the rule is hard.

Where can I read the source / open issues?

The repo lives at github.com/vboldyrev16. Issues, ideas, and pull requests are welcome.

Who is behind the bot?

Vladimir Boldyrev — indie founder running a product factory. Other products at vboldyrev.com.