Short answer: Yes and no.

Medium answer: Some people and research claims they do and other people and research claims that they don't.

Long answer: The purpose of a toning shoe to to increase muscle activity to give the wearer an alleged extra tone up when wearing them. Generally, the research shows that this may not be the case (and has led to legal issues for some of the manufacturers), but several studies have shown that there is a change in some muscle activity, so this will be helpful to some people in altering the way that they work. The gait changes can also help some people with gait and posture problems. So yes they can help some people and do work and no they don't help some people and do not work.

The challenge is to come up with good guidelines so it can be easier to determine who they do and do not help. We are not quite there yet.

Key Resources:
https://podiapaedia.org/wiki/footwear/toning-shoes/
https://www.toningshoestoday.com/