Comparison

Challenges vs Strive

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Challenges

Compete with friends, family, and coworkers to get fit. Track your progress through stand, move, and exercise rings, earn medals, and send motivational nudges. Stay connected and motivated with real-time updates and team challenges.

Highlights
  • Team challenges
  • Activity ring tracking (Stand, Move, Exercise)
  • Medal achievements
  • Motivational nudges and comments
  • Real-time team progress updates
  • Apple Watch integration
Features
Read full description

Get fit and compete with friends, family & coworkers with the Challenges app. ‘Cause everybody needs a little healthy competition. -- How It Works -- Getting started with Challenges is easy. Join a team challenge and aim to complete your Stand, Move, and Exercise rings. Whether you get there by shakin’ it to Queen Bey or taking the furthest spot in the parking lot, it’s up to you. Keep tabs on your progress via Apple Watch, the Challenges App, or the Health app. Watch in real time as your teammates get closer to closing their rings - they’re cheering you on to do the same! -- Achievements -- The more you move, the more you’re rewarded. Stack up your points to earn Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medals. Go for the gold! Check progress on your next medal Bask in the glow of medals you’ve racked up from all of your Challenges -- Nudges -- What gets you stepping better than your L.A. Lights sneakers from the 90s? Accountability. Spark a little friendly banter to fuel your fitness flame. Get and send nudges from your teammates (Tell Dan from the second floor to start taking the stairs if he’s reppin’ your team Mission-Fitpossible) Comment on the challenge wall to share tips or coordinate a workout Invite a friend to join your team, via email or text (Emojis 100% acceptable) -- On The Watch -- Pump yourself up wherever you go with just a glance at your wrist. Check in on team ranking See when you’re closing in on an achievement Compare your daily average so you can gauge your progress. Get notified when someone nudges you Get pinged when one of your teammates is rocking it. “Dan just closed all three rings!” Boom, send back applause hands. Somebody’s been snubbing the elevator. Get your watch charged, your team amped, and your sneakers ready, ‘cause you’ve got a challenge to win. Challenges integrates with the Health App on your iPhone to retrieve the data it uses to determine by how much you've just beaten all your friends. Because of our integration with the Health App, this also means we leverage the powerful HealthKit API to make your user experience and user interface the best possible. Enjoy!

About

Strive

Compete in fitness challenges with friends using various metrics like weight loss, steps, and body fat. Track your progress with integrated health data and visualize your journey with insightful charts and graphs.

Highlights
  • Interactive leaderboards
  • 7 competition types
  • Health App integration
  • Smart Scale integration
  • Charts and graphs
  • Weight loss challenges
  • Step tracking
Features
Read full description

Strive has built an interactive Leaderboard so you can compete in step challenges, chat, and encourage each other to Strive! Strive Individual plans: * Monthly Premium: $5.99 * Yearly Premium: $24.99 Strive Group plans: * 5 Users Yearly Premium: $99.99 * 10 Users Yearly Premium: $199.99 * 25 Users Yearly Premium: $499.99 * 50 Users Yearly Premium: $999.99 More information on how to host an Employee Step Challenge: https://www.strivecompetitions.com/employee-step-challenge Payments and Renewal: * Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. * Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. * You can manage or turn off auto-renew in your Account settings at any time after purchase * No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during the active period. Terms of use: https://www.strivecompetitions.com/terms
Privacy policy: https://www.strivecompetitions.com/privacypolicy

Screenshots

Challenges4 screens
Strive4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Challenges at none against Strive's 14. Strive's advantage is review sentiment (71% vs 51%) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Strive sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Challenges asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Strive holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5.7K and 3K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 51% of Challenges's written reviews are positive against 71% of Strive's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Challenges ships an update every 3 weeks, Strive every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Challenges versus Strive: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChallengesStrive
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (5.7K ratings)4.8 (3K ratings) — better
Positive reviews51.0% of reviews71.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.7K — better3K
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS18.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size48 MB101 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperFitNowStrive Competitions LLC

Customer experience

Challenges

All ratings5,728 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral2.5%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews355 reviews
Positive51.0%
Neutral14.9%
Negative34.1%

Strive

All ratings3,048 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral2.0%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews90 reviews
Positive71.1%
Neutral4.4%
Negative24.4%

User reviews

Challenges

From 5.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great app for group challenges
  • 👍 Motivating and fun
  • 🤝 Allows competing across platforms
  • 🎯 Individualized calorie goals

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Syncing issues with fitness apps
  • 🕰️ Slow to update data
  • 🤯 Inaccurate point tracking
  • 🤖 Poor customer support
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns

Strive

From 3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great customer service
  • 🚀 Amazing app for friendly competitions
  • 💡 Fun and motivating
  • 👍 Measuring goals
  • 🚀 Fantastic extrinsic motivator

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Subscription changed significantly
  • 🐛 Glitch
  • 🐛 Support nonexistent
  • 🐛 Doesn't work
  • 🐛 $ to connect to Fitbit , do deleting

Bugs and requests

Challenges

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes frequently
  • Syncing issues with Apple Health
  • Inability to delete account
  • Challenges not working as intended

Requested features

6 requests
  • Allow rest days in challenges
  • Increase maximum daily points
  • Add option to set individual vs. group challenges
  • Improve messaging and notifications
  • Add Garmin integration
Show 1 more
  • Allow challenge creators to manage teams

Strive

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when trying to read chat
  • Frustrating loss of steps
  • Waste of Money

Requested features

2 requests
  • Relative goals for challenges like apple fitness
  • Weekend challenges

In-app purchases

None

Challenges

No in-app purchases

14 purchases

Strive

Subscriptions13
  • Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Strive Monthly$1.491 Month
  • Strive Monthly$2.991 Month
Show 10 more
  • 6 Months$3.996 Months
  • Strive Yearly$4.991 Year
  • Annual$5.991 Year
  • Monthly with FREE 7-Day Trial7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Strive Yearly$9.991 Year
  • Yearly with FREE 7-Day Trial7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • 10 Users7 Days trial$39.991 Month
  • 10 Users$50.001 Year
  • 25 Users$100.001 Year
  • 100 Users$300.001 Year
One-time1
  • Public Challenges$5.00

Questions

Is Challenges free?
Challenges is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Strive free?
Strive is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Challenges or Strive?
Strive is rated higher. Challenges averages 4.6 out of 5 from 5.7K ratings, while Strive averages 4.8 from 3K ratings.
Do Challenges or Strive have ads?
Neither Challenges nor Strive shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Challenges or Strive?
Challenges ships an update every 3 weeks, and Strive every 9 days. Most recently, Challenges was updated on October 24, 2026 and Strive on October 25, 2026.

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