CDC's Milestone Tracker vs Willow®
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CDC's Milestone Tracker
Monitor your child's developmental progress from 2 months to 5 years with interactive checklists. Includes tips, videos, and guidance on when to seek professional advice. Easily share milestone summaries with healthcare providers.
- Add multiple children
- Interactive milestone checklists
- Milestone photos and videos
- Developmental tips and activities
- Guidance on early developmental concerns
- Track doctor's appointments
- Share milestone summaries
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Milestones matter! Track your child’s milestones from age 2 months to 5 years with CDC’s easy-to-use checklists; get tips from CDC to support your child’s development; and find out what to do if you ever have concerns about your child's development. From birth to age 5, your child should reach milestones in how he or she plays, learns, speaks, acts and moves. Photos and videos in this app illustrate each milestone and make tracking them for your child easy and fun! Spanish photos and videos are coming soon! Features: • Add a Child – enter personalized information about your child or multiple children • Milestone Tracker – track your child’s development by looking for important milestones using an interactive checklist • Milestone Photos and Videos – know what each milestone looks like so that you can better identify them in your own child. • Tips and Activities – support your child’s development at every age • When to Act Early – know when it’s time to “act early” and talk with your child’s doctor about developmental concerns • Appointments – keep track of your child’s doctors’ appointments and get reminders about recommended developmental screenings • Milestone Summary – get a summary of your child’s milestones to view, and share with or email to your child’s doctor and other important care providers For more information and free tools to help you track your child’s milestones, visit www.cdc.gov/ActEarly. *This milestone checklist is not a substitute for a standardized, validated developmental screening tool. These developmental milestones show what most children (75% or more) can do by each age. Subject matter experts selected these milestones based on available data and expert consensus. CDC does not collect or share any personal information that can be used to identify you or your child.
Willow®
Manage your Willow breast pump, track milk output, and access expert advice for pumping and postpartum care. Features include personalized pump control, session history, and AI-powered support.
- Control Willow pumps remotely
- Track milk output and session history
- Manage digital milk stash (SmartStash)
- Access expert articles and videos
- AI-powered women's health chat
- Book expert consultations
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More than a pump app. A support system. Control your pumps with a tap from your phone or your wrist, track your session history, and view your pumping trends and metrics. Scan and manage Willow SmartStash Bags in your fridge and freezer. Plus, get access to expert guidance from educational content, live services, and our specialized, AI-powered chat—a virtual support system designed to support you across pumping, feeding, and postpartum care. Who can use the Willow app? This app is compatible with all connected pumps, including Willow Go, Sync, 360, and 3.0. Willow Wave users can manually add manual pump sessions to their session history. And anyone wanting to manage their milk stash can keep track in our SmartStash inventory tracker. All of the pumping, feeding, maternal healthcare, parenting and baby development resources in the app are free for anyone to use! Operate your pumps with a tap. Start and stop your session, switch between modes (Go and Sync), adjust suction levels, and view your pumping duration, all from your phone or smart watch. Set up your own Pumping Preferences, including suction levels and custom timer settings, and set reminders so every session works just the way you like. Get the only app that lets you control your session from your Apple Watch. NEW! You can now control your Go pumps, in addition to Willow 360 and 3.0. Track your sessions. Understand your output. Follow your milk output, session durations, add manual pump sessions and more for a complete picture of your pumping history. Spot trends, optimize your routine, and pump with confidence. With SmartStash, you can quickly and easily scan Willow Milk Bags into your digital stash to manage your inventory in the app. Get your questions answered. Access a comprehensive library of expert-backed articles and videos on all things pumping, feeding, and postpartum care, from establishing supply and building schedules to combo-feeding and more. The Willow app also includes our conversational AI, specially dedicated to women’s health, designed by moms for moms. With both expert resources and AI-powered support, you always have trusted guidance at your fingertips. Book expert sessions for personalized guidance. Connect with lactation consultants, pelvic floor therapists, mental health professionals, Willow sizing experts, and more. Because we know it takes a village. Visit onewillow.com to learn more about the app and explore accessories, content, and more.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: CDC's Milestone Tracker at 61% against Willow®'s 13%. CDC's Milestone Tracker also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.9 vs 4.5). Willow®'s advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 6 months). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
CDC's Milestone Tracker holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10K and 2.7K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of CDC's Milestone Tracker's written reviews are positive against 13% of Willow®'s.
CDC's Milestone Tracker ships an update every 6 months, Willow® monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CDC's Milestone Tracker | Willow® |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (10K ratings) — better | 4.5 (2.7K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 61.2% of reviews — better | 13.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 10K — better | 2.7K |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 61 MB | 102 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Centers For Disease Control and Prevention | Willow Innovations, Inc. |
Customer experience
CDC's Milestone Tracker
Willow®
User reviews
CDC's Milestone Tracker
From 10K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Comprehensive milestone tracking
- 💡 Helpful videos and activities
- 🔍 Useful for monitoring child development
- ⭐ Great resource for parents and caregivers
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bugs and glitches (e.g., app crashes, incorrect age display)
- 🔍 Overly sensitive to missing milestones, causing unnecessary worry
- 🗣️ Needs more language options beyond English and Spanish
- 🔗 Broken or missing links to external resources
- 🔍 Lacks flexibility for customizing milestones (e.g., for children with special needs)
Willow®
From 2.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 💡 Convenient for on-the-go pumping
- 👍 Comfortable and effective pumps
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy app with connectivity issues
- 🔋 Poor battery life
- 👎 Lacking key features like pump history and volume tracking
Bugs and requests
CDC's Milestone Tracker
Reported bugs
4 issues- Incorrect age display for children
- Milestone checklist reset after app updates
- Reference videos not working as expected
- Inability to input child's exact age or prematurity details
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to sync data between multiple devices
- Option to track milestones beyond early childhood
- Integration with other child health and development apps
- More customization options for milestone tracking
- Improved data visualization and reporting
Willow®
Reported bugs
3 issues- App frequently disconnects from pumps
- Timer and session data not always accurate
- Pumps sometimes stop working mid-session
Requested features
3 requests- Add ability to log pumping volume and history
- Allow customization of pump timer
- Improve app responsiveness and reliability
In-app purchases
CDC's Milestone Tracker
No in-app purchases
Willow®
No in-app purchases





