Comparison

12 Steps Guide vs One Step Recovery

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

Head to head
About

12 Steps Guide

This app provides a comprehensive guide to the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, featuring audiobooks of key recovery tapes and literature. It includes prayers, readings, a sobriety calculator, and the complete Big Book text for a structured recovery journey.

Highlights
  • 12-step program guide
  • Audiobooks of recovery tapes
  • Complete Big Book text
  • Sobriety calculator
  • Included prayers and readings
  • AA literature
Features
Read full description

Work the Twelve Steps one day at a time, with a practical guide to every Step and Tradition, the Big Book and over 90 hours of recovery audio, in one calm, easy-to-read app. THE STEPS AND TRADITIONS - A guide to each of the Twelve Steps, with an introduction and a conclusion, written from personal experience in plain language - A guide to each of the Twelve Traditions - See how far you've read: a quiet percentage while you read, and a tick when you finish THE BIG BOOK - Every chapter, from the Doctor's Opinion to A Vision for You - Personal stories from the first and second editions - Printed page numbers, so you can follow along in a meeting - A clean list of chapters and stories with a tick for each one you've read, and "Continue reading" to pick up where you left off PRAYERS AND READINGS - The Serenity Prayer, the Third, Seventh and Eleventh Step prayers and more - How It Works, the Promises, the Preamble, Just for Today, On Awakening and other readings - Sobriety tips, including how to find a sponsor, and a link to the day's Daily Reflection RECOVERY AUDIO - 138 recordings in 11 albums: Big Book studies, speaker tapes and meditation bells, including Joe and Charlie, Chuck C., Sandy B., Clarence S. and Father Martin - Read along with the transcript of the Joe and Charlie and Big Book recordings - Choose your playback speed, from 0.75× to 2× - Keeps playing with the screen locked, with controls on the lock screen - Premium: download recordings and listen offline YOUR RECOVERY - Count your days from your recovery date. It stays on your phone. - Optional hourly reminders between the times you choose, each with a thought for the hour COMFORTABLE TO READ - Choose your text size; the app also follows your iPhone's text size - Light and dark themes, or follow your iPhone's setting - Designed for iPad too, with readings beside their list FREE, WITH A PREMIUM OPTION Reading and listening are free and supported by adverts. Premium removes the adverts and lets you download recordings for offline listening. Premium is an annual subscription with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when the trial ends, and the subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in your Apple Account's subscription settings. No account is needed. Your recovery date and your reading stay on your device. Terms of use: https://ibyteapps.com/apps/12-step-guide/terms Privacy policy: https://ibyteapps.com/apps/12-step-guide/privacy 12 Step Guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by Alcoholics Anonymous or A.A. World Services, Inc.

About

One Step Recovery

This app helps individuals in recovery track their progress and maintain accountability. It offers daily motivational quotes, communication tools, meeting information, and scheduling features to support sobriety.

Highlights
  • Track recovery progress
  • Daily motivational quotes
  • Chat/messaging functionality
  • AA meeting locator
  • Agenda and scheduling
Read full description

One Step's app is built for those in recovery in order to track their recovery progress and help keep themselves accountable. Features include daily motivational quotes, chat/messaging, AA meetings, agenda/scheduling and more! One Step is used by over 20,000 people in recovery.

Screenshots

12 Steps Guide4 screens
One Step Recovery4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: One Step Recovery at none against 12 Steps Guide's 4. One Step Recovery also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 months). 12 Steps Guide's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (3.3K vs 181). On price, review sentiment, ads and device support 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. 12 Steps Guide sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per year. One Step Recovery asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

12 Steps Guide holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: 12 Steps Guide has 3.3K ratings behind it against 181, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 92% of 12 Steps Guide's written reviews are positive against 86% of One Step Recovery's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

12 Steps Guide ships an update every 3 months, One Step Recovery every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
12 Steps Guide versus One Step Recovery: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter12 Steps GuideOne Step Recovery
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (3.3K ratings) — better4.4 (181 ratings)
Positive reviews92.0% of reviews — better86.4% of reviews
Number of ratings3.3K — better181
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationSubscriptionFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB30 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperTushar BhagatOne Step Software Inc.

Customer experience

12 Steps Guide

All ratings3,293 ratings
Positive96.4%
Neutral2.0%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews251 reviews
Positive92.0%
Neutral4.0%
Negative4.0%

One Step Recovery

All ratings181 ratings
Positive84.0%
Neutral3.9%
Negative12.2%
Written reviews66 reviews
Positive86.4%
Neutral3.0%
Negative10.6%

User reviews

12 Steps Guide

From 3.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great recovery resource
  • 🚀 Convenient and easy to use
  • 💡 Comprehensive AA literature in one place
  • 🙏 Helpful prayers and daily reflections

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Ads still present after paid upgrade
  • 🤔 Lack of dark mode option
  • 💤 Difficulty retaining information from reading

One Step Recovery

From 181 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Helps with recovery and life goals
  • 👍 Provides motivation and daily quotes
  • 👍 Fosters community support and interaction
  • 👍 Keeps users accountable
  • 👍 Easy to use and user-friendly

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes frequently
  • 🐛 App shuts down with prolonged use or many tasks
  • 🐛 Check-in feature is unreliable
  • 🐛 Login/check-in issues
  • 🐛 App won't work for some users

Bugs and requests

12 Steps Guide

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Daily reflections page not working
  • App crashes on older devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add sobriety tracker
  • Include 12 & 12 book content
  • Improve bookmarking and page saving

One Step Recovery

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • App shuts down if left open too long or too many tasks are performed
  • Check-in feature either doesn't respond properly or users forget due to lack of service
  • Crashes frequently when trying to check in/out, save notes, or create documents
  • App won't work at all for some users
  • Frequently needs to be deleted and reinstalled to function
Show 2 more
  • Check-in feature isn't tracking meetings
  • Check-in at home button disappeared

Requested features

2 requests
  • Dark screen/dark mode option
  • Option to pay for membership and fees virtually

In-app purchases

4 purchases

12 Steps Guide

Subscriptions1
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time3
  • Donate$2.99
  • Donate$4.99
  • Donate$9.99
None

One Step Recovery

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is 12 Steps Guide free?
12 Steps Guide is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is One Step Recovery free?
One Step Recovery is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, 12 Steps Guide or One Step Recovery?
12 Steps Guide is rated higher. 12 Steps Guide averages 4.8 out of 5 from 3.3K ratings, while One Step Recovery averages 4.4 from 181 ratings.
Do 12 Steps Guide or One Step Recovery have ads?
Neither 12 Steps Guide nor One Step Recovery shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 12 Steps Guide or One Step Recovery?
12 Steps Guide ships an update every 3 months, and One Step Recovery every 10 days. Most recently, 12 Steps Guide was updated on October 20, 2026 and One Step Recovery on October 18, 2026.

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