A Step Ahead Challenge vs Cardio Quest
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
A Step Ahead Challenge
Embark on a virtual walking adventure where your real-world steps power your survival against zombies, robots, and aliens. Complete missions, upgrade your character, and join teams to conquer challenges in a post-apocalyptic world. New adventures are released regularly.
- Sync steps from fitness trackers
- Form teams and get active
- Use steps to complete missions
- Use exercise to battle enemies
- Track progress on maps and leaderboards
- Regular content expansions
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It's finally happened... the apocalypse is here and your only hope for survival is to outrun the zombies, rogue robots and alien invaders who've taken over! A Step Ahead™ is a walking adventure game that's powered by your physical activity. Use your real-world steps and exercise to complete missions in the wasteland, upgrade your character, and go on an epic fitness adventure. Getting started is simple: 1. Download the A Step Ahead™ app 2. Click your organization's personalized invite link or enter the Invite Code for your organization's challenge in the ASA app** 3. Use your real-world steps and exercise to go on an interactive fitness adventure Adventure through all of the ASA™ challenge series: The Outbreak™ Zombies are here… and they're hungry! You and your team will face a variety of challenges, obstacles and distance goals as you run (or walk) through a zombie-infested wasteland, helping other survivors and working to help those in need and rebuild society. Robotica™ What happens when the world's richest man, Albus Mousse, builds a sentient A.I. and charges it with protecting humanity? It determines that the biggest threat to mankind is… mankind. Race to avoid capture while you look for a way to shut down the servers and free the people "helped" by the army of rogue robots. Invasion™ They came from beyond the horizon, but why? And for what? Alien invaders are here and they're setting up shop on planet Earth. Work with your team across this adventure series to figure out why the aliens are here and how to get them to leave the planet. Seasons+™ A special series for challenges themed around the seasons, holidays, and special series crossover missions. Features: - Sync your steps and exercise from Fitbit, Garmin, Apple Watch or Apple Health Kit* - Form a team and get active** - Use your real-world steps to move your team - Use your real-world exercise to battle enemies - Keep track of your progress on the level maps and leaderboards - Tons of content, with regular expansions and updates - Play as humans OR enemies in over 20 different challenges across 4 different themes and settings - New adventures are released every quarter. *Use your favorite fitness tracker or fitness app to sync your activity data to A Step Ahead. Please consult your individual app(s) to ensure that they have permission to write Steps and Workouts to Apple Health. **A Step Ahead requires an invite code in order to participate. If you are part of a private group challenge, please consult your challenge organizer for your invite code. If you're an individual or group in need of an invite code, please visit asachallenge.com to get started. This project was completed with assistance from the Georgia Film Office, a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Cardio Quest
This fantasy role-playing game transforms your real-life workouts into epic battles. Track your heart rate to fight monsters, earn loot, and level up your hero. Compete with friends on leaderboards and track your fitness progress.
- Heart rate tracking for combat
- Fantasy role-playing gameplay
- Monster battles during workouts
- Earn loot and level up hero
- Friend tracking and leaderboards
- Workout tracking
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Cardio Quest is a fantasy role-playing video game that challenges players to get active and improve their health. By tracking heart rate during exercise, players do battle while they work out in real life. Watch your Hero slay monsters as you get fit and earn epic loot. Follow friends, rank on leaderboards, track your workouts, and level up as you turn your workouts into gaming marathons. Cardio Quest is currently in Open Beta. Come join the future of connected fitness!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: A Step Ahead Challenge at 4.8 against Cardio Quest's 4.2. A Step Ahead Challenge also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (7.2K vs 59). Cardio Quest's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 weeks) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, review sentiment, ads and monetization model 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. Cardio Quest sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. A Step Ahead Challenge asks for nothing beyond the download.
A Step Ahead Challenge holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: A Step Ahead Challenge has 7.2K ratings behind it against 59, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 55% of A Step Ahead Challenge's written reviews are positive against 59% of Cardio Quest's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
A Step Ahead Challenge ships an update every 5 weeks, Cardio Quest every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | A Step Ahead Challenge | Cardio Quest |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (7.2K ratings) — better | 4.2 (59 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 55.2% of reviews | 59.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7.2K — better | 59 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 238 MB | 1.2 GB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | FIX Health | Press Forward Games LLC |
Customer experience
A Step Ahead Challenge
Cardio Quest
User reviews
A Step Ahead Challenge
From 7.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🤝 Great team building
- 🏃♀️ Motivates exercise
- 🕹️ Fun and engaging game
- 🔍 Competitive aspect
- 🔔 Helpful notifications
Room to improve
- ⏱️ Slow load times
- 🤕 Unfair team size disadvantage
- 🤔 Lack of direction/instructions
- 💰 Expensive per challenge
- 🔍 Difficulty selecting players
Cardio Quest
From 59 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Great motivation for workouts
- 👍 Fun and engaging gamified experience
- 🚀 Encourages healthy lifestyle
- 🌟 Unique RPG workout combination
- ❤️ Adds years and health to life
Room to improve
- 🤯 Overwhelming for new users
- 🤔 Confusing UI and setup
- 🪲 Bugs and glitches present
- 🔄 Repetitive gameplay and grind
- ⚖️ Item and skill set imbalance
Bugs and requests
A Step Ahead Challenge
Reported bugs
3 issues- Syncing issues with fitness trackers
- App crashes after updates
- Steps not registering properly
Requested features
5 requests- Add countdown timer
- Improve team management features
- Introduce more challenge types
- Provide post-mission recap
- Allow skipping tutorial
Cardio Quest
Reported bugs
18 issues- Cannot connect to Hyperate application
- Bug interface
- Needs separate app for Apple Watch data
- Sync feature has limitations (free version)
- App loses track of heart rate
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- UI is unintuitive
- Cannot figure out how to level up
- Won't connect to Garmin
- Cannot add devices via app
- Calories burned not accurate for stairs
- Duplicate gear not going into inventory
- Sync issues with heart rate
- Game needs to be resynced constantly
- Disconnects during workouts
- Doesn't sync
- Can't sync iWatch
- Doesnt work with device
- Incomplete at the moment
Requested features
12 requests- Simpler UX for new users
- More things to manage
- Less time managing/learning
- Add an idle element (e.g., mining)
- Upgrade system for duplicate gear
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- View pets during battles
- Move around a virtual world like an MMO
- Combat and social aspects
- Compatibility with cheaper smartwatches
- Option to use data from Apple Fitness
- Retroactively correct step count
- Allow app to run in background for quests
In-app purchases
A Step Ahead Challenge
No in-app purchases
Cardio Quest
- Monthly Premium Features$4.99
- Monthly Battle Pass$9.99
Questions
Is A Step Ahead Challenge free?
Is Cardio Quest free?
Which has better reviews, A Step Ahead Challenge or Cardio Quest?
Do A Step Ahead Challenge or Cardio Quest have ads?
Which is updated more often, A Step Ahead Challenge or Cardio Quest?
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