Comparison

Adventure Lab® vs Steplings

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

Head to head
About

Adventure Lab®

Discover hidden gems, learn local trivia, and explore landmarks through interactive outdoor scavenger hunts. Uncover stories and solve puzzles in a contactless adventure. Perfect for families, individuals, or dates looking to get outside.

Highlights
  • Outdoor scavenger hunts
  • Discover hidden gems and landmarks
  • Learn local trivia and stories
  • Interactive and contactless experience
  • Multi-stage adventures
  • Map-guided exploration
Features
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Explore the world around you in a whole new way with Geocaching Adventure Lab® outdoor scavenger hunts! Community-generated scavenger hunts let you uncover hidden gems, learn local trivia, discover landmarks, and everyday treasures through an interactive, outdoor, and contactless experience. Each Adventure is created by another Adventurer and shares a special location, story, challenge, or educational experience. Whether you’re looking for an activity for your family, yourself, or a date, you’ll love getting outside and exploring with Adventure Lab. As you venture outside using the Geocaching Adventure Lab® app, the map will guide you to Adventures in your area. Adventures can have multiple stages to complete. Explore at your own pace and search for clues to unlock fun stories, puzzles, and hidden adventures. Solve the puzzle at all of the stages to complete your Adventure! Already have a Geocaching account? You can log in with your geocaching username and Adventures count towards your geocaching statistics and total finds. Download the app to find an Adventure near you. More are added every day! To learn more about Geocaching Adventure Lab®, go to https://labs.geocaching.com/learn.

About

Steplings

Features
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Every step takes you somewhere. Steplings turns your phone's step counter into an illustrated trail adventure. Walk in the real world to cross six game terrains - from city streets and salt flats to jungle, volcanic ridge, and snowy alpine - and meet creatures that grow into talking companions along the way. WALK ANYWHERE Your everyday steps move you through the game. There is no route to record, session to start, or GPS map to follow. Weather on each illustrated trail changes how far your steps carry you, while streak grace and an adaptive daily Trailmark keep the focus encouraging rather than punishing FIND YOUR COMPANIONS Discover dozens of creatures, hatch trail eggs, build bonds by walking together, and help companions Blossom and Shine. Personalities and species-specific dialogue make each travel partner feel different FOLLOW A STORY ACROSS SIX TRAILS Find pages of Theo's journal and piece together Finding Ana, a story that runs from the city to the summit. Checkpoints, hidden locations, fellow wanderers, rare trail events, achievements, an Almanac, and a walking calendar give every trail more to uncover KEEP YOUR MOMENTS Take an optional trail photo, add a short note, and keep it in that trail's local gallery. Create companion and milestone cards, then share only when you choose. Export a .trailsave backup, with or without photos, through the system share sheet. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Core gameplay works offline • No Steplings account or cloud sync • No ads, analytics, telemetry, or GPS • No Health Connect, HealthKit, or Apple Health access • Steps, activity, progress, and photos stay in the app's local storage unless you choose to share or export • Optional notifications are scheduled locally Steplings is free to play with no paywalls. Steplings is a game and walking motivator, not a medical device or real-world weather service. Step counting depends on compatible device hardware.

Screenshots

Adventure Lab®4 screens
Steplings4 screens

Verdict

The call

Adventure Lab® and Steplings are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Adventure Lab® ships an update every 3 weeks, Steplings monthly. Both last shipped on November 13, 2026.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Adventure Lab® versus Steplings: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAdventure Lab®Steplings
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (6.5K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews83.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings6.5K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.415.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB66 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperGroundspeak Inc.Tan Do

Bugs and requests

Adventure Lab®

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Incorrect answers being marked as correct
  • Stages not unlocking in the proper order
  • Location services not working reliably

Requested features

5 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to view past answers
  • Integration with main geocaching app
  • Offline caching capabilities
  • Feedback/reporting mechanism for CO

Steplings

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Adventure Lab®

No in-app purchases

None

Steplings

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Adventure Lab® free?
Adventure Lab® is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Steplings free?
Steplings is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Adventure Lab® or Steplings have ads?
Neither Adventure Lab® nor Steplings shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Adventure Lab® or Steplings?
Adventure Lab® ships an update every 3 weeks, and Steplings monthly. Most recently, Adventure Lab® was updated on November 13, 2026 and Steplings on November 13, 2026.

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