Malama vs Plainstride
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Malama
Easily track blood sugar levels by syncing with a Bluetooth glucose meter or manually logging. Integrate health and fitness data, tag meals with photos and notes, and receive AI-powered insights into food triggers for high glucose. Connect with specialized prenatal nutritionists.
- Bluetooth glucose meter sync
- Manual glucose logging
- HealthKit integration
- Meal tagging with photos and notes
- AI-powered food trigger identification
- Connect with prenatal nutritionists
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Malama helps women manage gestational diabetes during pregnancy and continue wellness support postpartum. Using Malama’s app, you can sync with a Bluetooth glucose meter to automatically pull in blood sugar and glucose levels. You can also manually log your glucose levels if your meter is not yet supported. Malama can integrate health and fitness data from the Health app using HealthKit and display your trends in a useful, easy-to-understand way. After logging glucose levels, you can add meal tags, photos, carb notes, and other details to share with your care team. Malama also offers powerful analytics using AI to help identify foods and meals that may trigger high blood glucose levels. With our postpartum wellness program, Malama supports healthy routines after pregnancy, including ongoing food insights, glucose awareness, and lifestyle support. We also offer connections to a network of prenatal nutritionists who specialize in gestational diabetes, pregnancy nutrition, and other prenatal conditions. Disclaimer: This app is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please seek a doctor’s advice in addition to using this app and before making any medical decisions.
Plainstride
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Plainstride makes running, walking, and biking more fun, personal, and connected—whether you’re chasing a goal, clearing your head, or sharing the adventure with someone who cares. MEET YOUR AI ACTIVITY BUDDY Your AI buddy helps you decide what to do today based on your goals, fitness, schedule, readiness, and recent training. Set smart, flexible goals based on distance, time, or calories, and explore a robust library of prebuilt plans and curated workouts. When life changes the plan, Plainstride adapts your workout and explains why, so you can spend less time guessing and more time moving. GO SOLO OR BRING THE CREW During a group run, walk, or ride, track your distance, time, pace, and route, capture shared moments with photos, and enjoy optional spoken guidance and Apple Music playback. When someone can’t join, share a private live link so they can follow along and cheer you on from wherever they are. CELEBRATE & TRACK PROGRESS Afterward, celebrate the miles together and see how far you’ve come. Review recent activities, weekly progress, trends, personal records, race predictions, and shoe mileage. Optional Apple Health and local weather integrations keep the experience connected while leaving you in control. KEY FEATURES: • Multi-Sport Tracking: Full support for running, walking, and biking • AI Activity Buddy: Personalized, adaptive guidance for your workouts • Smart Goal Setting: Flexible targets based on distance, time, or calories • Curated Workouts: A wide variety of prebuilt training plans and guided sessions • Group Sessions: Fun, social tracking for group runs, walks, or rides • Smart Adjustments: Readiness-aware daily plans that fit real life • Live Tracking: Private live-activity sharing with friends and family • Memories: Capture photos of memorable miles together • Audio Integration: Optional Apple Music playback and spoken guidance • Versatile Tracking: Outdoor GPS and indoor activity recording • In-Motion Controls: Pause, resume, goal-tracking, and Live Activities support • Deep Analytics: Activity history, weekly trends, records, and progress insights • Apple Health: Optional Health import and manual workout logging • Smart Context: Local weather insights for planning your route Move for the goal. Stay for the good company. — Disclaimer: Plainstride provides fitness guidance, not medical advice. Availability of Apple services and device features varies by region, subscription, hardware, and operating system.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Plainstride at none against Malama's 3. Plainstride also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs monthly). Malama's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Malama sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Plainstride asks for nothing beyond the download.
Malama ships an update monthly, Plainstride every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Malama | Plainstride |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (231 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 93.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 231 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MALAMA HEALTH, INC. | Plainstride Labs Inc. |
Bugs and requests
Malama
Reported bugs
9 issues- App won't load or becomes unresponsive
- Data entries fail to save
- Verification code screen freezes during login
- White screen prevents adding logs
- App stuck on analyzing screen
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- Network error messages blocking access
- Syncing delays after submitting entries
- Glucose range settings don't accept all recommended values
- Fasting log doesn't display correctly for night shift workers
Requested features
14 requests- Water intake tracker
- Fitness and workout logging
- Integration with MyFitnessPal or similar apps
- More detailed macro tracking (carbs, fiber, fat, protein breakdown)
- Support for additional glucose monitors (Freestyle Libre)
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- Ability to download food and glucose logs as PDF
- Blood pressure tracking for preeclampsia monitoring
- Snooze or pause option for meal tips
- Apple Health integration for workout data
- Extended graph viewing beyond one week
- Improved graph visualization and clarity
- Customizable reminder timing (5 minutes before test)
- Ability to set ranges below current minimum thresholds
- Better support for shift workers and non-traditional schedules
Plainstride
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Malama
- Donation$0.99
- Donation$4.99
- Donation$9.99
Plainstride
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Malama free?
Is Plainstride free?
Do Malama or Plainstride have ads?
Which is updated more often, Malama or Plainstride?
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