Routines vs Microstep
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Routines
Manage recurring tasks and chores with customizable checklists. Stay organized with daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly reminders to build habits, learn new skills, or meet deadlines. Keep routine tasks separate from your main to-do list for improved focus and productivity.
- Recurring task checklists (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)
- Dashboard view of daily tasks
- Task filtering by context and tags
- Customizable task contexts and tags
- Local notifications for reminders
- Auto-Highlight and Auto-Uncheck features
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Routines is a checklist app for the repeated tasks and chores in your life. Use Routines to keep recurring tasks from cluttering your calendar, email, and other to-do lists. With built-in daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly checklists, Routines makes it easy to stay on track and provides reminders for the important to-dos in your life. • Overwhelmed by routine housework? Use Routines to track chores and never miss a thing again. • Want to build good habits? Use Routines to keep “doing it” until it becomes second nature. • Learning a new skill? Use Routines to set up a recurring schedule for practice. • Keep missing your monthly report deadline? Use Routines to remind you of important tasks ahead of time. Keep recurring tasks separate from your main to-do list and calendar with Routines. Download Routines and see how this approach can help you stay focused and improve productivity. OUR USERS SAY “We use Routines at work to standardize the day. This app is exactly what I needed to stick to my routine and remain accountable for my work. Love it.” “The perfect app for creating a routine for home, work—anything! Don’t waste money on other apps!” FEATURES * Add recurring tasks to daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly checklists to keep routine tasks separate from your calendar and other to-do lists. * The Home tab provides a dashboard view of all tasks happening today across your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly lists. * In each list, tap the title to switch between different views with alternative groupings and sorting. * Add context to tasks. Create your own contexts (for example, Home and Work) and assign one context to each task. * Use tags to describe tasks with keywords or labels. Assign one or more tags to each task and create as many tags as you need. * Tap the filter bar to filter lists by context and/or tags. * Create alerts to receive notifications before or on a task’s due date. Routines uses local notifications so reminders work even when you’re offline. * Turn on Auto-Highlight to colour task titles in orange for tasks due within a range you set in Settings—an at-a-glance reminder of what’s coming up. * Turn on Auto-Uncheck to automatically uncheck tasks at a specified time. For example, reset weekly tasks every Monday at 1:00 am for a clean slate. Routines is a universal app for iPhone and iPad. No sign-up required. No ads. All data stays on your device.
Microstep
Effortlessly create personalized trackers for any aspect of your life using AI. Simply describe what you want to monitor, and the app generates a custom template. Gain insights into your progress through AI-powered analysis and visualizations.
- AI-generated custom trackers
- Track workouts, mood, sleep, and more
- AI-powered progress insights
- Automatic trends and charts
- Offline functionality
- 17 customizable field types
- CSV export
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Microstep builds custom trackers from a single sentence. Describe what you want to track—workouts, baby schedules, mood, sleep, anything—and AI creates a personalized template in seconds. No more generic habit apps. No endless setup. Just describe it and start tracking. AI-POWERED TEMPLATES Tell Microstep what you're tracking in plain language. It creates the right fields automatically—numbers, timers, ratings, checkboxes, photos, and more. Have a workout video or recipe photo? Paste the link or snap a picture—Microstep turns it into a trackable template. TALK TO YOUR PROGRESS Chat with AI to get personalized insights about your projects. Ask questions like "How am I doing this week?" or "What patterns do you see?"—and get answers based on your actual data. Your AI coach analyzes your progress and helps you stay on track. TRACK ANYTHING Workouts with sets and reps. Baby feeds and sleep. Mood and symptoms. Recipes with photos. Medications and side effects. Practice sessions. Reading progress. Coffee brewing. If you can describe it, you can track it. SEE WHAT'S WORKING Automatic trends and charts show your progress over time. Discover correlations between what you track. Stay consistent with streaks. Export to CSV anytime. BUILT FOR REAL LIFE • Smart reminders with quiet hours • Streak protection before you break your chain • Dark mode for late-night logging • Works offline—no account required FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE 17 field types: numbers, text, ratings, booleans, images, timers, dropdowns, checkboxes, dates, times, durations, lists, tags, and step-by-step checkpoints. Start with AI, then tweak to fit exactly how you think. Perfect for: • Gym-goers tracking lifts and PRs • New parents logging feeds, sleep, and milestones • People monitoring symptoms or medications • Habit builders (and breakers) • Coffee lovers perfecting their brew • Home cooks saving recipes • Musicians, artists, and learners tracking practice • Pet owners logging meals and vet visits • Anyone curious about patterns in their life Describe it. Track it. Understand it. --- Terms of Service: https://microstepapp.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://microstepapp.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Microstep at Free against Routines's $2.99. Microstep also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.6) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 6 weeks). Routines's advantage is ratings volume (8 vs 2). On ads, 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
Microstep is free to download; Routines costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Microstep holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 2 respectively.
Routines ships an update every 6 weeks, Microstep every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Routines | Microstep |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.6 (8 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 46.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.1 — better | 15.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 61 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Coopla | Eu Jin Kim |
Customer experience
Routines
Microstep
In-app purchases
Routines
No in-app purchases
Microstep
No in-app purchases







