Comparison

Routines vs Microstep

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Read full description

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.

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

Routines4 screens
Microstep4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Microstep is free to download; Routines costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Routines versus Microstep: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRoutinesMicrostep
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating3.6 (8 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings8 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.1 — better15.5
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCooplaEu Jin Kim

Customer experience

Routines

All ratings8 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews67 reviews
Positive46.3%
Neutral14.9%
Negative38.8%

Microstep

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Routines

No in-app purchases

None

Microstep

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Routines free?
Routines costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Microstep free?
Microstep is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Routines or Microstep?
Microstep is rated higher. Routines averages 3.6 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Microstep averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Routines or Microstep have ads?
Neither Routines nor Microstep shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Routines or Microstep?
Routines ships an update every 6 weeks, and Microstep every 4 days. Most recently, Routines was updated on October 14, 2026 and Microstep on October 12, 2026.

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