Step Year vs Pacer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Step Year
Visualize your yearly step data with interactive daily views. Scroll and tap to see photos from specific days, jogging your memory about your activity. Share your annual step count and stats with friends and family.
- Yearly step data visualization
- Daily step count review
- Photo integration for daily context
- Step count sharing with friends
- One-time purchase for historical data
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Review your step data from a bird's eye view! Have fun scrolling and tapping around to see photos you took that day. Jog your memory on why you took that many steps! Share and compare your total year's step count and stats with friends and family! ______ Your step data for the current year is unlocked for free. Unlock the step data from all your previous years with a one-time purchase!
Pacer
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Most step counters tell you you're behind at 10pm. Pacer tells you at 10am. Pacer spreads your daily step goal across your active hours and shows whether you're ahead or behind pace right now, on every glance. A 10,000-step goal isn't a midnight cliff. By 3pm you can know if you're on track. WHAT YOU GET • A live ahead/behind number on your wrist — "+420" or "-180", not a percentage. • Three watch-face complications: rectangular (steps + delta + pace bar), Pacer Steps (circular), and Pacer Delta (circular). • Custom active hours. Active from 10am? Winding down by 6pm? Set it once. • Gentle behind-pace nudges if you slip off pace PRIVACY Pacer collects nothing. HealthKit step counts stay on your watch — no servers, no accounts, no analytics, no third-party SDKs. DESIGNED FOR APPLE WATCH Built with SwiftUI and Swift 6 for smooth, battery-friendly performance. HOW IT WORKS Set a daily goal and an active window (default 9am–8pm). Every minute Pacer computes your on-pace target, a moving line from 0 at your start time to your goal at your end time. The delta between your actual steps and that target is your dashboard, your complication, your nudge. PERFECT FOR • Walkers who want nudges, not alarms • Shift workers with non-standard hours • Anyone trying to get their steps in for the day, every day
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Step Year at Free against Pacer's $3.99. Step Year also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). Pacer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On ads 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
Step Year is free to download; Pacer costs $3.99 up front. Step Year sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Pacer asks for nothing beyond the download.
Step Year ships an update every 2 weeks, Pacer every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Step Year | Pacer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (25 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 25 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Shannon Bolick | Aditya Gupta |
In-app purchases
Step Year
- Unlock Past Years$4.99
Pacer
No in-app purchases
