Dot Step Counter vs Pacer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Dot Step Counter
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A simple and minimalistic step counter app with complication widgets for the Apple Watch. It counts your daily steps and shows your progress towards your daily step goal. Simply set your daily goal in the Watch app.
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
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Dot Step Counter at Free against Pacer's $3.99. Dot Step Counter also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months). 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
Dot Step Counter is free to download; Pacer costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Dot Step Counter ships an update every 5 days, Pacer every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dot Step Counter | Pacer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alina Hang & Dominik Schmidt GbR | Aditya Gupta |
In-app purchases
Dot Step Counter
No in-app purchases
Pacer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Dot Step Counter free?
Is Pacer free?
Do Dot Step Counter or Pacer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Dot Step Counter or Pacer?
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