Comparison

Steep vs Tea Timer io

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

Head to head
About

Steep

This app helps you brew the perfect cup of tea with precise timers and temperature guidance for various tea types. It syncs seamlessly between your iPhone and Apple Watch, offering convenient control and customization for your tea-making experience.

Highlights
  • Synchronized iPhone and Apple Watch timers
  • Preset brew times and temperatures
  • Customizable tea library
  • Apple Watch complications
  • Live Activities and Dynamic Island support
  • Optional pre-alert haptics
Features
Read full description

A precise tea timer and brew journal for iPhone and Apple Watch. Start a timer from your wrist or phone, follow the right time and temperature, and keep every brew in one place. BREW FROM APPLE WATCH • Start timers instantly from the app or a complication. • Pause, resume, add time, or cancel from your wrist. • Get optional pre-alert haptics before your tea is ready. • Keep brewing when your iPhone is not nearby. PRECISE TIMERS FOR EVERY TEA • Built-in presets for green, black, oolong, white, herbal, chai, pu-erh, matcha, and rooibos. • Time and temperature guidance for loose leaf tea or tea bags. • Multi-steep profiles for gongfu sessions and repeat infusions. • Run several tea timers at once. BUILD YOUR TEA LIBRARY • Add custom teas, notes, photos, and favorite brewing parameters. • Organize teas into collections and choose what appears on Apple Watch. • Save ratings and tasting notes to remember your best cups. TRACK BREWS AND CAFFEINE • Review brew history, streaks, and weekly insights. • See estimated caffeine adjusted for steep time and infusion number. • Get an optional bedtime caffeine warning. • Sync completed brews with Apple Health. STAY IN SYNC • Follow active timers with Live Activities on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. • Keep teas, history, collections, settings, and photos synced with iCloud. • Use iPhone and Apple Watch together or independently. STEEP PRO Choose monthly, yearly, or lifetime access to unlock unlimited custom teas, caffeine insights, complete brew history, multiple simultaneous timers, iCloud sync, and advanced timer controls. Whether you brew once a day or run an afternoon gongfu session, Steep keeps every cup precise. Terms of Use: https://trifoiltrailblazer.com/en/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://trifoiltrailblazer.com/en/privacy-policy

About

Tea Timer io

This app provides precise brewing parameters for various teas, including temperature, ratio, and steep time. It supports multiple brewing styles and offers customizable settings for eleven different tea types. Enjoy a guided brewing experience with notifications and haptic feedback, all without ads or requiring an account.

Highlights
  • Precise temperature, ratio, and steep time
  • Supports standard, gongfu, Japanese, and cold brew styles
  • Presets for 11 tea types
  • Multi-infusion timer
  • Adjustable and saved brew settings
  • Offline functionality
  • Local notifications and haptic feedback
Features
Read full description

The tea timer that respects how tea is actually brewed. Whether you're pouring a quick cup of black tea or running a five-infusion gongfu session, Tea Timer gives you the exact temperature, ratio, and steep time for the tea in your cup. Not a generic 3-to-5-minute guess. Four brewing styles in one app • Standard. Single steep, the way most of the world drinks tea. • Gongfu. Sequential short infusions, each pour timed individually. • Japanese. Shorter, hotter, traditional Japanese style. • Cold Brew. Long, gentle extraction in the fridge. Eleven teas, dialed in Green, white, oolong, black, pu-erh, herbal, sencha, gyokuro, genmaicha, hojicha, and matcha. Each preset has a research-backed default temperature (°C or °F), a tea-to-water ratio in grams, and a per-infusion time. Add your own varieties under any tea type, each with its own temperature, ratio, and timing. Built for the brew, not the cup • Multi-infusion timer that walks you through every steep. • Adjust temperature, ratio, and time per tea, saved automatically. • Visual session progress so you never lose your place mid-flight. • Local notifications when your tea is ready. • Haptic feedback at start, finish, and each infusion change. • Works offline. No account required. Tea Timer now learns how you like your tea. • Rate a steep as too weak, just right, or too bitter, and future steep times adjust to your taste. See the adjustment, undo a stray rating, or reset it anytime. • Score a finished brew on aroma, flavor, body, and more. Every scale explains what it measures and what a good score looks like. • History logs every brew: steeps, sessions, teas tried, and your daily streak, with your tasting notes a tap away. • Keep your own teas under any type, like a Dragonwell under Green, with separate settings per brew style. • Time steppers on every brew style, and an option to end a gongfu session early. • New Midnight dark theme, plus five more. Designed to disappear into the ritual Calm color palette. Big, legible numbers. No ads. No social feed. No login. Open the app, pick the tea, hit start. That's it. For people who care about tea If you've ever ruined a cup because you forgot the timer, lost track of which infusion you were on, or wished your kitchen timer knew the difference between sencha and gyokuro, this app is for you. Tea Timer also runs free on the web at teatimer.app. Same presets, same brew, on whichever device is closest to your kettle. Brew better. Every cup.

Screenshots

Steep4 screens
Tea Timer io4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Tea Timer io at none against Steep's 3. Tea Timer io also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.5). Steep's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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

Both are free to download. Steep sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Tea Timer io asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Steep against 5.0 for Tea Timer io. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 6 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Steep ships an update every 5 days, Tea Timer io every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 9, 2026 and August 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Steep versus Tea Timer io: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSteepTea Timer io
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings46 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.515.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size36 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIvan TerekhinWhite Rabbit Software

Customer experience

Steep

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Tea Timer io

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Steep

Subscriptions2
  • Tea Timer Pro Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Tea Timer Pro Yearly3 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium$39.99
None

Tea Timer io

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Steep free?
Steep is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Tea Timer io free?
Tea Timer io is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Steep or Tea Timer io?
Steep and Tea Timer io are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 6 ratings respectively.
Do Steep or Tea Timer io have ads?
Neither Steep nor Tea Timer io shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Steep or Tea Timer io?
Steep ships an update every 5 days, and Tea Timer io every 2 months. Most recently, Steep was updated on September 9, 2026 and Tea Timer io on August 20, 2026.

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