Comparison

VirtuPet vs StepPet

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

Head to head
About

VirtuPet

This game encourages physical activity by rewarding users for walking. Collect virtual pets by finding and hatching eggs on a real-world map, and keep your pets happy and healthy with your daily steps.

Highlights
  • Real-world egg discovery
  • Step-based pet care
  • Collect 101 unique pets
  • Live map exploration
  • Friend challenges and leaderboards
  • Daily quests and rewards
Features
Read full description

Your steps keep a little pet alive. Walk, and they thrive. VirtuPet turns every walk into a game. Apple Health counts your steps in the background, your pet's health follows your daily goal, and the eggs you find on the map hatch as you walk. WALK. THEY THRIVE. Hit your goal and your pet is happy, healthy and full of energy. Skip a day and they feel it. It's the nudge to move that actually works, because someone is counting on you. FIND EGGS ON THE MAP. Open the Map and eggs land near you, at real parks, cafés and landmarks. Walk to one, pick it up and pop it in your incubator. Your steps do the rest. HATCH AND COLLECT 101 ANIMALS. Fill your Virtudex with dogs, cats, wildlife and mythic creatures from nine regions. Hatch one you already own and it ranks up to bronze, silver and gold. Bring your favourites on walks as your Walking Crew: they follow you on the map and leave paw prints behind. KEEP YOUR STREAK. Every day you hit your goal grows your streak, and the calendar shows each goal day with the steps you walked. Hit your goal without opening the app? It still counts. WALK WITH FRIENDS. Add friends with a code and climb this week's leaderboard. Start a Duo Challenge: pick a friend and a weekly step goal, walk it together, and you both spin for Scout Packs, coins and XP. QUESTS, XP AND PAW COINS. New daily quests every morning. Earn XP to level your pet up, and Paw Coins to spend in the Paw Shop on looks, scenes and themes. Play minigames with your pet between walks. ON YOUR HOME SCREEN. Add the widget and your pet is there every time you pick up your phone. VIRTUPET PREMIUM VirtuPet is free to download and free to play: walk, hatch and collect, forever. Premium adds a second incubator and a bigger egg bag, all three daily quests, biome eggs on the map and a Grand egg every Sunday, better hatch odds, two pets in your Walking Crew, full Insights and a free streak repair every month. Terms of Use: https://virtupet.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://virtupet.app/privacy Your steps have never meant more. Go find an egg.

About

StepPet

Features
Read full description

Meet your new walking buddy — a tiny mouse that lives on your Apple Watch and needs you to stay active. Earn cheese by walking (every 150 steps = 1 cheese), then feed your pet to keep it happy and healthy. Neglect it and it gets hungry, sad, or even hangry. Take care of it every day and watch your streak grow. FEATURES • Step tracking with HealthKit — earn cheese just by walking • 7 mood states — happy, chill, hungry, sad, starving, hangry, sleeping • Smart Stack widget — your pet lives on your watch face • Daily minigame — play a memory match to earn bonus cheese • Sleep mode — your pet follows your real sleep schedule • Milestone celebrations — streak rewards at 3 days, 1 week, 1 month, and beyond • Step celebrations — animations at 1k, 2k, 5k, and 10k steps No subscriptions. No ads. Just you and your mouse.

Screenshots

VirtuPet4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: VirtuPet at Free against StepPet's $1.99. VirtuPet also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). StepPet's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

VirtuPet is free to download; StepPet costs $1.99 up front. VirtuPet sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. StepPet asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

VirtuPet ships an update every 3 weeks, StepPet every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 4 level
VirtuPet versus StepPet: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVirtuPetStepPet
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.5 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size513 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMONTEL ANTHONY NEVERSJOHN YUNG

In-app purchases

4 purchases

VirtuPet

Subscriptions2
  • VirtuPet: Premium - Monthly14 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • VirtuPet: Premium - Annual7 Days trial$79.991 Year
One-time2
  • 1000 Paw Coins$2.99
  • 2500 Paw Coins$4.99
None

StepPet

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is VirtuPet free?
VirtuPet is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is StepPet free?
StepPet costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do VirtuPet or StepPet have ads?
Neither VirtuPet nor StepPet shows ads.
Which is updated more often, VirtuPet or StepPet?
VirtuPet ships an update every 3 weeks, and StepPet every 2 months. Most recently, VirtuPet was updated on October 15, 2026 and StepPet on October 8, 2026.

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