Comparison

Ascend vs Petal

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

Head to head
About

Ascend

Features
Read full description

Ascend is your daily companion for building discipline — track the habits that matter one day at a time, and watch your streak grow. WHAT YOU CAN TRACK • Daily workouts (two-a-day support) • Water intake • Diet adherence • Steps (auto-synced from Apple Health) • Reading • Progress photos • Weight • Mood • Sleep • Skincare • Cycle tracking BUILT AROUND YOUR CHALLENGE Set up your own challenge — choose which rules to track, set your goals, and pick your duration. Running the standard 75-day format, or something custom? Ascend adapts to whatever challenge you're running. APPLE HEALTH INTEGRATION Connect Apple Health once and Ascend automatically pulls in your steps, workouts, sleep, and water intake — no manual double-entry. STRAVA INTEGRATION Connect Strava and your workouts sync in with their correct activity type automatically — no more re-entering runs, rides, or lifts by hand. YOUR DATA, YOUR ICLOUD Ascend stores your data in your own private iCloud account, not on a company server. Sign in with Apple — no usernames, no passwords, no account to leak. Nobody but you can see your logs, not even us. STAY MOTIVATED Track your streak, review weekly and monthly analytics, and earn badges as you hit milestones. See exactly how consistent you've been at a glance. Ascend is ad-free, doesn't sell your data, and doesn't track you across other apps or websites.

About

Petal

This app transforms daily habit tracking into a visual journey, where each day completed adds a petal to a blooming flower. It supports various 75-day challenge variants and allows users to share their progress with visually appealing milestone cards.

Highlights
  • Visual flower-based habit tracking
  • Supports multiple 75-day challenge variants
  • Shareable bloom milestone cards
  • Privacy-first, local data storage
  • Lifetime Pro unlock option
  • Twelve flower species to choose from
Features
Read full description

Petal turns your 75-day challenge into a flower. Tap today's petal. Complete your habits. Watch your bloom open one day at a time. In 30 seconds a day, your progress becomes a flower you can see, share, and keep. YOUR DAILY RITUAL, AS A FLOWER A single bloom holds 75 petals, one for each day. There are no spreadsheets and no crowded dashboards — just today's habits and the flower you are growing. EVERY 75-DAY STYLE • 75 Soft — gentle daily habits, no resets • 75 Hard — all-or-nothing structure • 75 Medium — flexible, sustainable progress • 75 Balanced — wellness over hustle • 75 Grow — choose three habits of your own • Custom — create the challenge that fits your season BLOOM WITH FRIENDS Start a private squad or join a friend's challenge. Grow side by side, see each other's flowers open, and celebrate progress together. SHARE YOUR BLOOM Petal creates milestone cards at Day 25, Day 50, and Day 75, ready for Instagram Stories, TikTok, Messages, or your camera roll. MAKE IT YOURS Choose from free and premium flower species. Petal Pro also lets you keep every completed flower in a permanent garden, host private group challenges, tend multiple blooms, use unlimited bloom freezes, and enjoy Petal without ads. CHOOSE THE PLAN THAT FITS Petal Pro is available as monthly, yearly, or lifetime access. Prices are shown in the app using your App Store storefront. Existing lifetime owners keep permanent Pro access. PRIVACY BY DESIGN Your personal challenge and habit history stay on your device. No account is required. If you use squads, anonymous bloom progress is synchronized so your group can grow together. Petal may collect aggregate usage and advertising data as described in the App Privacy section and Privacy Policy. Your 75-day bloom starts here. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://petal-3fb71.web.app/privacy

Screenshots

Ascend4 screens
Petal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Ascend at none against Petal's 3. Ascend also leads on ads (none vs shown). Petal's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months). On price, 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

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ascend ships an update every 2 months, Petal every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Ascend versus Petal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAscendPetal
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—6 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.1
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB45 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperGEORGE O'CONNORKwan Cheng Lee

In-app purchases

None

Ascend

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Petal

Subscriptions2
  • Petal Pro — Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Petal Pro — Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Petal Pro Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is Ascend free?
Ascend is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Petal free?
Petal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Ascend or Petal have ads?
Petal shows ads; Ascend does not.
Which is updated more often, Ascend or Petal?
Ascend ships an update every 2 months, and Petal every 10 days. Most recently, Ascend was updated on November 9, 2026 and Petal on October 31, 2026.

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