Comparison

Tea Journal Brew Timer vs SteepPilot

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

Head to head
About

Tea Journal Brew Timer

Features
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Steep is the beautiful tea journal for serious tea lovers. Track every brew session, perfect your technique, and discover what makes each cup exceptional. From your first gongfu session to your thousandth infusion, Steep captures every detail. BREW TIMER - Precision countdown timer for gongfu and Western brewing - Infusion tracking with automatic time increments - Per-infusion notes and mini ratings - Smart presets: gaiwan, teapot, kyusu, mug TEA COLLECTION - Build your personal tea library with unlimited entries (Pro) - Track vendor, origin, harvest year, and quantity - Flavor tagging with 40+ descriptors - Visual quantity tracker (full, half, empty) SESSION JOURNAL - Detailed tasting records for every brew - Rate aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, aftertaste, sweetness, and cha qi - Flavor descriptor tags - Session notes and photos INSIGHTS AND STATS - Track your daily brewing streak - Most-brewed teas and brewing history - Tasting evolution over time GO PRO - UNLOCK EVERYTHING - Unlimited tea collection (free tier: 5 teas) - Unlimited session history (free tier: 20 sessions) - AI Tea Advisor - personalized recommendations powered by Grok - Advanced tasting analytics and palate evolution - Session comparison side by side - CSV export and sharing Whether you brew longjing at 75 degrees or aged pu-erh at full boil, Steep honors the ritual. Warm parchment design, airy spacing, no clutter. Just you and the tea. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

SteepPilot

Features
Read full description

SteepPilot times every infusion of your tea session. Pick your tea and it sets the water temperature, the leaf for your vessel and how long each steep runs, a few seconds longer every round. Then it times them one by one. GONGFU OR WESTERN Gongfu mode is many short steeps in a small gaiwan or teapot. Set the first steep, the seconds added each round and the number of infusions. Western mode is one long steep in a large mug. EIGHT TEAS Green, black, oolong, white, sheng and shou pu-erh, herbal and matcha each come with their own water temperature and starting steep times. Pu-erh starts with a rinse. Temperatures in ยฐC or ยฐF. LEAF FOR YOUR VESSEL Set the size of your gaiwan, teapot or mug and SteepPilot suggests how much leaf to use, depending on the tea and the brewing method. ICED TEA One switch splits the water into hot water and ice. THE TIMER Each infusion gets its own countdown ring. A soft chime and a vibration tell you when to pour, and the screen stays on. Pause, skip, or let the infusions advance on their own. The timer keeps running when your iPhone locks, and a notification tells you when each steep is done. A running session survives the app being closed. TASTE AS YOU GO Between infusions, tap the flavors you taste and give the infusion stars. Pro adds a short written note for each infusion. At the end, the summary shows how many infusions you made, how long the session took and a rough caffeine estimate. TEA JOURNAL Save a session with its rating and tasting notes and read back through it later. The free version keeps three sessions. Pro keeps them all and exports your journal as a CSV file. MY TEAS Keep your loose leaf teas with origin, vendor and how many grams are left. Save a session with one of them and its leaf comes off what's left, and SteepPilot tells you when a tea is running low. Five teas are free, Pro has no limit. PRESETS Save a setup you like and start it again with one tap. ICLOUD SYNC Your journal, teas and presets reach your other Apple devices through your own iCloud. You can turn sync off in Settings. PRIVACY No account and no SteepPilot server. No analytics, no ads, no tracking. Notifications are scheduled on your iPhone and never pass through a server. FREE AND PRO Free: all eight teas, gongfu and western timers, iced tea, flavor tags and ratings, presets, three journal sessions and five teas. SteepPilot Pro keeps an unlimited journal and tea collection, adds a written note for each infusion and exports your journal as CSV. Pro is available as a monthly or yearly subscription, or as a one-time lifetime purchase. The price is shown in the app before you buy. Payment is charged to your Apple ID when you confirm the purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless you cancel it at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and the renewal is charged within the 24 hours before the period ends. You can manage or cancel it in your iPhone's Settings under your name, then Subscriptions. Help: https://apps.alexgalkin.de/steeppilot/ Privacy policy: https://apps.alexgalkin.de/steeppilot/privacy/ Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Tea Journal Brew Timer4 screens
SteepPilot4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Tea Journal Brew Timer at fortnightly against SteepPilot's every 6 months. SteepPilot's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17). On price, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Tea Journal Brew Timer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and SteepPilot sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tea Journal Brew Timer ships an update fortnightly, SteepPilot every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
Tea Journal Brew Timer versus SteepPilot: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTea Journal Brew TimerSteepPilot
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightly โ€” betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” better
Requires iOS1715.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size5 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKarol JaworskiAlex Galkin

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Tea Journal Brew Timer

Subscriptions3
  • Steep Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Steep Pro Yearly$39.991 Year
  • Steep Pro Yearly - Intro Offer1 Year trial$39.991 Year
3 purchases

SteepPilot

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$19.99

Questions

Is Tea Journal Brew Timer free?
Tea Journal Brew Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SteepPilot free?
SteepPilot is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Tea Journal Brew Timer or SteepPilot have ads?
Neither Tea Journal Brew Timer nor SteepPilot shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tea Journal Brew Timer or SteepPilot?
Tea Journal Brew Timer ships an update fortnightly, and SteepPilot every 6 months. Most recently, Tea Journal Brew Timer was updated on October 20, 2026 and SteepPilot on October 28, 2026.

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