Comparison

Meridian vs Steady

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

Head to head
About

Meridian

This app offers a straightforward approach to intermittent fasting, focusing on a clean interface and scientific insights into metabolic phases. It allows users to start and stop fasting with ease, track custom schedules, and understand their body's processes without intrusive features or upselling.

Highlights
  • One-tap start/stop timer
  • Metabolic phase insights
  • Built-in and custom schedules
  • Data stays on device
  • Optional Apple Health integration
  • Clean, intentional design
Features
Read full description

Meridian is the fasting app for people who are tired of fasting apps. No 15-screen onboarding quiz. No AI coach upselling you a meal plan. No gamification badges. No paywall on the timer. Just a clean, powerful tool that respects your intelligence and your time. START IN SECONDS One tap to start. One tap to stop. Meridian tracks your fasting window, shows what's happening in your body at each metabolic phase, and stays out of your way. Every schedule built in — 14:10, 16:8, 18:6, 20:4, OMAD, or set your own custom window. REAL SCIENCE, NOT SLOGANS Each body phase is grounded in peer-reviewed metabolic research. Know when glycogen depletes. Know when ketosis begins. Know when autophagy ramps up. Meridian tells you what's actually happening — with citations, not marketing copy. YOUR DATA STAYS ON YOUR DEVICE No account required. No cloud sync you didn't ask for. No analytics tracking your behavior. All data lives on your iPhone and stays there. Optional Apple Health integration reads and writes only with your explicit permission. DESIGNED WITH INTENTION Every screen earns its place. Meridian follows a less-but-better philosophy — no feature creep, no settings bloat, no dark patterns. Dark mode and light mode. Clean typography. A timer that's beautiful enough to leave on your nightstand. BUILT-IN SCHEDULES • 14:10 — Gentle start for beginners • 16:8 — The most popular protocol • 18:6 — Deeper metabolic benefits • 20:4 — The Warrior approach • OMAD — One Meal A Day • Custom — Set any window you want MERIDIAN PREMIUM Unlock deeper insights and advanced features for less than a coffee: • Detailed fasting history and trends • Body phase insights with metabolic data • Advanced streak tracking • Custom schedule presets • Full data export $1.99/month · $14.99/year (save 37%) · $39.99 lifetime No free trial. No tricks. At this price, you'll know within a day if Meridian is for you. Privacy policy: https://trymeridian.today/privacy-policy Terms Of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Support: https://trymeridian.today/support

About

Steady

This app helps users navigate the most challenging hours of intermittent fasting. It focuses on providing support during difficult moments rather than tracking calories or meals. Features include a timer, mood logging, guided breathing exercises, and a record of what helped users succeed.

Highlights
  • Fasting timer for 12-20 hour windows
  • Mood logging with check-ins
  • Guided breathing exercises
  • Offline functionality
  • Personalized record of what helps
  • Water logging and timing suggestions
Features
Read full description

Other fasting apps count the hours. Steady gets you through the hard one. For people who already fast and keep breaking at the same stretch. Not a diet app: no calories, no meal plans, no weight tracking. A streak to protect. Badges to earn. Water, weight and steps to log. A dozen pings before lunch. None of it helps at the hour you want to eat, and all of it is one more thing to fall behind on. Steady is a timer, one check-in before the hour you usually quit, something to do while that hour passes, and a record that tells the truth. That is the whole app. Hungry is easy. Tired, hungry and low, all at once, is what beats you. That stack lands around the same hour of a fast and lifts not long after, and no timer notices. Steady learns when it hits you, checks in just ahead of it, gives you three minutes of slow breathing to get through it, and two hours later shows you, from your own record, that it passed. WHAT IT IS - A fasting timer for 12 to 20 hour windows. - One check-in, two taps: pick a mood, log it. - Three minutes of paced breathing when a check-in is low. The circle fills, you breathe in; it empties, you breathe out. A gentle pulse in your hand marks each breath, so you can shut your eyes. Works offline. - A small puzzle if breathing is not your thing. A new one every time. No clock, no score. - Then one question: how is it now? Steady keeps the answer and tells you plainly whether it lifted. - Or water and a ten-minute wait, with the drink picked for the time of day. Water first, nothing with caffeine late. - An honest record: how many you finished, your longest, and how often you felt better a little later after a low check-in, with the fasts you ended early counted against it. The You tab shows what got you through, counted from your own record. WHAT IT IS NOT - No streaks at all. No badges, no fire icons. Nothing resets, so there is nothing to lose. - Not a diet app. No calorie counting, meal plans, or water, weight or step logging. No meditation library to keep up with either. - No social feed, no ads, no analytics. - No inflated stages. Steady tops out at 20 hours and does not claim autophagy or ketosis, because they do not happen at 16 hours. IT WILL TELL YOU TO STOP Tap anything physical during a check-in (shaky, dizzy, heart racing) and Steady tells you to stop and eat, whatever the hour. YOUR DATA STAYS ON YOUR PHONE No account. No server. Everything Steady knows about you lives in a local database on your iPhone, and nothing you enter is sent anywhere. It all works offline. Delete the app and it is gone. Steady is not a medical device and does not give medical advice. If you take insulin, a sulfonylurea or an SGLT2 inhibitor, or have any condition affected by not eating, talk to your doctor before fasting. If you feel unwell during a fast, stop and eat. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://steadyfasting.app/privacy

Screenshots

Meridian4 screens
Steady4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Steady at 3 against Meridian's 1. On price, rating, review sentiment and 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

Both are free to download. Meridian sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Steady sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Meridian against 5.0 for Steady. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 3 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Meridian versus Steady: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMeridianSteady
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings13 — better
Update frequency—Every 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.616.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB63 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperZACHARY MARK MULLIGANChamsDel LLC

Customer experience

Meridian

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Steady

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Meridian

Subscriptions2
  • Meridian Premium$1.991 Month
  • Meridian Premium$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Meridian Premium (Lifetime)$39.99
2 purchases

Steady

Subscriptions2
  • Weekly$4.997 Days
  • Annual14 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Meridian free?
Meridian is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Steady free?
Steady is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Meridian or Steady?
Meridian and Steady are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 3 ratings respectively.
Do Meridian or Steady have ads?
Neither Meridian nor Steady shows ads.

Other comparisons