Comparison

Steps vs Pacer

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

Head to head
About

Steps

This app offers a beautiful and comprehensive way to track your daily steps, distance, calories, and active minutes. It provides detailed charts, goal setting, and motivational features to keep you moving. You can also track outdoor workouts with GPS and compete with friends.

Highlights
  • Live step count with progress ring
  • GPS outdoor workout tracking
  • Streaks, goals, and personal bests
  • Weekly and monthly trend charts
  • Social leaderboards and challenges
  • Customizable themes and widgets
  • Apple Health and Apple Watch integration
Features
Read full description

Steps is the cleanest, most beautiful step tracker for iPhone. Whether you're working toward 10,000 steps a day or training for a marathon, Steps keeps you motivated with real-time data, stunning charts, and social competition. DAILY TRACKING • Live step count with animated progress ring • Distance, calories, active minutes & floors climbed • Hourly breakdown chart — see exactly when you were active • Automatic sync with Apple Health STREAKS & GOALS • Set your own daily step goal • Build and protect day streaks • Personal best detection with confetti celebration • Motivational messages that adapt to your progress TRENDS & HISTORY • Weekly and monthly charts with goal markers • Full calendar history — tap any day for hourly detail • Monthly and weekly recap cards GPS WORKOUTS • Track outdoor walks, runs, cycling, hiking & trail runs • Live route map with pace, splits & elevation • Auto-pause, voice coach & detailed post-workout summary FRIENDS & CHALLENGES • Leaderboard — compare steps with friends daily, weekly or monthly • Send challenges and nudges to keep each other moving • XP levels and achievement badges BEAUTIFUL & CUSTOMISABLE • 5 accent colour themes • Light, dark & automatic appearance • Home screen and Lock Screen widgets • Apple Watch companion app Steps respects your privacy. All health data stays on your device and is only shared with Apple Health.

About

Pacer

This app helps you achieve your daily step goals by tracking your progress in real-time. It intelligently spreads your goal across your active hours, providing immediate feedback on whether you're ahead or behind pace. Receive gentle nudges to stay on track throughout the day.

Highlights
  • Live ahead/behind step count
  • Customizable active hours
  • Watch-face complications
  • Gentle pace nudges
  • Privacy-focused (no data collection)
  • Built for Apple Watch
Features
Read full description

Most step counters tell you you're behind at 10pm. Pacer tells you at 10am. Pacer spreads your daily step goal across your active hours and shows whether you're ahead or behind pace right now, on every glance. A 10,000-step goal isn't a midnight cliff. By 3pm you can know if you're on track. WHAT YOU GET • A live ahead/behind number on your wrist — "+420" or "-180", not a percentage. • Three watch-face complications: rectangular (steps + delta + pace bar), Pacer Steps (circular), and Pacer Delta (circular). • Custom active hours. Active from 10am? Winding down by 6pm? Set it once. • Gentle behind-pace nudges if you slip off pace PRIVACY Pacer collects nothing. HealthKit step counts stay on your watch — no servers, no accounts, no analytics, no third-party SDKs. DESIGNED FOR APPLE WATCH Built with SwiftUI and Swift 6 for smooth, battery-friendly performance. HOW IT WORKS Set a daily goal and an active window (default 9am–8pm). Every minute Pacer computes your on-pace target, a moving line from 0 at your start time to your goal at your end time. The delta between your actual steps and that target is your dashboard, your complication, your nudge. PERFECT FOR • Walkers who want nudges, not alarms • Shift workers with non-standard hours • Anyone trying to get their steps in for the day, every day

Screenshots

Steps4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Steps at Free against Pacer's $3.99. Pacer's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On rating, ratings volume, update cadence 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

Steps is free to download; Pacer costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Steps against 5.0 for Pacer. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Steps ships an update every 6 weeks, Pacer every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Steps versus Pacer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStepsPacer
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDejvi KacolljaAditya Gupta

In-app purchases

None

Steps

No in-app purchases

None

Pacer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Steps free?
Steps is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pacer free?
Pacer costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Steps or Pacer?
Steps and Pacer are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Steps or Pacer have ads?
Neither Steps nor Pacer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Steps or Pacer?
Steps ships an update every 6 weeks, and Pacer every 2 months. Most recently, Steps was updated on October 31, 2026 and Pacer on October 31, 2026.

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