Glow Stride vs StepMax
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Glow Stride
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GlowStride turns every walk, run, and hike into something you actually look forward to. Set a goal, tap START, and watch your route light up on the map as you collect glows scattered around you. No tracking. Total Free to use. ONE TAP TO START Pick your activity — Walk, Run, or Cycle. Set a distance, step, or calorie goal. A 5-second countdown and you're off. No complicated setup, no friction. COLLECT GLOWS ON YOUR MAP Glows spawn near your location before each session. Walk close enough and they're yours. Every glow collected adds to your total and fuels your progress through quests and badges. LIVE SESSION TRACKING See your time, distance, pace, and calories in real time. Your route draws on the map as you move. Pause, resume, or swipe to end — you're in full control. DAILY QUESTS AND LIFETIME BADGES Complete daily quests like hitting step targets or collecting a set number of glows. Earn lifetime badges across categories — distance milestones, streak records, glow collections, and more. STREAKS THAT KEEP YOU MOVING Build your daily streak by staying active. Track your current and longest streaks at a glance. Miss a day and start fresh — simple, honest motivation. STATS AND WEEKLY CHARTS Review your steps, distance, and calories across the week with clean bar charts. Browse your full session history and tap into any past session for a detailed summary. OFFLINE-READY WITH CLOUD SYNC All your data is stored locally on device. Sessions, profiles, and progress sync seamlessly through iCloud — no account required, no sign-up walls. PRIVACY FIRST GlowStride does not collect personal data on external servers. Your health and location data stays on your device and in your private iCloud container. Built for people who want to move more without the noise. GlowStride is simple, focused, and designed to make every step count. GlowStride reads active energy burned to show accurate calories after your sessions, and saves your completed workouts to Apple Health. For more information, please visit https://mecapps.fun
StepMax
This app transforms walking into a game with characters, achievements, and leaderboards. It tracks steps, calories, and distance, offering detailed reports and motivating users to build consistent walking habits. Compete with friends and collect unique characters to enhance your fitness journey.
- Gamified step tracking
- Collect and evolve characters
- Achievements and daily streaks
- Leaderboards and friend challenges
- Walk timer with pace tracking
- Detailed progress reports
- Offline functionality
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A step counter that actually makes you want to walk. StepMax counts your steps, tracks calories and distance, and turns every walk into a game with companions, badges, achievements and leaderboards. STAY MOTIVATED → 172 achievements across 9 categories → Daily badges that climb from Starter to Mythic → Daily streaks that build real walking habits → Endless levels to climb → 30+ companions to collect and evolve → A weekly recap of how your week went → Set a daily step goal and crush it COMPETE WORLDWIDE → Daily, weekly, monthly and all-time leaderboards → Rank among friends, your country, your continent or the whole world → 1v1 step challenges with friends → Invite friends to earn VIP time and exclusive companions STEP TRACKING → Automatic step counting with your iPhone's motion sensor – no GPS needed, easy on the battery → Brings in your walking history from Apple Health → Calories, distance in km or miles, and CO₂ saved → Walk timer with time, pace and steps for every walk → Measure your real step length with GPS → Home Screen widgets with your companion, streak and hourly steps, plus Lock Screen widgets DETAILED STATISTICS → Hourly, weekly, monthly, yearly and custom range charts → Tap any bar to see the exact steps → Personal records and your full step history → Custom goals for any period MAP YOUR WALKS (VIP) → Record every walk with GPS and see your route on the map → Follow your walk live on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island → Share your route as a picture STEPMAX VIP → Walk map with GPS routes and the live Lock Screen tracker → No ads → Permanent 2x XP → Exclusive VIP companions Monthly or yearly subscription. It renews automatically; cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. YOUR DATA, YOUR WAY → No account needed to get started → Sign in with Apple to back up and compete with friends → Back up to iCloud or your StepMax account, so you never lose your progress → Step counting works offline ALSO → Dark and light mode → Available in 8 languages: English, Slovak, Czech, Polish, German, Spanish, French and Portuguese Whether you want a simple pedometer, a daily activity tracker or a walking game with companions and achievements, StepMax has you covered. Download now and start walking. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://cinderhound.com/privacy/stepmax
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Glow Stride at none against StepMax's 2. Glow Stride also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.2). StepMax's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 weeks). On price and device support 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
Both are free to download. StepMax sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month. Glow Stride asks for nothing beyond the download.
Glow Stride ships an update every 3 weeks, StepMax every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Glow Stride | StepMax |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 — better | 26.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Luu Thi Tuyet Minh | Ivan Mlynek |
In-app purchases
Glow Stride
No in-app purchases
StepMax
- StepMax VIP$2.491 Month
- StepMax VIP$11.991 Year









