Comparison

StepNova vs Distancive

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

Head to head
About

StepNova

Track your daily movement with GPS, map routes, and receive coaching for intervals. Set personal records, follow training plans, and stay motivated with achievements and streaks. Share your live location for safety and log your post-activity feelings.

Highlights
  • GPS route tracking
  • Interval training programs
  • Personal records and route bests
  • Structured training plans
  • Live location sharing
  • Home and lock screen widgets
  • Post-activity journal
Features
Read full description

StepNova is a step counter and pedometer for everyday movement. Whether you're walking, running, cycling, or hiking — StepNova counts every step, maps your route, coaches you through intervals, and celebrates every personal record along the way. SMART ACTIVITY TRACKING Automatic step, distance, calorie, and pace tracking using your iPhone's built-in sensors. Supports walking, running, cycling, hiking, and elliptical — indoors or out. APPLE WATCH APP Start, pause, and finish a walk from your wrist. Live steps, pace, distance, and elapsed time on the watch, a seven-day chart, and a watch face complication for today's progress. Start on the wrist and your iPhone picks the walk up while it is still running. LIVE ACTIVITY & DYNAMIC ISLAND Your walk stays on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island — live timer and stats, with pause and resume, without ever opening the app. SIRI & CONTROL CENTER "Start my StepNova activity." "How many steps today?" Ask Siri hands-free, or start an activity from Control Center with one tap. Saved routes appear in iOS search. PERSONAL RECORDS & ROUTE BESTS StepNova tracks your all-time bests for steps, distance, calories, and pace. Save your favorite routes and StepNova will tell you every time you beat your personal record on them — with a full-screen celebration to mark the moment. INTERVAL TRAINING Choose from 5 guided interval programs — Walk-to-Run, C25K Week 1, HIIT 40/20, Tabata, and Active Recovery — or build your own with StepNova Pro. Voice prompts guide you through every work and rest phase automatically. WALK WINDOWS See the best upcoming hours to head outside based on real-time weather — AQI, temperature, UV index, wind, and rain chance, all ranked so the ideal window is always visible on your dashboard. LIVE MAPS & PERFORMANCE GRAPHS GPS route tracing with pace, elevation, and speed graphs. Review your splits, see your elevation profile, replay your exact path, and share your route after every activity. STREAKS & ACHIEVEMENTS Build daily streaks, unlock 50 achievement badges across Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum tiers, and compete with friends on a weekly step leaderboard. TRAINING PLANS Follow structured multi-week training plans — beginner, endurance, or race-ready — with daily targets and CloudKit sync across all your devices. SAFE WALK Share your live location with a trusted contact while you walk solo. They see your real-time position and path for peace of mind — yours and theirs. HOME SCREEN & LOCK SCREEN WIDGETS Glanceable step count, daily goal progress, and streaks — right on your home screen or lock screen without opening the app. VOICE COACHING Milestone announcements and interval cues spoken in your device's language. StepNova keeps you informed without you ever having to look at your phone. Your health, location, and activity data stays on your device and in your private iCloud account. It is never sold. StepNova uses anonymous usage statistics to improve the app; see the privacy policy for details. ——— STEPNOVA PRO Unlock the full StepNova experience: • Custom interval program creation • Unlimited saved routes • Unlimited friends on leaderboard • 25 more achievements to unlock • All training plans & structured challenges • Safe Walk live location sharing • Custom app themes Try StepNova Pro free for 30 days (available for eligible new subscribers). After the trial, your subscription automatically renews at $9.99/year unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the trial period. Monthly plan available at $1.99/month (no trial). Lifetime access available as a one-time purchase. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Distancive

Features
Read full description

Distancive compares your walking and running distance with your own history: day, week, month and year - against the previous period, the same point in that period and your average. It reads your Apple Health history right away, so records, insights and charts work from the first launch, with no waiting for new data to build up. • Your distance vs your own history See walking, running or total distance for today, this week, month, year and all time. Compare each period with the previous one, the same point in the previous one and your average. Compare today with yesterday or the same weekday last week, for the whole day or up to the same time. • Your records from day one Records gathers your best day, week, month and year, with distance and date, for walking, running and total distance. Insights point out new highs among earlier periods, periods well above or below your usual level, trends, consistency, streaks and breaks in your running. • Always at hand on Apple Watch Distancive works on your wrist even without your iPhone nearby: distance for every period, comparisons, progress bars and your daily goal. Complications are fully configurable - choose the period, comparison, ring and icons for each one. Available as circular, rectangular, corner and inline complications. • Widgets with comparisons Home Screen widgets show one period or several at once, plus Insights widgets in small, medium and large sizes. Lock Screen widgets keep your distance in view; circular ones can show a progress ring, percentage change or distance units. • You pick the comparison Save your own configurations: name, period, comparison (previous period, same point, same weekday last week, average or daily goal), ring and icons. Use them in custom Lock Screen widgets and Apple Watch complications. • Your trends vs your average Day, week, month and year charts with a moving average and your overall average. Browse your history and see projections for where current periods may finish. • Summaries of every period Week, month and year: distance and change, daily average, best day, running activity and a day-by-day chart. Weekly summaries also suggest a daily goal for the week ahead. • Your day vs your goal Set a daily distance goal or start with one suggested from your recent activity. On iPhone, a live forecast estimates your distance at the end of the day and, when needed, suggests an extra walk: how far and roughly how long. Watch reminders adapt to your weekday and weekend routine; an optional notification tells you when you’ve reached your goal. • All-time distance vs Earth & Moon Your all-time distance shows how much of a lap around the Earth and the trip to the Moon you’ve covered, and how much today, this week, month and year have added. • Private by design No account, no ads, no tracking. Your data stays on your iPhone and Apple Watch. Distancive doesn’t record routes, workouts or GPS: it shows distance already in Apple Health. Apple Health access is required. One purchase. No subscriptions or in-app purchases. Features • Walking, running and total distance in kilometers or miles • Your Apple Health history from the first launch • Previous-period, same-point, same-weekday and average comparisons • Records, streaks and insights • Configurable Apple Watch complications • Standalone Apple Watch app • Home Screen, Lock Screen and Insights widgets • Weekly, monthly and yearly summaries • Daily goal, live forecast and goal suggestions • Journey around the Earth and to the Moon • Optimized for iPhone Duo • Week starting on Monday or Sunday; Light, Dark or System appearance • English, French, German and Polish

Screenshots

StepNova4 screens
Distancive4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: StepNova at Free against Distancive's $2.99. Distancive's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6). On update cadence, ads, 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

StepNova is free to download; Distancive costs $2.99 up front. StepNova sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Distancive asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StepNova ships an update every 5 days, Distancive weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
StepNova versus Distancive: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStepNovaDistancive
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.9 (9 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings9 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS18.018
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNAVEEN CHOWDARY PUTHUMBHAKUTomasz Korolko

In-app purchases

6 purchases

StepNova

Subscriptions2
  • StepNova Pro — Monthly$1.991 Month
  • StepNova Pro — Annual1 Month trial$9.991 Year
One-time4
  • Keep StepNova Free$0.99
  • Fund New Features$2.99
  • Power Future Updates$6.99
Show 1 more
  • StepNova Pro — Lifetime$29.99
None

Distancive

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is StepNova free?
StepNova is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Distancive free?
Distancive costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do StepNova or Distancive have ads?
Neither StepNova nor Distancive shows ads.
Which is updated more often, StepNova or Distancive?
StepNova ships an update every 5 days, and Distancive weekly. Most recently, StepNova was updated on October 31, 2026 and Distancive on November 8, 2026.

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