SteepPilot vs Tea Timer io
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SteepPilot
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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 °C or °F. 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/
Tea Timer io
This app provides precise brewing parameters for various teas, including temperature, ratio, and steep time. It supports multiple brewing styles and offers customizable settings for eleven different tea types. Enjoy a guided brewing experience with notifications and haptic feedback, all without ads or requiring an account.
- Precise temperature, ratio, and steep time
- Supports standard, gongfu, Japanese, and cold brew styles
- Presets for 11 tea types
- Multi-infusion timer
- Adjustable and saved brew settings
- Offline functionality
- Local notifications and haptic feedback
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The tea timer that respects how tea is actually brewed. Whether you're pouring a quick cup of black tea or running a five-infusion gongfu session, Tea Timer gives you the exact temperature, ratio, and steep time for the tea in your cup. Not a generic 3-to-5-minute guess. Four brewing styles in one app • Standard. Single steep, the way most of the world drinks tea. • Gongfu. Sequential short infusions, each pour timed individually. • Japanese. Shorter, hotter, traditional Japanese style. • Cold Brew. Long, gentle extraction in the fridge. Eleven teas, dialed in Green, white, oolong, black, pu-erh, herbal, sencha, gyokuro, genmaicha, hojicha, and matcha. Each preset has a research-backed default temperature (°C or °F), a tea-to-water ratio in grams, and a per-infusion time. Add your own varieties under any tea type, each with its own temperature, ratio, and timing. Built for the brew, not the cup • Multi-infusion timer that walks you through every steep. • Adjust temperature, ratio, and time per tea, saved automatically. • Visual session progress so you never lose your place mid-flight. • Local notifications when your tea is ready. • Haptic feedback at start, finish, and each infusion change. • Works offline. No account required. Tea Timer now learns how you like your tea. • Rate a steep as too weak, just right, or too bitter, and future steep times adjust to your taste. See the adjustment, undo a stray rating, or reset it anytime. • Score a finished brew on aroma, flavor, body, and more. Every scale explains what it measures and what a good score looks like. • History logs every brew: steeps, sessions, teas tried, and your daily streak, with your tasting notes a tap away. • Keep your own teas under any type, like a Dragonwell under Green, with separate settings per brew style. • Time steppers on every brew style, and an option to end a gongfu session early. • New Midnight dark theme, plus five more. Designed to disappear into the ritual Calm color palette. Big, legible numbers. No ads. No social feed. No login. Open the app, pick the tea, hit start. That's it. For people who care about tea If you've ever ruined a cup because you forgot the timer, lost track of which infusion you were on, or wished your kitchen timer knew the difference between sencha and gyokuro, this app is for you. Tea Timer also runs free on the web at teatimer.app. Same presets, same brew, on whichever device is closest to your kettle. Brew better. Every cup.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Tea Timer io at none against SteepPilot's 3. Tea Timer io also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). On price, 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
Both are free to download. SteepPilot sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Tea Timer io asks for nothing beyond the download.
SteepPilot ships an update every 6 months, Tea Timer io every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SteepPilot | Tea Timer io |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (6 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 6 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alex Galkin | White Rabbit Software |
In-app purchases
SteepPilot
- Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
- Pro Yearly$9.991 Year
- Pro Lifetime$19.99
Tea Timer io
No in-app purchases








