Comparison

Tend Garden vs BloomStep

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

Head to head
About

Tend Garden

Features
Read full description

Tend is a quiet companion for the small things you want to keep doing. Plant up to five habits. Each one is a plant. You tend it daily; it grows. Miss a day and your plant rests, but it never dies — there's no streak to break, no guilt to carry. Over weeks and months, your daily care becomes a small living garden. Proof that you showed up. WHY TEND IS DIFFERENT Most habit apps police you. They count your failures with red X's, broken streaks, and shame metrics. Tend was built from the opposite intuition: that consistency is a soft thing. Tend reflects your effort back as something beautiful, not as numbers. WHAT'S INSIDE • 12 hand-drawn plants — cactus, fern, sunflower, lavender, bonsai, monstera, tulip, cherry blossom, clover, wheat, rose, bamboo — each at five stages, from seedling to in bloom • Tending is watering: a little can pours and the soil stays damp all day • Home Screen widgets — water a plant with one tap • A look back — your garden replayed from its first seed • A garden that changes with the hour, with wind, butterflies by day and fireflies at night • Light and dark mode, Dynamic Type and VoiceOver support • Local-only — no accounts, no cloud, no tracking, no ads THE GREENHOUSE (OPTIONAL, ONE PURCHASE) A few extras beside the garden, bought once and yours for good. No subscription. • Your garden on your desk in AR — it remembers where it lives • Little prints — photos of your garden in your room, framed like an instant print • Your look back, saved as a short video • Pot glazes — celadon, cream, dusk, honey and speckle, one for each pot Everything the garden needs — planting, tending, growing, widgets, the look back itself — is free and always will be. DESIGN PHILOSOPHY • Gentleness over guilt • Visible cumulative effort • Small surface, deep care (5 habits, intentional) • Privacy by default • No streaks. No leaderboards. No challenges. No notifications by default. PRIVACY Tend collects nothing. Your habits live on your device. No analytics. No accounts. No third parties. If you buy the Greenhouse, Apple handles the purchase; we never see who you are. Made with care for people who deserve to be kinder to themselves.

About

BloomStep

This app encourages outdoor walking by tracking steps, distance, and active time. It uses your Apple Health data to grow a virtual garden as a reward for reaching daily goals and completing challenges. Record outdoor walks and runs with location tracking to visualize your routes.

Highlights
  • Step tracking via Apple Health
  • Daily step goal setting
  • Virtual garden growth reward
  • Outdoor walk/run recording with GPS
  • Challenges and achievement badges
  • Home screen widget support
Features
Read full description

Go outside. Take a walk. Let each step count. BloomStep is a gentle outdoor walking companion. Use Apple Health data to bring your steps, walking distance, and active time into one place. Set a daily step goal, turn movement into visible progress, and let a virtual garden grow as a calm reward for getting outside. WALK OUTSIDE, ONE STEP AT A TIME • Turn step count and walking distance into in-app energy • Set a daily step goal and track your progress • Collect unclaimed walking energy for up to seven days • Review daily activity, weekly totals, streaks, and calendar history RECORD WALKS AND RUNS OUTDOORS • Start an outdoor walking or running session with location tracking • See your route, distance, and duration while you move • Pause, resume, and save completed routes to your activity history • Keep your active session visible with a Live Activity CHALLENGES, CHECK-INS, AND BADGES • Complete weekly and monthly step-goal challenges for extra rewards • Claim daily check-in rewards and streak milestones • Unlock achievements for steps, active days, energy, plants, and blooms • Earn badges for monthly challenges and consistent 30-minute walks GROW A GARDEN THAT REWARDS YOUR WALKS • Choose from eighteen plant varieties and nurture each through five growth stages • Unlock and collect six garden scenes • Earn coins through walking goals, check-ins, challenges, and achievements • Create a full-bloom milestone card with your activity summary STAY IN YOUR RHYTHM • Add a Home Screen widget for today's steps, progress, and plant growth • Choose gentle walking reminders that suit your routine • Explore your activity history and celebrate milestones DESIGNED WITH PRIVACY IN MIND BloomStep reads Apple Health step count, walking distance, and exercise time to show your progress and create in-app energy. Location is used only while you record an outdoor walk or run to draw your route. Your Health data stays on your device and is never used for advertising. OPTIONAL PURCHASES You can earn coins as you use BloomStep. Optional coin packs and a full content unlock are available for users who want to unlock plants and garden scenes sooner. PRIVACY & TERMS Privacy Policy: https://sunheihei.github.io/app-policie/bloomstep-privacy-policy.html Terms of Use: https://sunheihei.github.io/app-policie/bloom-step-terms-of-use.html Start with one small step outside. Keep walking, and let your progress grow with you.

Screenshots

Tend Garden4 screens
BloomStep4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: BloomStep at every 4 days against Tend Garden's every 5 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Tend Garden sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and BloomStep sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tend Garden ships an update every 5 months, BloomStep every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Tend Garden versus BloomStep: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTend GardenBloomStep
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB82 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKrishna Desai依欢 孙

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Tend Garden

One-time1
  • The Greenhouse$4.99
4 purchases

BloomStep

One-time4
  • Small Coin Pack$0.99
  • Medium Coin Pack$4.99
  • Large Coin Pack$9.99
Show 1 more
  • Unlock All Plants$29.99

Questions

Is Tend Garden free?
Tend Garden is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BloomStep free?
BloomStep is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Tend Garden or BloomStep have ads?
Neither Tend Garden nor BloomStep shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tend Garden or BloomStep?
Tend Garden ships an update every 5 months, and BloomStep every 4 days. Most recently, Tend Garden was updated on October 31, 2026 and BloomStep on November 6, 2026.

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