Steady vs Protocol
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Steady
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Two weeks after surgery, your pain is a 5 out of 10. Is that normal? Your discharge papers don't say. Searches turn up best-case timelines next to worst-case horror stories. Published studies have the numbers, but they're hard to find. Steady is a post-surgery recovery tracker. It places your pain next to published recovery data for your procedure and week, and links every figure to the study it came from. THE RECOVERY CALCULATOR โ FREE โข Pick your procedure, enter your surgery date, and tap your current pain level. โข Steady places your pain next to the published pain band for your week: inside it, above it or below it. โข It also lays out the usual recovery milestones for your procedure, and where you are against them. WANT TO TRACK IT OVER TIME? STEADY PLUS โข Check in by voice or text, day by day. Each week, Steady places your recent pain next to the published pain band for that week โ instead of a one-off snapshot. โข The patterns you can't feel day to day: flares getting shorter, what sets you back, milestones as they arrive. Plus your full history and a one-tap summary for your physical therapist. โข Steady does not diagnose, prescribe, or give medical advice. It shows your pain next to published recovery data, which describes groups of patients in studies, not you. Free to start. Steady Plus: Recovery Pass ($99, 12 months, one payment) or Monthly ($14.99/month, auto-renews until canceled). Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://growsteady.me/terms Privacy Policy: https://growsteady.me/privacy
Protocol
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Protocol is your recovery accountability coach. Recovering from an injury or surgery is a long, lonely grind โ and it's easy to lose track of where you are or drift off your plan. Protocol gives you a single place to stay on top of it, every day. How it works - Tell Protocol about your injury and when it happened. Your recovery is tracked day by day, so you always know where you stand. - Upload photos or PDFs of your clinical documents โ discharge summaries, scan reports, physio notes. Protocol reads them and keeps the key details in context. - Do a quick daily check-in: how you're feeling, pain, swelling, what you managed. Build a streak and stay consistent. - Chat anytime with your AI coach. It remembers your history, your reports, and your goals, so the conversation picks up where you left off โ not from scratch. Built for the long haul Protocol is designed for daily use across weeks and months of recovery. It keeps you accountable, helps you make sense of what your clinicians have told you, and keeps you moving forward between appointments. Important Protocol is an accountability and coaching tool. It is not a medical device and does not provide medical diagnosis or treatment. It does not replace your doctor, surgeon, or physiotherapist. Always follow the advice of your own healthcare providers, and seek professional care for any medical concern. You must agree to an in-app disclaimer before using the coach. Protocol is intended for adults (18+). Your messages and uploaded documents are processed by a third-party AI provider to generate coaching responses. See our Privacy Policy: https://protocol-ai.net/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Protocol at none against Steady's 2. Steady's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Steady sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Protocol asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Steady | Protocol |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No โ better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod โ better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 โ better | 17.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Samy Naayma | Naman Sharma |
In-app purchases
Steady
- Steady Plus Monthly$14.991 Month
- 12-Month Unlock$99.00
Protocol
No in-app purchases









