Gloam vs Step Step
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Gloam
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Gloam is the screen-time app that's actually fun. Most screen-time tools nag, shame, or bore you into deleting them. Gloam does the opposite. It turns cutting back into a game you actually want to play, with a currency to manage, a creature to keep happy, and friends to beat. HOW IT WORKS Every day you get Elixir, your right to screen time. The apps you are trying to avoid cost Elixir to open. The apps that are good for you cost nothing, and can even earn a little back. Watch the balance and you finally see what mindless scrolling really costs, in a way that feels tangible instead of preachy. Sort your apps into three tiers. Green apps are free. Amber apps cost a little. Red apps, the endless-scroll ones, cost more the longer you stay. Run out of Elixir and those apps rest until tomorrow. It is a gentle nudge, never a hard lockout. MEET YOUR CREATURE At the heart of Gloam is a companion that thrives when you do. Bank your leftover Elixir and it grows, glows, and evolves. Blow your budget and it droops, but it never dies and it never shames you. Give it a name, feed it in the Den, and watch it react to your day. EARN YOUR TIME BACK Go for a walk, finish a workout, solve a quick puzzle, or take a mindful minute. Gloam turns your steps and activity into Elixir, so time off your phone quietly buys you a little more when you want it. BEAT YOUR FRIENDS Add friends and climb a fair leaderboard that compares how well each of you sticks to your own goals, not raw hours. Go head to head in matchups, chase group goals together, and send a friend some Elixir when they are running low. TRACK, DON'T ENFORCE Gloam is built on one idea. Make the cost of scrolling visible and a little bit fun, and you spend less without feeling deprived. It cheers you on. It never locks you out of your life. Your solo world works fully offline. Add friends when you want the social side. MEMBERSHIP Gloam is an auto-renewing subscription. Try it free for 7 days, then continue with the plan you choose. Elixir is never sold for money. It is only earned, topped up daily, or gifted between friends. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. Your subscription renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://api.gloam.works/terms Privacy Policy: https://api.gloam.works/privacy
Step Step
Track your steps, workouts, and fasting with a visually engaging dashboard. Earn medals, build streaks, and monitor your progress with detailed charts and widgets. Your health data remains private and on your device.
- Step tracking with daily rings and charts
- Workout recording with GPS and route flyovers
- Fasting timer with popular plans and widgets
- Weight and body metric logging
- Streak building and medal collection
- Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets
- Apple Health integration
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The step counter that makes every day feel like a small mission. Step Step turns your walks, workouts, fasts and weigh-ins into a beautiful night-sky dashboard, with streaks, medals and a moonlit ring that fills as you move. No accounts, no ads, and your health data stays on your iPhone. Step Step uses anonymous, opt-out analytics to help us improve the app. It never includes your health or personal data. NEW: FASTING • Start a fast in one tap with popular plans like 16:8, or set your own • A fasting timer that counts up or down, with every stage marked as you pass it • Keep an eye on your fast from the Lock Screen, Live Activity and Home Screen widgets • Log water as you go, with its own widget and a daily goal • Week and month calendars of every fast, and fasting challenges with friends STEPS & STREAKS • Daily step ring with live count, weekly chart and month and year views • Adaptive streaks that score each day against the goal you had back then, so raising your goal never breaks your past • Solar Flare Shields protect your streak on rest days, earned as your streak grows • Medal cabinet with 40+ awards: steps, streaks, distance, floors, workouts and hidden records • Challenges: daily, weekly and monthly step missions WORKOUTS • Record walks, hikes and runs with GPS route, heart-rate zones, splits and elevation • Route flyover: turn a GPS workout into a 3D flyover video, ready to share • Map Privacy hides the start and end of your routes before you share them • Plan workouts on future days and get a reminder when it's time to go • Workout calendar and year heat map for your full Apple Health history • Post-workout notes, photos, tags, effort rating and state of mind WEIGHT • Log weight, body fat % and waist with a swipe dial, trend line and goal checkpoints APPLE WATCH & WIDGETS • Watch app with its own workout recorder and Smart Stack widgets • Watch face complications, so you see your steps right on your watch face • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets: step ring, week bars, streak, weight, goals, fasting and water • Siri: ask for today's steps without opening the app APPLE HEALTH • Reads steps, workouts, heart rate, weight, sleep and water from Apple Health • Writes your weigh-ins, water and recorded workouts back, so Health stays the source of truth PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account. No sign-up. No ads. • Your health data never leaves your device. Step Step uses anonymous, opt-out analytics to help us improve the app, and it never includes your health data. STEP STEP PRO Some features require Step Step Pro (subscription or one-time lifetime purchase): advanced trends and comparisons, all-time records, extra accent themes, custom fasting plans and fasting trends, workout planning and reminders, unlimited route flyover videos, multiple body-metric goals and unlimited workout goals. The core experience is free: steps, streaks, shields, medals, fasting, water, weight logging and the workout recorder. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://step-step.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Gloam at 18.0 against Step Step's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Gloam sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days and Step Step sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Gloam ships an update every 3 days, Step Step every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Gloam | Step Step |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 116 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Keshav Nautiyal | Gwilym James |
In-app purchases
Gloam
- Weekly$7.997 Days
- Monthly$12.991 Month
- Annual7 Days trial$89.991 Year
Step Step
- Step Step Pro$2.991 Month
- Step Step Pro7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Step Step Pro Family7 Days trial$24.991 Year
- Step Step Pro — Lifetime$39.99
- Step Step Pro — Family Lifetime$49.99









