Comparison

StepAtlas vs Walking Buddy

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

Head to head
About

StepAtlas

Features
Read full description

Your steps tell a story. StepAtlas helps you see it. StepAtlas turns the step data already stored in Apple Health into daily progress, personal records, and walking Journeys. YOUR ACTIVITY β€’ Today’s steps and progress toward your personal goal β€’ Week-to-date and rolling seven-day averages β€’ Activity history, personal records, and trends APPLE WATCH Keep your steps close at hand with the StepAtlas Apple Watch app and complications. PERSONAL JOURNEYS Choose a starting point and destination, then see how far your weekly, monthly, or yearly walking takes you along the route. FRIENDS AND CHALLENGES Connect with friends, compare progress on leaderboards, and take part in Challenges and Journey Races. Social features are optional and require Sign in with Apple. PERMANENT PURCHASES Journeys unlocks Personal Journeys. Challenges unlocks unlimited Challenge participation and Journey Races. All Access includes both and future premium features. Each is an optional one-time purchase. There are no subscriptions. Core step tracking, statistics, widgets, Apple Watch features, and complications remain free. Friends, leaderboards, Challenge creation, and your first Challenge participation are also free. BUILT AROUND APPLE HEALTH StepAtlas reads your steps and walking/running distance from Apple Health. It does not add, modify, or write Health data. No account is required for core activity tracking. Optional Social Sharing uses limited daily activity totals.

About

Walking Buddy

Features
Read full description

Reminders that say how many steps to take and keep you moving through the day instead of one long walk in the morning or evening. Walking Buddy reads your steps from Apple Health, learns your usual pace, and nudges you when the day starts to slip. No account, no ads. STEPS THAT ADD UP See today's count from Apple Health on a ring with your goal, how far you are ahead of or behind pace, and where the steps landed hour by hour. REMINDERS SIZED TO YOUR DAY Instead of "walk more", each nudge tells you how many steps to take right now to stay on pace, and stops once the goal is done. Choose your active hours and days. Snooze a nudge or mark the day done straight from the notification. YOUR USUAL PACE Walking Buddy learns your typical day from the past four weeks and tells you whether today is ahead, on track or behind, with a projection of where the day will land. HISTORY THAT MEANS SOMETHING Week, month and year views, goal-met days, streaks with rest days that do not break them, and a Steps Log calendar back to your first recorded step. A weekly recap arrives every Sunday evening. ON YOUR APPLE WATCH Today's ring, steps to go and your pace on your wrist, with complications for the watch face and the Smart Stack. The watch app works on its own: it reads steps from the watch, keeps your goal, and lets you change the daily target with the Digital Crown. With the iPhone app installed, the goal stays the same on both. WALKING BUDDY PRO - Reminders on your schedule: every hour, twice an hour, fixed intervals, or your own times - Keep the nudges coming after the goal - Custom reminder messages - Streak protection: one missed day a week does not break your streak - Trends and All Time: four-week trend, this week, month and year against the last, the year as a heat map, typical day with weekday and weekend averages, and every year since your first step - Apple Watch: pace and steps to go on the watch face (rectangular and corner complications), your usual pace and the day by hour PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account, no ads, no analytics. Step data is read from Apple Health and stays on your iPhone and Apple Watch. Goals are stored locally. Walking Buddy is a pedometer built on Apple Health: it works with iPhone step counting and with Apple Watch data that syncs to Apple Health. Pro is a subscription, monthly or yearly with a 7-day free trial, charged to your Apple ID and renewed unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage it in Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

StepAtlas4 screens
Walking Buddy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Walking Buddy at daily against StepAtlas's every 5 days. Walking Buddy also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. StepAtlas sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Walking Buddy sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StepAtlas ships an update every 5 days, Walking Buddy daily. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
StepAtlas versus Walking Buddy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStepAtlasWalking Buddy
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysDaily β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS26.018.0 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size8 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChristian BellRaphael Koebraam

In-app purchases

3 purchases

StepAtlas

One-time3
  • Journeys$1.99
  • StepAtlas Challenges$9.99
  • StepAtlas All Access$10.99
2 purchases

Walking Buddy

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly: Reminders, Trends$1.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly: Reminders, Trends7 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is StepAtlas free?
StepAtlas is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Walking Buddy free?
Walking Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do StepAtlas or Walking Buddy have ads?
Neither StepAtlas nor Walking Buddy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, StepAtlas or Walking Buddy?
StepAtlas ships an update every 5 days, and Walking Buddy daily. Most recently, StepAtlas was updated on October 20, 2026 and Walking Buddy on October 6, 2026.

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