Comparison

Steps vs Ascend Stairs

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

Head to head
About

Steps

This app automatically tracks your daily steps, distance, calories burned, and stairs climbed in the background. Set personalized daily goals for activity and monitor your progress over time with clear historical data. It's designed for effortless use and battery efficiency.

Highlights
  • Automatic step tracking
  • Distance and calorie monitoring
  • Flights of stairs climbed
  • Daily goal setting
  • Daily, weekly, monthly totals
  • Background operation
  • Apple Health data import
Features
Read full description

See your steps, distance, stairs, calories, and progress over time — automatically. Steps is a simple, easy-to-use step tracker that helps you stay active without extra setup. It tracks your daily activity in the background using Apple Health, so you can check your progress anytime without needing to start a workout or keep the app open. Set daily goals for steps, miles walked, flights climbed, and calories burned. Then track your progress throughout the day and build a routine that keeps you moving. Customize Steps with bold themes and app icons to make the app feel like yours. Why people love Steps: • Automatic step tracking — no setup needed • Simple, clean design • Steps, distance, flights climbed, and calories burned • Daily goals for steps, miles, stairs, and calories • Daily, weekly, and monthly totals • Historical activity imported from Apple Health • Theme and app icon customization • Designed to run quietly in the background Over a million downloads and counting. Terms of Use: https://pumpkincomputer.com/steps/terms

About

Ascend Stairs

This app helps users track their stair climbing activities and monitor weight loss progress. It provides weekly and monthly data visualizations to understand training and weight loss trends.

Highlights
  • Track stair climbs
  • Monitor weight loss
  • Add daily climbing stats
  • Add daily weight stats
  • Weekly data visualizations
  • Monthly data visualizations
Features
Read full description

Ascend is a stair climber's tracking app. It will help you track your climbs and lose weight. Add daily climbing and weight stats. Get data visualizations by week and month to help understand your training and weight loss.

Screenshots

Steps4 screens
Ascend Stairs4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Ascend Stairs at 100% against Steps's 49%. Ascend Stairs also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). Steps's advantage is ratings volume (19K vs 2). On price 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. Steps sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Ascend Stairs asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ascend Stairs holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Steps has 19K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of Steps's written reviews are positive against 100% of Ascend Stairs's.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Steps versus Ascend Stairs: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStepsAscend Stairs
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (19K ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings19K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 9 days—
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.111.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size68 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPumpkin Computer Co., LLCCraic Studio LLC

Customer experience

Steps

All ratings19,322 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral4.2%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews609 reviews
Positive48.9%
Neutral11.7%
Negative39.4%

Ascend Stairs

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Steps

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Steps not accurately counted
  • App freezes or lags when opening
  • Steps/distance data resets or disappears

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add option to track calories burned
  • Provide weekly/monthly step history
  • Allow conversion between steps and distance (miles/km)
  • Implement a premium version to remove ads

Ascend Stairs

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

8 purchases

Steps

Subscriptions8
  • Steps Pro Weekly3 Days trial$0.997 Days
  • Steps Pro Weekly3 Days trial3 variants$1.997 Days
  • Steps Pro Weekly3 Days trial$2.997 Days
Show 5 more
  • Monthly Pro3 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Steps Pro Monthly3 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Steps Pro Yearly3 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Steps Pro Yearly3 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Steps Pro Annual$79.991 Year
None

Ascend Stairs

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Steps free?
Steps is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ascend Stairs free?
Ascend Stairs is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Steps or Ascend Stairs?
Ascend Stairs is rated higher. Steps averages 4.6 out of 5 from 19K ratings, while Ascend Stairs averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Steps or Ascend Stairs have ads?
Steps shows ads; Ascend Stairs does not.

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