Comparison

StepUp Pedometer Step Counter vs Challenges

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

Head to head
About

StepUp Pedometer Step Counter

This app is a social pedometer that encourages users to be more active by tracking steps, distance, and calories. It allows users to compete with friends and colleagues in step challenges, fostering motivation and healthy competition. The app integrates with various wearables and health platforms, offering a battery-efficient way to monitor daily activity and achieve fitness goals.

Highlights
  • Automatic step tracking
  • Distance and calorie monitoring
  • Social step challenges
  • Real-time leaderboards
  • Goal setting and achievements
  • Battery-efficient design
  • Syncs with Apple Health and other wearables
Features
Read full description

StepUp makes walking surprisingly fun with friends! Hit your goals, build streaks, join challenges, cheer each other on and walk more together! And StepUp is completely FREE! No subscription needed. No features locked behind paywalls. TRACK YOUR ACTIVITY - Automatically track steps, distance, floors & calories burned - Use just your phone, or sync with wearables - See daily, weekly, monthly & yearly progress - Step up solo or with friends, whatever moves you! BETTER WITH FRIENDS - Get family, friends & colleagues moving together - See daily, weekly & monthly leaderboards - Cheer, taunt, chat and encourage each other - You control who can see your steps FREE STEP CHALLENGES - Great for friends, families, walking & run clubs, offices, teams, schools, gyms & communities - Private groups for a few friends or up to 15,000 people - Group chat to keep the friendly banter going - Set start & end dates, or keep it ongoing - Group admins can export detailed step reports - Hide today’s step counts until tomorrow with Mystery Mode WORKS ACROSS PHONES & WEARABLES - Compete across iPhone, Android & different wearables - See steps on the Apple Watch app & complications - Sync with Apple Health and most wearables like Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, Oura, WHOOP, Withings, Mi Band, Amazfit, Google Fit & Samsung Health STAY MOTIVATED EVERY DAY - Crush your daily goal at your own pace - Build streaks & keep them going with Rest Days - Keep your steps visible with widgets - Set personal records & celebrate achievements - See your country & global ranking - Look back on monthly & yearly StepUp Recaps - Share your walking stats on beautiful photos BOTS KEEP YOU ON YOUR TOES Compete with our walking bots for extra motivation - Try to beat Active Bot or take it easy with Chill Bot - Beat your steps from this time yesterday with Yesterday Bot STOP SCROLLING, START STROLLING! We’re built to move and connect. Join over 10 million people stepping up on StepUp! Invite your friends, get moving and see who gets the most steps today! Contact: team@thestepupapp.com Terms: http://www.thestepupapp.com/terms Privacy: http://www.thestepupapp.com/privacy

About

Challenges

Compete with friends, family, and coworkers to get fit. Track your progress through stand, move, and exercise rings, earn medals, and send motivational nudges. Stay connected and motivated with real-time updates and team challenges.

Highlights
  • Team challenges
  • Activity ring tracking (Stand, Move, Exercise)
  • Medal achievements
  • Motivational nudges and comments
  • Real-time team progress updates
  • Apple Watch integration
Features
Read full description

Get fit and compete with friends, family & coworkers with the Challenges app. ‘Cause everybody needs a little healthy competition. -- How It Works -- Getting started with Challenges is easy. Join a team challenge and aim to complete your Stand, Move, and Exercise rings. Whether you get there by shakin’ it to Queen Bey or taking the furthest spot in the parking lot, it’s up to you. Keep tabs on your progress via Apple Watch, the Challenges App, or the Health app. Watch in real time as your teammates get closer to closing their rings - they’re cheering you on to do the same! -- Achievements -- The more you move, the more you’re rewarded. Stack up your points to earn Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medals. Go for the gold! Check progress on your next medal Bask in the glow of medals you’ve racked up from all of your Challenges -- Nudges -- What gets you stepping better than your L.A. Lights sneakers from the 90s? Accountability. Spark a little friendly banter to fuel your fitness flame. Get and send nudges from your teammates (Tell Dan from the second floor to start taking the stairs if he’s reppin’ your team Mission-Fitpossible) Comment on the challenge wall to share tips or coordinate a workout Invite a friend to join your team, via email or text (Emojis 100% acceptable) -- On The Watch -- Pump yourself up wherever you go with just a glance at your wrist. Check in on team ranking See when you’re closing in on an achievement Compare your daily average so you can gauge your progress. Get notified when someone nudges you Get pinged when one of your teammates is rocking it. “Dan just closed all three rings!” Boom, send back applause hands. Somebody’s been snubbing the elevator. Get your watch charged, your team amped, and your sneakers ready, ‘cause you’ve got a challenge to win. Challenges integrates with the Health App on your iPhone to retrieve the data it uses to determine by how much you've just beaten all your friends. Because of our integration with the Health App, this also means we leverage the powerful HealthKit API to make your user experience and user interface the best possible. Enjoy!

Screenshots

StepUp Pedometer Step Counter4 screens
Challenges4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Challenges at none against StepUp Pedometer Step Counter's 10. Challenges also leads on ads (none vs shown). StepUp Pedometer Step Counter's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks) and review sentiment (73% vs 51%). 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. StepUp Pedometer Step Counter sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $1.00 per month. Challenges asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

StepUp Pedometer Step Counter holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: StepUp Pedometer Step Counter has 137K ratings behind it against 5.7K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of StepUp Pedometer Step Counter's written reviews are positive against 51% of Challenges's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StepUp Pedometer Step Counter ships an update every 3 days, Challenges every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
StepUp Pedometer Step Counter versus Challenges: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStepUp Pedometer Step CounterChallenges
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (137K ratings) — better4.6 (5.7K ratings)
Positive reviews73.3% of reviews — better51.0% of reviews
Number of ratings137K — better5.7K
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
Best chart rank#20 — better—
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size61 MB47 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPratik StephenFitNow

Customer experience

StepUp Pedometer Step Counter

All ratings137,050 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.6%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews1,351 reviews
Positive73.3%
Neutral7.7%
Negative19.0%

Challenges

All ratings5,726 ratings
Positive92.4%
Neutral2.5%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews353 reviews
Positive51.0%
Neutral15.0%
Negative34.0%

User reviews

StepUp Pedometer Step Counter

From 137K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Motivating and competitive
  • 👍 Accurate step tracking
  • 👍 Easy to use and navigate
  • 👍 Helpful for weight loss and fitness
  • 👍 Integrates with wearables

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inaccurate step counting
  • 🐛 Syncing issues with wearables
  • 🐛 Losing friends/contacts
  • 🐛 Logging out issues
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance

Challenges

From 5.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great app for group challenges
  • 👍 Motivating and fun
  • 🤝 Allows competing across platforms
  • 🎯 Individualized calorie goals

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Syncing issues with fitness apps
  • 🕰️ Slow to update data
  • 🤯 Inaccurate point tracking
  • 🤖 Poor customer support
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns

Bugs and requests

StepUp Pedometer Step Counter

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Steps not updating correctly
  • Randomly adding extra steps
  • Unable to add friends
  • Frequent app crashes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add Apple Watch support
  • Implement a chat feature
  • Allow changing step length settings
  • Provide more detailed leaderboard information
  • Add option to change daily start/end time

Challenges

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes frequently
  • Syncing issues with Apple Health
  • Inability to delete account
  • Challenges not working as intended

Requested features

6 requests
  • Allow rest days in challenges
  • Increase maximum daily points
  • Add option to set individual vs. group challenges
  • Improve messaging and notifications
  • Add Garmin integration
Show 1 more
  • Allow challenge creators to manage teams

In-app purchases

9 purchases

StepUp Pedometer Step Counter

Subscriptions5
  • Support StepUp$1.001 Month
  • Support StepUp2 variants$2.001 Month
  • Support StepUp$6.001 Year
Show 2 more
  • Support StepUp$10.001 Year
  • Support StepUp$12.001 Year
One-time4
  • Support StepUp$5.00
  • Support StepUp$15.00
  • Support StepUp$20.00
Show 1 more
  • Support StepUp$25.00
None

Challenges

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is StepUp Pedometer Step Counter free?
StepUp Pedometer Step Counter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Challenges free?
Challenges is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, StepUp Pedometer Step Counter or Challenges?
StepUp Pedometer Step Counter is rated higher. StepUp Pedometer Step Counter averages 4.8 out of 5 from 137K ratings, while Challenges averages 4.6 from 5.7K ratings.
Do StepUp Pedometer Step Counter or Challenges have ads?
StepUp Pedometer Step Counter shows ads; Challenges does not.
Which is updated more often, StepUp Pedometer Step Counter or Challenges?
StepUp Pedometer Step Counter ships an update every 3 days, and Challenges every 3 weeks. Most recently, StepUp Pedometer Step Counter was updated on September 24, 2026 and Challenges on September 20, 2026.

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