step counter apps that are actually free
"Free" on the App Store means free to download, and almost every step counter qualifies. What differs is what happens next. Of fourteen checked here, four list no in-app purchases at all — Pedometer α, Steps — Simple Pedometer, STEPPI and Plod. The rest sell something inside, at prices running from 99¢ to about $50 — and to $88.99 for our own one-time purchase.
How this was checked
Apple's search interface doesn't report in-app purchases, so these figures come from each app's own App Store page, where the store lists its purchases and their prices. That makes them facts from the listing rather than a reading of the marketing text — which is the only reason this page is worth publishing.
One thing this cannot tell you: advertising. The App Store doesn't disclose ads at all. An app with no purchases can still be paid for by ads, and the listing will never say so. The reviews usually will. We're not going to imply otherwise just because the column looks clean.
What fourteen apps really cost
| app | ratings | in-apppurchases | priceslisted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pedometer α | 167,598 | none | — |
| Steps — Simple Pedometer | 5,309 | none | — |
| STEPPI | 131 | none | — |
| Plod | 23 | none | — |
| StepsApp Pedometer | 291,037 | yes | $0.99 – $19.99 |
| Pedometer++ | 180,123 | yes | $1.99 – $39.99 |
| Steps — Activity Tracker | 131,721 | yes | $3.99 |
| Stepz | 32,586 | yes | $0.99 – $6.99 |
| Walkr | 8,008 | yes | $0.99 – $49.99 |
| StepDog | 1,267 | yes | not listed on the page we read |
| Hot Girl Steps | 117 | yes | $4.99 – $29.99 |
| CanGoGo | 70 | yes | $0.99 – $6.99 |
| Simply Step | 32 | yes | $1.99 – $19.99 |
| Angel Step | 0 | yes | $8.99 – $88.99 |
All fourteen are free to download. Prices are what the store listed on ; the highest figure is usually a lifetime unlock and the lowest a single small item, but the store doesn't label which is which.
If price is only one of your needs, the best step counter apps for iPhone gives one pick per need from the same survey.
What the prices say
Nothing about size predicts it. The app with no purchases and 168,000 ratings sits next to one with 32 ratings and six price points. Being big doesn't mean charging, and being tiny doesn't mean generous.
And a price paid in adverts is not only a price in attention: an advert is a network request, and the radio costs battery in a way the step counting itself does not.
A wide spread usually means tiers, not one price. Six price points from $1.99 to $39.99 is a monthly, a yearly and a lifetime sitting in the same list.
Subscription or one-off — the names are the tell. After the price itself, this is the next thing people type into the search box, and the store does answer it, quietly: the purchase names sit right next to the prices. Weekly, Monthly, Yearly is a charge that comes back; Lifetime, Unlock, Forever is once. A list with both is offering you a choice, and the cheapest number in the range is almost always the recurring one. It is a hint rather than a contract — only the purchase sheet inside the app is binding — but it is the one you can read before you install anything.
The four with nothing to sell are worth a second look — but ask how they are paid for. A step counter costs its maker something to keep alive; if it isn't purchases, it is ads, or it is someone's hobby, or the app is drifting. All three happen, and only the first is visible from outside — though not from the listing. Step counters without ads covers the one place the store lets that slip.
Where we stand
Full disclosure: we make one of these, and its prices are in the table. Angel Step is a step counter for iPhone whose daily goal is an angel number, shown as one number on a living sky with a widget that reads Apple Health itself. It shipped on ; its row, read from its own listing that day, is the last one above: free to download, with optional purchases of $8.99 a month, $44.99 a year or $88.99 once.
What we promised before it shipped, and what its listing now lets you check: no account, no ads, no analytics about your walking, and no data sold to anyone. That part is written out on the privacy page, and what the app deliberately doesn't do is on about.
Sources
- In-app purchase presence and prices: each app's own App Store page, read (Angel Step on , the day it went on sale). Apple's search interface does not report purchases, which is why the pages themselves were used.
- Rating counts: the US App Store, same date.
- Advertising is not disclosed by the App Store and is therefore not in this table.
- The other two halves of this category: cute step counters and simple step counters.
Updated