Blocky
Blocky vs · Steppin
The Steppin alternative that counts more than steps
Steppin sells you a minute of screen time for 100 steps. Blocky is a habit tracker: the apps you pick wait for the run, the water, the sleep or the fast.
If you're looking for a Steppin alternative, you already like the trade at its heart: an app you'd miss, paid for with something good for you. Steppin's own line is the clearest in this business: Steppin locks your distracting apps. Walk to earn minutes.
It works like a meter. You pick your apps, and by default 100 steps buys a minute. Make it easier or harder, your call. Your phone counts the steps, or your fitness tracker does through Apple Health or Health Connect, and apps unlock as you earn them. When the minutes run out, you walk again. It's free, with no account and no subscription, on iPhone and Android, and your steps and screen time never leave your phone. You can override any lock instantly; Steppin says it never traps you out of your own phone.
That's a good trade. It's just a narrow one: steps are the only coin, and the override is free.
Ten thousand steps. Go on, then.
A meter sells minutes. Blocky opens the door.
With Steppin, every minute of Instagram is bought separately, all day, and only with steps. A hard run, a night's sleep, a finished fast or a glass of water buys nothing. And when you want out, the override is one tap, and nobody knows.
That's a fair design for walking more. It isn't a design for the rest of your habits.
Blocky starts with the habit
Exercise first, Instagram second.
Blocky is a habit tracker. You pick the habit you keep skipping, then the apps that wait for it. Do the habit and it's unblocked, for the day, not by the minute.
- Run with Strava or your watch. When your 30 minutes reach Apple Health, Instagram is unblocked.
- Steps count too, and so do water, fasting, sleep, weigh-ins and meditation, all from Apple Health.
- Nothing is logged by hand. The workout is either in Health or it isn't.
- It bends for real life. Halfway there can unblock some apps early, and Phone, Settings and the apps you choose are never blocked.
- Need out? A gem buys 15 minutes, and friends can see you spent it, if you let them.
Side by side
| Blocky. | Steppin | |
|---|---|---|
| Blocks apps | Yes | Yesuntil you've walked for the minutes |
| Unblocks when you do the habit | Yes | Yesa minute at a time, for steps only |
| How you get around it | A gem buys 15 minutes, and it's on the record | Override any lock instantly |
| What it tracks | Exercise, sleep, water, fasting, weight, meditation, meals, medication and your own habits | Steps and the screen time you earned |
Which one is for you
If walking is the one habit you want, and you'd rather pay by the minute than by the day, Steppin is simple, free and honest about it, and it's on Android, where we aren't.
If your habits are a run, a fast, a glass of water or an early night as much as a walk, and you want an override that costs something, pick Blocky.
Seven days free, on iPhone.