StepGate vs WalkGate: Two Walk-to-Unlock Apps Compared

StepGate and WalkGate are built on the same idea. Both lock the iPhone apps you choose until you walk your step goal, both run on Apple’s Screen Time tools, and both read your steps from Apple Health. The names are close too, which is one reason this page exists. The real split is what happens when you want back in early.

Disclosure: we make StepGate. We haven’t tested WalkGate on a device. Every WalkGate detail below comes from walkgate.app or WalkGate’s App Store listing, checked on November 2, 2026. If something isn’t on those pages, we say “doesn’t mention” rather than guess.

What’s the difference between StepGate and WalkGate?

The main difference is how each handles time off. WalkGate gives you two ways to unlock (a daily goal or earned minutes) and fewer ways out, with a price on the main ones: a 5-second hold, banked steps or your streak. StepGate gives you one way to unlock (a daily goal) and more planned time off: rest days, lock hours and short pauses that end on their own.

Otherwise they’re alike: iPhone only, iOS 17 or later, steps from Apple Health, no account.

How does WalkGate work?

WalkGate locks the apps you pick until your Apple Health step count reaches your daily goal, and then opens them for the rest of the day, or, in its Earn Minutes mode, gives you a minute for every 100 steps. Its website calls that mode Full Unlock. Earn Minutes works like an exchange rate: “Every 100 steps buys a minute you can spend whenever you want,” and you set both the rate and a daily cap.

A few more things WalkGate says about itself:

• App Bank: steps past your goal turn into minutes, at 100 steps a minute, for a day you fall short. Spending them “takes a press-and-hold, never an accidental tap.”
• The lock screen: opening a locked app shows what’s left, for example “Apps locked · 4,370 steps to goal · 56% there.”
• One break a day: a 10-minute break, after holding a button for five seconds.
• Pausing: possible in Settings, but its comparison page says pausing “opens all your apps and resets your streak.”
• Midnight reset: if you miss your goal, its FAQ says the apps stay locked until midnight, when the day starts over.
• Streaks with ranks: seven of them, from Beginner to Ascendant at 200 days.
• Plans: without Pro, WalkGate locks one app with every core feature. Pro adds unlimited apps and whole categories, full step history and Screen Time trends, as a subscription or a one-time purchase.

On privacy, WalkGate’s policy says step data is read on the device and never sent to its servers, and its App Store privacy label says “Data Not Collected” (the developer’s own answer, which Apple doesn’t check). The app is in English and Spanish, needs iOS 17 or later, and first reached the App Store in July 2026. Version 1.0.5 is from October 2026.

How does StepGate work?

StepGate locks the apps, whole categories or websites you pick in Apple’s own Screen Time picker until you reach one daily step goal, and then every locked app opens for the rest of the day. The goal can be anything from 3,000 to 15,000 steps, and your starting goal is suggested from what you walked last week. How StepGate works has the full mechanic.

What a day looks like:

• The lock only runs inside your lock hours, 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM by default. Outside them, your apps are open.
• Open a locked app before your goal and you see “{App} is locked.” with what’s left said as a walk (“A 15-minute walk”) and one button: Go walk.
• Rest days keep everything open. Sunday is one by default, and you can pick any days.
• Pause the lock for 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes when you need to. It comes back on its own.
• Steps come from Apple Health and your iPhone’s motion sensor, and Apple Watch steps count through Apple Health.

There’s no minutes mode and no step bank. Steps past the goal still show in your stats, but they don’t earn anything extra.

StepGate vs WalkGate: feature comparison

The table lists what each app’s own pages said on November 2, 2026. “Doesn’t mention” means we couldn’t find it on WalkGate’s website or listing, not that it can’t exist.

	WalkGate	StepGate
Lock modes	Full Unlock (daily goal) or Earn Minutes (100 steps = 1 minute, rate and daily cap you set)	One daily goal; every locked app opens for the rest of the day
Goal	You set it (“even 3,000 steps is a start”)	3,000 to 15,000 steps, in steps of 500, suggested from last week’s walking
Steps past the goal	Banked as minutes for a day you fall short	Not banked
What you can lock	One app without Pro; Pro adds unlimited apps and whole categories	Apps, whole categories and websites, in Apple’s Screen Time picker
Getting in early	One 10-minute break a day after a 5-second hold, or spend banked minutes; pausing in Settings opens all apps and resets your streak	Pause for 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, no daily cap; re-locks on its own
Rest days	Doesn’t mention	Any days of the week (Sunday by default)
Lock hours	Doesn’t mention	6:00 AM to 9:00 PM by default, adjustable; apps open outside them
After a missed goal	Locked until midnight	Locked until your lock hours end; locks again the next morning
Lock screen	Steps to goal and percent done	“{App} is locked.” with the steps left said as a walk, and a Go walk button
Streaks and stats	Streaks with seven ranks; full step history and Screen Time trends with Pro	Streak, best streak, a 17-week heatmap, week, month and year trends
Widgets	Doesn’t mention	One Home Screen widget, two Lock Screen widgets
Step source	Apple Health (iPhone, Apple Watch or any tracker that writes to Health)	Apple Health plus the iPhone motion sensor; Apple Watch via Apple Health
Account	None	None
Data	App Store label (the developer’s own answer): Data Not Collected	No ads, no tracking; anonymous usage analytics
Platform	iPhone, iOS 17 or later	iPhone, iOS 17 or later
App languages	English and Spanish	English
How you pay	One app without Pro; Pro is a subscription or a one-time purchase	A StepGate Plus subscription

For pricing, check each App Store listing on the day you read this.

How strict is each app?

WalkGate is the stricter of the two, and it says so: its comparison page calls it “the strict version” of a walk-to-unlock app. Your exits are one 10-minute break a day, banked minutes if you have them, a lower goal, or a pause in Settings that costs you your streak. Its App Store description goes further, promising “No override button,” though the website is more precise about the break and the pause.

StepGate leaves more doors open, deliberately. Pauses are short and close themselves. Rest days and lock hours let you decide in advance when the lock doesn’t apply. You can also lower your goal or remove an app. None of them is on the lock screen, which has one button, Go walk: each one means opening StepGate and changing it there. Strict enough to work, humane enough to keep.

Neither app is unbreakable, and that’s Apple’s rule rather than either app’s: an app you authorize for yourself through Screen Time loses its lock if you delete it or turn off its Screen Time access.

Both are what economists call commitment devices: choices you make now so that future-you finds it harder to give in. The difference is what breaking the commitment costs you.

The streak rule is where this shows. In StepGate, your streak only counts whether you hit your goal, so a pause doesn’t touch it (a rest day where you stay under your goal does break it). In WalkGate, pausing in Settings resets it. Whether that sting helps is personal. Either way, a broken streak isn’t a broken habit: in a UCL study of people building a daily habit, missing a single day didn’t materially affect how the habit formed.

Who should pick WalkGate?

Pick WalkGate if you want the strict version and you know it. It suits people who have tapped through every softer blocker and want a lock where the easy path really is the walk.

WalkGate is also the better pick if:

1. You want earned minutes, not just a daily goal. Earn Minutes and the App Bank have no equivalent in StepGate.
2. You want to start with one app before deciding on Pro. WalkGate’s own pages say every core feature works for a single app without Pro.
3. You want the app in Spanish. StepGate’s app is English only.
4. You want an app whose privacy label says no data is collected. That label is the developer’s own answer, as it is for every app.

Who should pick StepGate?

Pick StepGate if your week has days and hours when you don’t want a lock. You set the goal, the lock hours and the rest days once.

It fits best when:

1. Your days aren’t all the same. Rest days keep a Sunday or a travel day open, and lock hours leave early mornings or late evenings unlocked if you want them.
2. You need short breaks that end on their own. A 5 to 30 minute pause closes itself, so checking one thing stays one thing, and it doesn’t cost your streak.
3. You want websites in the same lock. StepGate’s picker covers apps, whole categories and websites. WalkGate’s Reddit guide says locking the app doesn’t block reddit.com, and suggests blocking the site separately in Screen Time’s Content and Privacy Restrictions.
4. You like seeing progress at a glance. A Home Screen widget, two Lock Screen widgets, a 17-week heatmap and week, month and year trends.

One honest caveat: if StepGate is closed when you hit your goal, the unlock can wait until iOS delivers fresh steps or you open the app. Opening StepGate always re-checks.

Can you use StepGate and WalkGate together?

You can install both, since each uses Apple’s Screen Time tools, but we wouldn’t put the same apps in both. Two step locks on one app means two sets of rules to satisfy, and we haven’t tested how they interact. If you want both designs, give each its own apps: WalkGate’s Earn Minutes on a game, say, and StepGate on your social feeds.

Which one to try first

If you want minutes, a bank and fewer exits, try WalkGate. If you want one goal a day with rest days, lock hours and short pauses, try StepGate. Steps before scrolling.

For the rest of the field, see the best walk-to-unlock apps, and for the steps-for-minutes design on its own, StepGate vs Steppin. If you’re still deciding between a daily goal and an exchange rate, the walk-to-unlock apps guide lays out both, and the screen time to steps calculator shows what your scrolling would cost in steps.