A weekly race on one shared route, 15,000+ ready-made loops and a 10 to 30 minute Focus walk, just as the clocks go back.
Bournemouth and Reading, 13 October 2026 — Most fitness apps ask you to beat a number on your own. Stepa, a free walking app made by three mates from Bournemouth and Reading, is rolling out an update that gives you a weekly race you run with the people you actually know. Every Monday, everyone in your Mates race gets the same route, and your steps for the week move you along it. Your mates appear as photos on the track, and on Monday there's a podium and a new route. No mates yet? You race “Stepa pace”, set by walkers like you, and last week's you.
The update lands just before the clocks go back on 25 October, when most walks get squeezed into a lunchtime or a quick loop after work. Stepa's map now shows more than 15,000 ready-made circular walking loops, “Make my own loop” draws one from your front door and back, and Focus walk is the short version: pick 10 to 30 minutes, phone in your pocket, and it buzzes when you're done. Before you set off, Stepa flags rain forecast in the next couple of hours and walks that will run past sunset, and after dark it stops suggesting quieter park routes.
“Most people would walk more if someone came with them and they knew where to go. Stepa sorts both. Here's a loop from your door, and here's who's out walking today.”
Ollie and Harry grew up in Bournemouth. Harry and Seb live in Reading and study at the University of Reading, where much of the app has been tested on walks with housemates. There are no closing rings and no guilt on days off: the idea is to walk as you walk, with company, and a bit more.
Stepa is free on iOS and Android, including the race, Focus walk, the ready-made loops and three loops of your own a month. Stepa Pro, from £4.99 a month or as an annual plan, adds unlimited loops of your own, group-walk invites and streak insurance, and the annual plan starts with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. Stepa is rated 4.6 on the UK App Store, and its walkers have logged more than 300 million steps, about six times round the Earth.
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