StepStella Support
Contact us
If you have a question or a problem, please email us.
- Email: purple.lamp.236@gmail.com
- Expected reply time: We check reports within 48 hours. For other questions, we usually reply within 3 days.
- Operator: an individual developer, YoungBeom Seo
Email us from the app
In the app, go to the Settings tab › Support › Contact Us. This opens Mail.
- The subject is "[StepStella] Inquiry".
- The message already includes your app version, iOS version, device model, and app language.
- Before you send it, you can review the message and delete anything you don't need.
- If Mail can't open, you'll see a window where you can copy our address. Tap Copy Address and send the email from another mail app.
What to include in your email
- Device model: You can find it in the iPhone Settings app › General › About.
- iOS version
- App version: The app does not show its version on screen. If you use Contact Us in the app, the version is added for you.
- What happened: Tell us which screen you were on and what you were doing when the problem happened. Please also include any message you saw and how to make the problem happen again.
If you see an inappropriate record in the feed, you can report it in the app or email us. See Reporting and blocking.
About StepStella
StepStella is an iPhone app. Once a day, it reads yesterday's step count and walking distance from Apple Health. You move your virtual position on Earth that distance in the direction you choose, and leave a short message. Your daily records connect like a constellation on a globe, and you can see public records from other people whose virtual positions are near yours ("Journey Neighbors"). Their records are anonymous.
- StepStella is for iPhone only. It needs iOS 17 or later.
- It is free. There are no ads and no in-app purchases.
- You need an internet connection to make a record.
- The app is available in English, Korean, and Japanese.
- You must be 14 or older to use StepStella.
- Your virtual position is not your real location.
Getting started
When you open the app for the first time, you go through the steps below. On this page, "the Settings tab" means the Settings tab at the bottom of the app. "The iPhone Settings app" means the Settings app that comes with your iPhone.
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Sign in with Apple
On the Create an Account screen, sign in with your Apple Account. There is no other way to sign in. The app does not ask for your Apple Account name or email. In the feed, you appear only as your Anonymous ID. By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
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Location access (optional)
Location is used only to set your starting city. There is no background location tracking. Only an approximate location (usually the center of your starting city) is saved on the server. You can start and make records without allowing location access.
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Allow access to Apple Health
The app reads only your step count and walking + running distance from Apple Health. It does not read other data, like heart rate or sleep. It does not write any data to Apple Health. If you don't allow access, your steps and distance are recorded as 0, but you can still make a record.
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Where your journey starts
Check your starting city. The app uses the city center, not your exact home location. To look for your location again, tap Try Again. If you're happy with it, tap Start Here. You can't change your starting city after you sign up.
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Your first record
Your first record stays in your starting city. When you make your first record, you choose a Base Direction from 8 compass directions. You can't change your Base Direction later.
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Notifications (optional)
After your first record, the app asks if you want a daily reminder. Your iPhone shows this reminder on its own at the time you choose. The default time is 21:00. If you tap Not Now, the app won't ask again for 7 days. To turn the reminder on or off, or to change the time, go to the Settings tab › Notifications › Notification Settings.
You can see your permission status in the Settings tab › Permissions. Tap the Location or Notifications row to open the iPhone Settings app. If you haven't decided on that permission yet, the permission request appears instead.
FAQ: Steps and records
I didn't allow access to Apple Health. How do I allow it later?
You can still make records without access. Your steps and distance are recorded as 0.
To allow access later, open the iPhone Settings app › Privacy & Security › Health › StepStella, and turn on reading steps and distance.
Because of Apple's privacy rules, the app can't tell whether Health access is allowed. In the Settings tab › Permissions, tap Health to see where to check.
I walked yesterday. Why do I see 0, or numbers that don't match Apple Health?
The numbers can look different from Apple Health because of these rules:
- Today's record uses yesterday's total, from midnight to midnight. Steps you take today count toward tomorrow's record.
- "Yesterday" is based on the time zone saved when you signed up. See the time zone question.
- Steps and distance that you entered by hand in Apple Health are not counted.
- If your iPhone and Apple Watch both record the same steps, they are counted only once.
- The daily limit is 100 km and 200,000 steps. If yesterday's total is over the limit, the record is not blocked. It is saved at the limit.
- If midnight passes after the app reads your steps but before you save, the record is not saved. Please start your record over.
If you see 0, open the iPhone Settings app › Privacy & Security › Health › StepStella, and check that reading steps and distance is on.
Why can't I make a record without an internet connection?
The date of a record comes from the server's clock, not your iPhone's clock. This stops people from changing their iPhone's clock to fake a streak. So you need an internet connection to make a record.
When you are offline, Home shows "You're offline. You can record once you're connected." The feed shows the content it loaded last.
How many times a day can I make a record?
Once a day. A day starts at midnight in your saved time zone. If you try to record again on the same day, you will see "You've already recorded today."
I want to delete a record. Why can I delete only today's record?
You can delete only today's record. In the Log tab, open today's record and tap Delete This Record.
Today's virtual position continues from yesterday's virtual position. If a record in the middle were deleted, every position after it would be wrong. So you can't delete past records.
- Deleted records can't be recovered.
- When you delete today's record, your streak and your total distance and steps go back to the values before that record.
- You can make past records private. See the next question.
- To delete all your records, you need to delete your account. See Your account and data.
Can I make a past record public or private?
Yes. In the Log tab, open a record and turn the Share to Public Feed switch on or off. This works for past records too.
- On means public. The record is visible to Journey Neighbors near your virtual position.
- Off means private. Only you can see it.
- New records are public by default. You can change this when you make the record.
- Public records are shown in the feed for 7 days from the day you record them.
FAQ: Streaks and your journey
How do I keep my streak going?
- Each day you make a record, your streak grows by one day.
- If you miss a day, your streak starts over from day 1.
- A day with 0 steps still continues your streak if you make a record. On that day your distance is 0 km, so you skip choosing a direction.
- If your streak breaks, your Direction Range also goes back to its starting width (45°).
How do I use Streak Freeze?
Streak Freeze protects your streak for one day, as long as it ran through yesterday. Go to the Log tab › Streak › Use Streak Freeze.
You can use it only when all of these are true:
- You haven't used it yet this month. You can use it once a month.
- Your current streak is 1 day or more.
- You haven't recorded today yet.
- Your last record or your last freeze was yesterday. A streak that broke two or more days ago can't be brought back.
When you use it, today counts as recorded. If you record on a frozen day, your streak grows by one day as usual, and you get this month's Streak Freeze back. "This month" is based on your saved time zone.
How does the Direction Range get wider?
The Direction Range is the span of directions you can choose when you record. It opens to the left and right of the Base Direction you set on your first record. It gets wider as your streak grows.
| Streak | Direction Range |
|---|---|
| 0 days | 45° |
| 30 days | 90° |
| 90 days | 135° |
| 180 days | 180° |
| 225 days | 225° |
| 270 days | 270° |
| 315 days | 315° |
| 365 days | 360° (any direction) |
You can see your current values in the Settings tab › My Growth › Discovery Radius & Direction Range.
How is the Discovery Radius (Journey Neighbors) decided?
The Discovery Radius is the area around your virtual position where the app looks for Journey Neighbors. The feed shows public records from the last 7 days inside this radius. You need at least one record of your own to see the feed.
Discovery Radius = Base Radius + Streak Bonus + Distance Bonus (up to 50 km)
- Base Radius: 5 km
- Streak Bonus: grows a little with each day of your streak, and reaches 35 km at 365 days.
- Distance Bonus: adds 1 km for each 1 km in your latest record, up to 10 km.
- If you miss a day, your Streak Bonus goes back to 0.
For example, on day 1 with 0 km, the radius is about 5.1 km. With an 8-day streak and 4.2 km in your latest record, it is about 10 km. With a 365-day streak and 10 km or more in your latest record, it is 50 km.
Feed cards don't show the exact distance. They show the distance between virtual positions as a range.
| Distance between virtual positions | Shown on the card |
|---|---|
| Less than 1 km | Within 1 km |
| 1 km to less than 5 km | Within 5 km |
| 5 km to less than 10 km | Within 10 km |
| 10 km or more | Within Radius |
You can see your current values in the Settings tab › My Growth › Discovery Radius & Direction Range.
How far is one trip around the Earth?
A total distance of 40,075 km is one trip around the Earth. You can see your progress in the Journey tab › Milestones, and in the Log tab › Stats › Earth Circumnavigation Challenge.
What happens if I travel or change my iPhone's time zone?
The date of a record and the range of "yesterday" are based on the time zone saved when you signed up. Changing your iPhone's time zone does not change this.
For example, if your saved time zone is Seoul and you are in Los Angeles, your October 9 record uses your steps from midnight to midnight on October 8, Seoul time.
In this version, you can't change your saved time zone. You can see it in the Settings tab › Account › Time Zone.
FAQ: Location and who can see what
What happens if I don't allow location access?
You can still sign up and make records without location access.
- Your starting city is set to a major city based on your iPhone's time zone. If no city can be chosen from the time zone, it is set to a major city in the country of your Region setting. If that also fails, it is Seoul.
- Your records are saved the same way, because the app doesn't use your location when you make a record.
- You can't change your starting city after you sign up. If you allow location access later, your starting city stays the same.
To allow it later, open the iPhone Settings app › Privacy & Security › Location Services › StepStella. You can also tap the Settings tab › Permissions › Location to open the iPhone Settings app.
Can other people see my exact location?
No. Other people can't see your exact location.
- The app uses your location only while you're using it ("While Using the App"). It reads your location only when you set your starting city. It doesn't read your location when you make a record.
- For your starting city, the app saves the city center, not your exact position. If it can't find a city, it saves the center of a nearby area.
- When you make a record, the app doesn't read your location. Only your virtual position is saved with the record.
- Feed cards show only a distance range between virtual positions (for example, "Within 5 km"), not coordinates.
- People who follow you can see the approximate virtual positions of your public records from the last 30 days on the globe. Each position is sent as the center of a square about 5 km wide.
Your virtual position is not your real location. But your first record stays at the center of your starting city. So if your first record is a public record from the last 30 days, people who follow you can tell roughly where your starting city is. If you make your first record private, your followers can't see it.
What can other people see on a public record?
Public records are shown in Journey Neighbors' feeds for 7 days from the day you record them. A card shows:
- Your Anonymous ID (for example, #A3F29C01). There is no real name or profile photo. Your Anonymous ID changes automatically every 90 days.
- The distance range between virtual positions
- Yesterday's exact step count and distance
- Your message (up to 140 characters)
- The number of likes
- The date
Only the number of likes is shown. Not even the owner of the record can see who liked it. A follow lasts up to 30 days, and the other person isn't notified.
If you don't want to show your steps and distance, make that record private.
FAQ: Reporting and blocking
How do I report an inappropriate record?
In the Feed tab, tap More (…) on the record card › Report, and choose a reason.
- Reasons: Spam, Inappropriate Content, Privacy Violation, Other
- A record you report is removed from your feed right away.
- You can send up to 10 reports a day.
- When 3 people report the same record, it is hidden from other people's feeds automatically.
- You report one record at a time. There is no way to report a user.
You can also email us. Go to the Settings tab › Support › Contact Us, and keep only "Report an inappropriate record" as the inquiry type.
How and when the operator reviews reports: Reports are checked within 48 hours after they are received. Records that break the Terms of Service are hidden, or their messages are deleted.
How do I block another user?
In the Feed tab, tap More (…) on the record card › Block User › Block.
- You and that user will no longer see each other's records in your feeds.
- Any follows between you end, and you can't follow each other again.
- The other user is not told that you blocked them.
- Blocking can't be undone. There is also no screen that lists blocked users.
FAQ: Your account and data
How do I delete my account?
Go to the Settings tab › Account › Delete Account. In the confirmation message, tap Delete Permanently, and then confirm with your Apple Account once more.
- If you cancel the Apple Account confirmation, nothing is deleted.
- After you confirm, your account is deleted right away. There is no waiting period.
- This can't be undone.
These are deleted with your account:
- Account information: Anonymous ID, time zone, starting city, Base Direction
- All your records: virtual positions, steps, distance, messages, and public or private settings
- Your streak and your total distance and steps
- Follows: people you follow and people who follow you
- Likes: likes you gave and likes on your records
- Reports: reports you sent and reports about your records
- Blocks: users you blocked and users who blocked you
When the deletion is complete, the app signs you out and deletes the cache saved on your iPhone.
Some things may remain for a while after deletion:
- Server backups: We do not make server backups. So deleted information does not remain in our backups. The Supabase Free plan that runs our server has no automatic backups.
- Server logs (request records that the server keeps automatically): 1 day (Supabase Free plan)
- Feed caches on other people's iPhones: your public record cards may remain until they refresh their feed.
- Emails you sent to us
The app does not delete your Apple Health data or your Apple Account. Raw Health data is never sent to the server.
When you delete your account, we ask Apple to remove this app's Sign in with Apple connection. If this request fails, your account is still deleted. If the connection remains, you can remove it yourself on your iPhone. Go to Settings › [your name] › Sign in with Apple, choose this app, and tap Delete.
If I get a new iPhone, will I keep my records?
Your records are saved on the server with your account, not on your iPhone. If you sign in with the same Apple Account on your new iPhone, you can see your records again. Your saved time zone and starting city also stay the same.
These settings are saved only on your iPhone. Please set them again on your new iPhone:
- Whether the daily reminder is on, and its time
- Map Marker
- Appearance
Signing out does not delete your records on the server.
Can I export my data?
In this version, you can't export your data. You can see your records in the Log tab.
If you ask by email, we make a file of your account's data and email it to you within 10 days from the day we receive your request. We confirm your identity as described in Section 13 of the Privacy Policy.
Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
In the app, you can open both documents in the Settings tab › Privacy › Data Policy. The Create an Account screen also has links to both documents.
Open source licenses and image credits
You can find the licenses for the open source software and images that the app uses in the Settings tab › Privacy › Data Policy › Open Source Licenses.
- Globe: globe.gl, three.js, three-globe
- Earth images: NASA Blue Marble. The high-resolution Earth image is the July 2004 "Blue Marble: Next Generation" image from NASA, resized for the app. "Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory."
- Server connection: supabase-swift and related packages
The globe library and Earth images are included in the app. The app does not download them from outside servers while you use it.