Tesserae — Support
Tesserae turns your step count into a mosaic: a hundred tiles for today, one small tile for every day of the last year. Steps come from Apple Health, so there is nothing to log by hand.
If your question isn't answered here, email tesserae@strangleman.com and you'll get a reply.
Getting started
- Open Tesserae and tap Allow when Apple Health asks. Tesserae reads your step count and nothing else.
- Set your daily goal in Settings — the gear at the top right. Each tile in the Today grid is one percent of it.
- Optionally add a widget to your Home or Lock Screen, and the Tesserae complication to a watch face.
Steps and Apple Health
I'm not seeing any steps.
Check that Tesserae has permission: Settings → Privacy & Security → Health → Tesserae → Steps. If permission is on and the mosaic is still empty, Apple Health may simply have no step data for this device yet — carry your iPhone on a walk, or add some steps by hand in the Health app under Browse → Activity → Steps → Add Data.
My iPad shows fewer steps than my iPhone.
An iPad has no pedometer of its own. Its step data arrives through Apple Health's iCloud sync, which can be hours behind. Open Settings in Tesserae and look at Last Updated — that is the time of the newest step sample Apple Health actually holds on that device, not the last time the app looked. If it says yesterday, the data is a day old and the app is reporting it honestly.
The number doesn't match the Health app.
Tesserae shows the total for the current day, from midnight, on the device you're holding. The Health app can show a merged figure from several devices and sources.
Does Tesserae change my Health data?
No. It only ever reads. It has no permission to write.
Streaks, stats and achievements
How is a streak counted?
Consecutive days on which you met or beat your goal, counting back from today. A day that hasn't finished yet doesn't break the streak — if you're at 2,000 steps at lunchtime, yesterday's streak is still intact.
Why do my figures stop at a year?
Every number Tesserae reports — current streak, longest streak, days at goal, best day, and the averages — covers the same trailing 365 days. That is the window the Year heatmap shows, so no two figures on screen can disagree about what "so far" means.
What unlocks an achievement?
Six are streaks: 3, 7, 15, 30, 90 and 180 days in a row at your goal. Five are single days: 10,000 through 50,000 steps. They're judged on your longest streak and your best single day within the last year. Any unlocked one can be shared as a card from the Achievements screen.
I changed my goal and my streak changed.
Streaks are worked out against your current goal, applied to your whole history. Lowering the goal can reveal a longer streak; raising it can shorten one.
Widgets and Apple Watch
My widget is out of date.
Widgets read Apple Health directly and ask iOS to refresh them every fifteen minutes, but iOS decides how often that actually happens — it budgets refreshes based on battery and how much you use the app. Opening Tesserae updates the widget immediately.
The watch shows a different number.
The watch app reads Health on the watch, which counts steps from the watch's own motion sensors. Your iPhone and your watch genuinely count slightly differently. Complications also update on watchOS's own schedule.
The watch app is asking for Health permission again.
The watch has its own Health store and its own permissions, separate from the iPhone's.
Notifications
When do notifications appear?
Two kinds: one the first time a day's steps cross your goal, and one when a day beats your previous best. At most one of each per day. Both offer a Share button that opens Tesserae with a card ready to send.
I'm not getting them.
Check Settings → Notifications → Tesserae on your iPhone. Notifications are generated on your device — there is no server involved — so they only appear once the app has seen the steps that trigger them.
Appearance
Set the daily goal, choose light, dark or automatic, and pick the mosaic colour in Settings. There are six preset colours and a custom picker. These settings sync between your devices through your own iCloud account.
Privacy
Tesserae has no account, no server and no analytics, and your step data never leaves your device. The full policy is on the privacy page.
Requirements
iPhone or iPad running iOS 17 or later. The watch app requires watchOS 10 or later. Step data must be available in Apple Health.