Vario vs BarnMate
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
Vario
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Become a lighting designer in the privacy of your home. Create atmospheric coloured light or let your lighting automatically follow the natural course of the sun. Choose from a set of professionally pre-programmed light sequences or simply become creative at your own: With the App "Vario" and the control device "instalight Vario", impressing lighting creation proves a breeze. Main features: - Control of indoor and outdoor lighting - Control of coloured light with RGB or RGBW - White light with controllable colour temperature (Tunable White TW) - Dynamic light variations with up to 40 changes per second - Intuitive colour selection via colour picker or front camera of the iPhone - Storage of up to four user-defined light colours - Operation via iPhone and Apple Watch - Human Centric Lighting due to sun light simulation synchronised to the time of day - Combined profiles offer separate control of ambient- and general lighting - Automatic operation via internal timer with individual switch-on/-off times for all light scenes - Control interfaces: DALI, PWM, DMX, LEDTRIX Additional note: - Requires control device βinstalight Varioβ (see www.insta.de/vario) - Commissioning of the control device via separate App "Vario Setup" (free)
BarnMate
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BarnMate is the calm, beautiful planner for your horse β built for co-riders, half-board partners and owners who share the same barn life. β ONE SCHEDULE, EVERYONE IN SYNC β See today, this week or the whole month. Sessions, lessons, competitions, supplements, farrier visits, vaccines and care reminders. Everything is grouped by horse, by day, by rider. β EXERCISES & SESSION TEMPLATES β A library of 55 exercises sorted by type of work: setup, step-by-step, success criteria. Build your own session templates, apply one to a session and its plan shows up right there. Add your own exercises too. Informational content β no substitute for qualified instruction. β SHARE WITH YOUR CO-RIDER OR OWNER β Invite your half-board partner or owner with a single tap. They get free access to the shared group β no separate account, no separate payment. Anyone in the group can plan, log and see the same thing in real time. Several sharers around the same horse? That's covered: each one has their own sessions and their own permissions. β TRACK SUBSCRIPTIONS & BILLING β Riding lessons paid by the package? BarnMate keeps a clean ledger: deposits, lesson deductions, balance and renewal reminders. No more spreadsheets. β PASSPORT & PHOTOS β Store each horse's passport number, vaccine record and identification photos. Everything you need at the gate or at a vet visit. β SMART REMINDERS β Farrier, vaccines, worming, dentist, osteo: BarnMate works out the next due date and reminds you on the day. Farrier coming on the 23rd at 9 am? Set the appointment yourself and get a reminder the evening before β no more missed appointments. Several appointments per type of care, as a series if needed (every 6 weeksβ¦). β PRIVACY-FIRST β Your data syncs through your own iCloud account. We do not run a server. We do not sell anything. Sponsored access for invited co-riders is free. β MADE FOR HORSE PEOPLE β A typography-led design that doesn't look like a spreadsheet. Quiet, focused, beautiful. ββ PLUS TIERS ββ Solo (1 horse) β’ Full schedule, supplements, care log, passport, statistics, notifications. β’ Exercise library and session templates Share / Half-board (multiple horses + sharing) β’ Everything in Solo β’ Invite a co-rider or owner β free for them β’ Multiple horses in the same group β’ Shared billing & care log Each tier is available Monthly, Yearly or Lifetime. Restore purchases at any time. Subscriptions auto-renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. ββ PRIVACY ββ Data is stored on your device and synced through your private iCloud account. Shared groups use Apple's CloudKit Sharing β invitations are bound to Apple ID. BarnMate operates no server and collects no analytics. Happy riding. ββ SUBSCRIPTION TERMS ββ β’ Subscriptions: Solo (monthly/yearly) and Share (monthly/yearly). β’ Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation. β’ Subscription auto-renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. β’ Renewal is charged within 24h prior to the end of the period. β’ Manage or cancel anytime in iOS Settings β [your name] β Subscriptions. β’ Any unused free trial portion is forfeited upon purchase. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://barnmate.app/en/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Vario at none against BarnMate's 6. Vario also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (8.2 vs 26.0). BarnMate's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 8 months). On price and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. BarnMate sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Vario asks for nothing beyond the download.
Vario ships an update every 8 months, BarnMate every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Vario | BarnMate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months | Every 5 days β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No β better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch β better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 8.2 β better | 26.0 |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 28 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Insta GmbH | Mathieu Collet |
In-app purchases
Vario
No in-app purchases
BarnMate
- Solo Monthly$0.991 Month
- Share Monthly$2.991 Month
- Solo Yearly1 Month trial$17.991 Year
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- Share Yearly1 Month trial$22.991 Year
- Solo Β· Lifetime$59.99
- Share Β· Lifetime$79.99









