Julian vs Smart Card Utility
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Julian
This app provides a quick and efficient way to view and convert between 11 different types of dates, including standard Julian dates, Mars Sol dates, and Unix time. It features a calendar for easy navigation and allows copying dates to the clipboard. The current date can be displayed on the app icon and Apple Watch complications.
- 11 date type conversions
- Calendar view
- Copy to clipboard
- App icon badge display
- Apple Watch complications
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Julian makes it simple to find any day of the year, convert dates, and understand your year at a glance on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Browse the calendar to explore past and future dates, or enter a day number to jump straight to the matching date. Choose the date format you prefer and instantly see the day of the year, year progress, days remaining, week number, and current quarter. Convert between calendar dates, ordinal dates, ISO 8601 dates, ISO week dates, Julian calendar dates, Julian Day Numbers, and Unix timestamps. Add or subtract days, weeks, months, or years, or calculate the exact time between two dates. Julian supports a wide range of astronomical and time counting systems, including CCSDS Julian Date, CNES Julian Date, Dublin Julian Date, Lilian Date, Mars Sol Date, Modified Julian Date, Rata Die, Reduced Julian Date, Truncated Julian Date, and Unix Time. Copy any date value with a tap, or copy and share a complete date summary. Save your favorite formats for fast access whenever you need them. Keep important date information visible with Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets. Customize their layout, colors, and content. Larger widgets can show additional date values and calendar views without opening the app. On Apple Watch, quickly view yesterday, today, and tomorrow, look up any day of the year, and choose complications that match your watch face. Use Siri to retrieve date values and check your year progress. Add Julian actions to Shortcuts to convert dates, perform calculations, copy results, and open detailed date information. Personalize Julian with seven color themes, alternate app icons, and System, Light, or Dark appearance. Set your preferred first day of the week and choose which month begins your first quarter. For an instant glance, enable the optional app icon badge to show the current day of the year. Badge updates are silent and do not create banners or sounds. Notification permission is required. Use the International Fixed Calendar, with 13 months of 28 days, across Julian, widgets, and Apple Watch. Share a personalized image of today's date and year progress.
Smart Card Utility
Access secure government and military websites on your iPhone or iPad using your PIV-enabled smart card. Log in quickly to Office 365, Webmail, Teams, and more, eliminating the need for a laptop.
- Smart card authentication for O365, Webmail, Teams
- Access CAC protected websites via Safari
- Fast login on iPhone and iPad
- Supports PIV, CACv2/ECA, and PKCS15 cards
- Compatible with various smart card readers
- Access military and civilian web sites
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CAC Smart Card Access to O365, Webmail, Teams, and Much More Smart Card Utility enables smart card authentication to Office 365, Webmail, Teams, and most other CAC protected websites via Safari. Just plug in your existing PIV-enabled smart card and log in. Smart Card Utility is used by members of Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army, Coast Guard, and other military/government employees to access CAC protected websites on their iPhone or iPad. Login and Get to Work Fast! Forget about waiting for 20 minute for your laptop to boot up, log in and launch apps. Using your iPhone and iPad and Smart Card Utility, it takes seconds to turn on and access websites, Teams, Office 365 and more using your CAC smart card. Login fast with your CAC card and Smart Card Utility Readers for iOS and iPhone. Smart Card Authentication Wherever You Are Forget about waiting to get back to your laptop to check your email, verify your paycheck, take a course, or respond to a message on Teams. Smart Card Utility makes it simple to use the device you have with you to keep you connected. Simply insert your CAC into the reader and you are ready to access the resources where ever you are. Check Your Email and So Much More Leave your laptop behind and stop waiting in line to check your email on a shared PC. Use your smart card right on your iPhone or iPad to access your web mail using your CAC or PIV card. Smart Card Utility has been tested and is compatible with the most common military and civilian web sites, including: mypay.dfas.mil (myPay) www.defensetravel.osd.mil (Defense Travel System/DTS) jkodirect.jten.mil (JKO Learning Management) Office 365 (o365) owa.us.af.mil (webmail) www.tricare.mil (Tricare Health Care) www.dau.edu (DAU Defense Acquisition University) owa.us.af.mil (webmail) Microsoft Teams (web) MAX.gov Okta PIV Microsoft Azure Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Amazon Web Services (AWS) Supported Readers: All Smart Card readers from Twocanoes Software. Feitian br301 Bluetooth Reader Feitian iR301 Lightning Reader Feitian iR301 USB-C Reader Certgate AirID 2 Bluetooth Contact Smart Card Reader USB-C wired readers supported by iOS 16 or later. Supported Card: PIV CACv2/ECA (see https://public.cyber.mil/eca/ for more infomation) PKCS15 (Country-specific cards, healthcare cards and national ID cards) EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Julian at 4.8 against Smart Card Utility's 2.9. Julian also leads on review sentiment (67% vs 39%) and ratings volume (4.8K vs 63). Smart Card Utility's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Julian sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Smart Card Utility sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Julian holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Julian has 4.8K ratings behind it against 63, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Julian's written reviews are positive against 39% of Smart Card Utility's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Julian | Smart Card Utility |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (4.8K ratings) — better | 2.9 (63 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better | 38.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4.8K — better | 63 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Juan Carlos Perez | Twocanoes Software, Inc. |
Customer experience
Julian
Smart Card Utility
User reviews
Julian
From 4.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent for work/professional use
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 👍 Helpful for daily tasks
- 👍 Convenient complication on Apple Watch
Room to improve
- 🐛 Complication issues on Apple Watch (not updating, getting stuck)
- 🐛 Date discrepancies between app and complication
- 🐛 App not functioning properly after updates
Smart Card Utility
From 63 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Works with DoD CAC
- 🚀 Access OWA and MyPay
- 👍 Works with Safari
- 🚀 Great for mobile iOS users
- 👍 Easy certificate download
Room to improve
- 🐛 Doesn't work with newer iPhones
- 🐛 Overly expensive
- 🐛 Not user-friendly
- 🐛 Subscription required
- 🐛 Waste of money
Bugs and requests
Julian
Reported bugs
3 issues- Complication not updating correctly on Apple Watch
- Date displayed incorrectly, one day behind
- App not functioning properly after updates
Requested features
4 requests- Display current date along with Julian date
- Add countdown/days remaining functionality
- Display week number
- Show Julian date on app icon
Smart Card Utility
Reported bugs
17 issues- Device will not connect to newer iPhones
- PIN suddenly won't work
- Does not see SCR 3310 card reader
- Bluetooth reader bug on macOS
- New update broke BT read on iOS
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- Reproducible bug with Bluetooth reader and macOS Sonoma
- Reader not showing up in app
- Limited trial is very limited
- iOS 16 with SCR3310 Non-functional
- App sees reader, but cannot detect smart card
- Reader could not be verified
- App detects reader, but reader does not detect card
- Broken in Big Sur
- App opens but closes or prompts for purchase on Big Sur
- BigSur Doesnt Work
- Big Sur Bricked it
- Doesn't work in Big Sur
Requested features
3 requests- Support for more CAC enabled sites
- Show cert chain graphically
- Support alphanumeric+symbols PINs
In-app purchases
Julian
- Short Cup$0.99
- Tall Cup$1.99
- Grande Cup$2.99
Smart Card Utility
- 3rd Party Readers Support$2.991 Month
- Smart Card Utility$49.99
- Smart Card Utility Mobile$49.99
- Third Party Readers$49.99
Questions
Is Julian free?
Is Smart Card Utility free?
Which has better reviews, Julian or Smart Card Utility?
Do Julian or Smart Card Utility have ads?
Which is updated more often, Julian or Smart Card Utility?
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