Emerald City Comic Con vs Pocket Beacon
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Emerald City Comic Con
Navigate your experience at Emerald City Comic Con with this official digital guide. Access schedules, guest lists, exhibitor details, and event information all in one place. Stay updated with the latest news and announcements to ensure you don't miss any highlights.
- Panel schedules
- Guest and creator lists
- Exhibitor directory
- Show features
- Event notifications
- Latest news updates
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The Emerald City Comic Con Mobile App is your digital guide to everything ECCC! It's chock full of panel schedules, guests, comic creators, exhibitors, Show Features, and everything else ECCC has to offer. You will also receive notifications for the latest news, guest announcements, exhibitor info and special events so you don’t miss a thing! Download the Official ECCC App now and have all of the information you need for this show at your fingertips.
Pocket Beacon
Unlock exclusive content and benefits for fans of a popular web series. Enjoy ad-free viewing, early access to events, merchandise discounts, and bonus episodes. Support independent creator-owned media.
- Ad-free access to video and podcast library
- Exclusive pre-sales for live events
- Invitation to a private Discord server
- Persistent merchandise discount
- Bonus content (Cooldown, Fireside Chats)
- Same-day podcast releases
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Beacon is a special membership program that offers unparalleled and ad-free access to Critical Role and its vast video and podcast library, exclusive pre-sales for live events, invitation to a private Discord server, and a persistent discount on merchandise throughout all international online shops! By becoming a Beacon member, you’ll unlock special bonus content like Critical Role Cooldown and Fireside Chats, same-day Critical Role podcast releases alongside the VODs, and more, all while directly supporting creator-owned independent media.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Emerald City Comic Con at ad-supported against Pocket Beacon's subscription. Pocket Beacon's advantage is rating (3.3 vs 2.8) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months). On price, review sentiment, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Pocket Beacon holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pocket Beacon has 366 ratings behind it against 72, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 34% of Emerald City Comic Con's written reviews are positive against 28% of Pocket Beacon's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Emerald City Comic Con ships an update every 5 months, Pocket Beacon fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Emerald City Comic Con | Pocket Beacon |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.8 (72 ratings) | 3.3 (366 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 34.4% of reviews — better | 27.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 72 | 366 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 167 MB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Reed Elsevier Inc. | Critical Role Productions, LLC |
Customer experience
Emerald City Comic Con
Pocket Beacon
Bugs and requests
Emerald City Comic Con
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Pocket Beacon
Reported bugs
3 issues- Videos starting from the beginning
- Freezing when switching to audio mode
- Inconsistent behavior when locking screen
Requested features
4 requests- Picture-in-picture mode
- Offline video downloads
- Customizable playback controls
- Apple TV app support
In-app purchases
Emerald City Comic Con
No in-app purchases
Pocket Beacon
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Emerald City Comic Con free?
Is Pocket Beacon free?
Which has better reviews, Emerald City Comic Con or Pocket Beacon?
Do Emerald City Comic Con or Pocket Beacon have ads?
Which is updated more often, Emerald City Comic Con or Pocket Beacon?
Other comparisons
