InitialView vs UChicago Guides
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
InitialView
This platform provides live, unscripted interviews for academic program admissions. It helps assess applicants' English ability and interpersonal skills for boarding schools, undergraduate, and graduate programs worldwide. The service offers admission officers assurance through its proprietary interview technology.
- Live, unscripted interviews
- English ability assessment
- Interpersonal skills evaluation
- Proprietary interview platform
- Global admissions support
- Admission officer assurance
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For InitialView Students and Schools' Admission Officers' Use. InitialView was founded in Beijing, China in 2009, and in a short time it has become a world leader in interview services, having provided interviews to thousands of applicants to top academic programs. We provide live, unscripted interviews which are then uploaded to our proprietary interview platform. Our proprietary platform allows viewers to, within seconds, determine the interviewee’s English ability and interpersonal skills. Our technology is currently patent-pending in both the U.S. and China. Our interviews have been a part of more than 40,000 applications reviewed by over 200 boarding school, undergraduate, and graduate programs. We have interviewed applicants in over 50 countries. We are able to provide admission officers a level of assurance about our interviews, processes and operations in China in a way that is unmatched by others in international education.
UChicago Guides
This app provides University of Chicago students, parents, and families with essential resources for events and programs. It aims to support the entire university community throughout their academic journey.
- Event and program resources
- Support for students, parents, and families
- University community connection
- Academic journey support
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The UChicago Guides app connects College students, parents, and families with resources to support events and programs throughout their time at the University of Chicago.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: UChicago Guides at weekly against InitialView's monthly. UChicago Guides also leads on monetization model (free vs ad-supported). InitialView's advantage is rating (3.2 vs 3.0) and ratings volume (11 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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.
InitialView holds the better App Store score, 3.2 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: InitialView has 11 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
InitialView ships an update monthly, UChicago Guides weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 7, 2026 and August 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | InitialView | UChicago Guides |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (11 ratings) — better | 3.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 11 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 58 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Terry Crawford | The University of Chicago |
Customer experience
InitialView
UChicago Guides
In-app purchases
InitialView
No in-app purchases
UChicago Guides
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is InitialView free?
Is UChicago Guides free?
Which has better reviews, InitialView or UChicago Guides?
Do InitialView or UChicago Guides have ads?
Which is updated more often, InitialView or UChicago Guides?
Other comparisons
