Comparison

FishDonkey vs Check In Chief

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

FishDonkey

Easily create and manage various types of fishing tournaments, from catch and release to competitive leagues. Features include live leaderboards, anti-cheating technology, and flexible customization options for organizers and participants.

Highlights
  • Create diverse tournament types
  • Live leaderboards with updates
  • Anti-cheating technology
  • Online registration and payment
  • Customizable tournament rules
  • Participant messaging
  • Works offline
Features
Read full description

Create and run fishing tournaments on a mobile phone: Catch and release,traditional tournaments by weight or length. You can run bracket (playoff style) head to head tournaments, multi day (Day 1 + Day 2 + Day 3), points based tournaments, photo or video. This is the best and easiest platform with the most options for running your event. FishDonkey is the Future of Tournament Fishing®. Conservation is an important aspect of tournament fishing. Not only do we enable our users to run fun and exciting fishing tournaments, but we also help conserve the fishery on your local lake. The app includes: - Online payment, online registration. - Live leaderboards with exciting updates all day long. - Anti-cheating technology (TM). - Digital Livewell®. - Boat Check-ins and Livewell Checks. - Cheating/fraud prevention tools. - Date and time stamped photos and videos. - Flexible tournament creation allows you to customize your tournament. Best at Tournament Creation The FishDonkey app has built in options to help you create and run an automated tournament just the way you want. Create a variety of tournament options such as biggest fish, largest stringer of fish, grand slam, multispecies tournaments, wildcard, or custom names. You can run a tournament anywhere. Specify any length of time, an hour, a month… easily define and manage the start and end dates. Track daily or weekly winners. Highlighted Features Works without an internet connection. Prevents cheating in catch and release tournaments. Send any participant (or all) messages by email, text, or phone call from the app. Enter your sponsors, prizes, rules, logos and welcome message. Define multiple divisions for children, kayak, boat fishing, angler, co-angler, etc. Potential uses Local fishing leagues World-wide tournaments High School Tournament Trail Team practice sessions Ice fishing tournaments, boat tournaments, shore tournaments, team tournaments Multi-species tournaments Tournaments with divisions (veterans, children, etc.) Cost It is free to create a tournament. Anglers pay a small fee when they join. (All pricing policies are subject to change.)

About

Check In Chief

Features
Read full description

Running a league shouldn’t feel like a second job. Check In Chief eliminates the biggest headaches league organizers face: tracking attendance, finding spares, and building fair teams when players drop out. Note: This app is free for players to join groups but requires a paid subscription for organizers to create groups on the app. A 14 day free trial is provided so you can try out the app as an Organizer. Automatic Spare Coverage When full-time players can’t make it, Check In Chief automatically ensures there are enough spares to fill the gaps. No last-minute messages. No empty spots. No stress. Fair, Balanced Team Generation Check In Chief generates even, position-aware teams in seconds. Teams are balanced automatically, removing bias and guesswork while keeping competition fair. Built to Save Organizers Time What used to take hours now takes minutes. Check-ins, spare management, and team generation are handled automatically so organizers can focus on running great leagues. Whether you manage a small recreational league or a competitive season, Check In Chief keeps game day running smoothly. Key Features • Automatic spare management for missing full-time players • Smart, position-aware team generation • Fair and balanced lineups every game • Simple player check-in process • Massive time savings for league organizers Terms https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

FishDonkey4 screens
Check In Chief4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: FishDonkey at none against Check In Chief's 2. FishDonkey also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). On price, update cadence, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Check In Chief sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.00 per month. FishDonkey asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FishDonkey ships an update monthly, Check In Chief every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
FishDonkey versus Check In Chief: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFishDonkeyCheck In Chief
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (87 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews68.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings87 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFishery Innovations, LLCDaydream Development Inc.

Bugs and requests

FishDonkey

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Video portion crashes
  • Bump board ad close button is hidden
  • Server crashes
  • Digital live well not allowing fish entry
  • Cannot check results/leaderboards if not the payer
Show 2 more
  • App won't move past divisions during setup
  • App did not work for multiple users

Requested features

6 requests
  • Easier one-handed camera controls
  • Local/private tournament setup option
  • Camera picture delay function for solo fishing
  • Geographic specific feature for tournament search
  • Add more countries and fish species
Show 1 more
  • Improve boat education about AIS

Check In Chief

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

FishDonkey

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Check In Chief

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly1 Month trial$5.001 Month
  • Pro Yearly1 Month trial$30.001 Year

Questions

Is FishDonkey free?
FishDonkey is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Check In Chief free?
Check In Chief is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do FishDonkey or Check In Chief have ads?
Neither FishDonkey nor Check In Chief shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FishDonkey or Check In Chief?
FishDonkey ships an update monthly, and Check In Chief every 3 weeks. Most recently, FishDonkey was updated on November 2, 2026 and Check In Chief on November 5, 2026.

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