Comparison

Arter vs Varsom

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

Head to head
About

Arter

Features
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Med Arter kan du registrere lokaliteter som punkt og legge til observasjoner av karplanter, moser, sopp og lav. Du må selv eksportere data fra appen og levere til Artsdatabankens infrastruktur. For å kunne bruke appen må du ha kartleggingsoppdrag for Miljødirektoratet, eller for en etat som har fått aksept fra Miljødirektoratet til å bruke appen i sine oppdrag.

About

Varsom

Features
Read full description

About Varsom Improve planning for winter trips into the hills and mountains or on frozen lakes. Prevent damage from floods with better knowledge. Report where you have seen avalanches. Together we can save lives and reduce damages due to avalanches, floods, landslides and dangerous ice conditions. This app gathers in one place the most important features from the Varsom Platform needed in the outdoors, for field inspections and for readiness, crisis management and rescue situations. Observations from regobs.no, warnings from varsom.no, and support maps from xgeo.no and iskart.no are included. The app is also available in English, such that visitors from abroad may read and submit observations, as well as receive warnings. As a bonus, the app now works well outside Norway. Varsom and the warning services for avalanches, landslides, ice conditions and floods are services provided by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) in co-operation with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.

Screenshots

Arter2 screens
Varsom4 screens

Verdict

The call

Arter and Varsom are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Arter ships an update every 3 months, Varsom every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and June 28, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Arter versus Varsom: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArterVarsom
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size124 MB46 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMiljodirektoratet OrgNorges Vassdrags- og Energidirektorat

In-app purchases

None

Arter

No in-app purchases

None

Varsom

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Arter free?
Arter is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Varsom free?
Varsom is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Arter or Varsom have ads?
Neither Arter nor Varsom shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Arter or Varsom?
Arter ships an update every 3 months, and Varsom every 6 weeks. Most recently, Arter was updated on September 16, 2026 and Varsom on June 28, 2026.

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