ORB Participant vs OpenApply
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ORB Participant
Track your progress for The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award. Log activities, manage your sections, and submit them to your Assessor and Award Leader for completion, all from your mobile device.
- Manage Award progress
- Set up activities
- Create progress logs
- Submit Award sections
- Assessor and Leader approval
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This application was developed by The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Foundation as a simple and fast tool to assist Award participants in completing their Award, anytime anywhere. The participant is able to manage their Award progress using the App. They can set up activities, create logs for their progress and also send their Award sections to their Assessor and Award Leader for completion. Your Award must be using the latest version of the Online Record Book system (sometimes known as "ORB Next Generation") and have a valid participant login to the system in order to be able to use this App.
OpenApply
This app allows parents to manage school applications, track progress, and receive important updates. Parents can easily submit required documents, pay fees online, and view their applicant checklist. It also provides a schedule of upcoming school events.
- Track application progress
- Submit required documentation
- Receive notifications
- Pay admissions fees online
- Review applicant checklist
- View upcoming school events
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Originally built for international schools, OpenApply helps parents quickly and easily submit the required documentation while tracking their application progress through every stage of the admissions process. This app is exclusively for parents interacting with OpenApply schools. It gives you the ability to: • Receive Notifications Don't want to miss any messages, notices or updates? Get notified as your application progresses and have all the updated information organised in your profile. • Pay Fees Easily Online You can pay admissions fees quickly and easily through the app, with a number of payment options, and see your payment history. • Review Your Applicant Checklist Check your incomplete items on the Checklist and have more clarity on the steps required to successfully apply to the school. Each student has their own checklist which includes the latest status of the submitted documentation. • See Upcoming Events Don't forget any important events! The schedule lists all events such as tours and open days, so that they are clear at a glance.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: OpenApply at 100% against ORB Participant's 31%. OpenApply also leads on rating (4.1 vs 3.1) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). ORB Participant's advantage is ratings volume (66 vs 16) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
OpenApply holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 66 and 16 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 31% of ORB Participant's written reviews are positive against 100% of OpenApply's.
ORB Participant ships an update every 4 months, OpenApply every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ORB Participant | OpenApply |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.1 (66 ratings) | 4.1 (16 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 31.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 66 — better | 16 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 43 MB | 31 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Foundation | Faria Education Limited |
Customer experience
ORB Participant
OpenApply
Bugs and requests
ORB Participant
Reported bugs
18 issues- Hours not accumulating correctly - logs multiple hours as single hour
- Progress bar not increasing when adding logs
- Network error messages appearing despite valid connection
- App crashes when entering journey observations
- App crashes when editing and resubmitting assessments
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- Login logout issues preventing re-access
- Payment details field not accepting input during registration
- Award leader change not persisting after switching schools
- Confirmation buttons not scaling properly on mobile screens
- Photo/link attachment not saving on iPhone
- Copy-paste functionality only adding partial text
- Long text input being deleted when submitting
- Cannot delete additional activities even without logs
- Approval emails not being received by assessors
- Assessments getting stuck in 'waiting for approval' state
- App not loading after login despite successful authentication
- Persistent notification bubble that won't disappear
- Inconsistent hour calculations across activities
Requested features
17 requests- Ability to edit activities and submissions after approval
- Resend assessment/approval functionality
- Message/comment system between users and leaders
- View approved evidence and journey details after submission
- Edit activity names if misspelled
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- Support for 5-minute time intervals instead of 15-minute
- Delete authorized awards option
- Change major activity selection
- Upload photos from files instead of gallery only
- Edit overview and plan sections of adventurous journey
- Clearer information about hour reset timing
- Include Duke of Ed information within the app
- Support for sub-submissions in log details
- Resend assessment button on mobile app (exists on website)
- Larger description text box with line break support
- Countdown percentage for remaining award completion
- Remove persistent notification badges
OpenApply
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
ORB Participant
No in-app purchases
OpenApply
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is ORB Participant free?
Is OpenApply free?
Which has better reviews, ORB Participant or OpenApply?
Do ORB Participant or OpenApply have ads?
Which is updated more often, ORB Participant or OpenApply?
Other comparisons
