RISD vs BrownU
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RISD
This official campus app helps students, staff, faculty, and visitors navigate the Rhode Island School of Design. Access campus services like shuttle schedules, dining menus, printing resources, and maps.
- Campus shuttle information
- Dining hall menus
- Printing resource access
- Interactive campus maps
- Campus service directory
Read full descriptionHide full description
RISD Mobile is the official campus app for Rhode Island School of Design. The RISD app is designed to help students, staff, faculty and visitors navigate RISD on the go. The app provides easy access to the RISD Rides shuttle, dining menus, printing resources, maps, risdbucks and other campus services.
BrownU
Access essential campus information for the Brown University community. Stay updated on campus events, view dining menus, and find other useful resources on the go.
- Campus event listings
- Dining menu information
- On-the-go access
- Community resources
Read full descriptionHide full description
The BrownU app has on-the-go information for the Brown University community including campus events, dining menus and more.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: BrownU at 4.4 against RISD's 2.4. BrownU also leads on review sentiment (75% vs 40%). RISD's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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.
BrownU holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 21 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of RISD's written reviews are positive against 75% of BrownU's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 9, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RISD | BrownU |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.4 (24 ratings) | 4.4 (21 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 40.0% of reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 24 — better | 21 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 42 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Rhode Island School of Design | Brown University Computing & Information Services |
Customer experience
RISD
BrownU
In-app purchases
RISD
No in-app purchases
BrownU
No in-app purchases
