The Cliffs vs Penombra
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
The Cliffs
Enhance your club experience with a custom app featuring member and staff directories. Book tee times, order food for pickup, and receive club updates across multiple properties.
- Member photo directory
- Staff directory
- Book tee times
- Order dinner to-go
- Club updates
- Multi-property support
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Welcome to The Cliffs where the experience of our members is our primary focus. We have developed a custom app to enhance your experience on and off property. We have a full member photo directory as well as a staff directory. With a touch of a button, you can book a tee time, order dinner “to go” and get the latest updates from your club, as well as the other 6 properties. We hope you enjoy the new, digital Cliffs experience. Note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. The Cliffs app will attempt to shutdown background GPS services when they are no longer needed.
Penombra
Explore stunning photography portfolios featuring natural landscapes and architectural spaces. Each image includes a field note with a story about its creation. Preview photos in AR, cast to a TV, and create printable zines.
- Curated galleries
- Field notes with stories
- AR print previews
- Digital Frame mode
- AirPlay casting
- Visually similar photo suggestions
- Printable PDF zines
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Above ground and below, wherever light and space invite exploration. Penombra is photographer Jim Nutty's portfolio, made for iPhone and iPad — spanning natural landscapes and architectural spaces. Every photograph comes with a field note: a short story about where it was taken, what it is, and the things the camera couldn't capture. Designed to let the photography speak. Clean, dark, distraction-free. Features • Two curated galleries — The Open World and Architecture & The Underground • A field note alongside every photograph • Preview any photograph as a real print on your wall in AR — twelve sizes, placed at actual scale • Digital Frame mode — let the gallery play ambient on your iPad, with three Ken Burns motion intensities • Cast to a TV via AirPlay; control the slideshow from the Lock Screen with interactive transport buttons • "More Like This" — visually similar photographs surfaced on-device • Photographer's Tools — opt-in composition overlays and capture info • Save any field note + photograph as a printable PDF zine • Favorites, user-created Collections, and a personal Year in Review • Home-screen photo widgets in four sizes, including Lock Screen • Limited edition prints — 25 per image, no exceptions • Direct contact for print and licensing inquiries
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Penombra at 5.0 against The Cliffs's 2.8. Penombra also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). The Cliffs's advantage is ratings volume (24 vs 2) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). 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.
Penombra holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Cliffs has 24 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
The Cliffs ships an update every 3 months, Penombra every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Cliffs | Penombra |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.8 (24 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 20.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 24 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 155 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | The Cliffs Communities Inc. | Samuel James Nutty |
Customer experience
The Cliffs
Penombra
In-app purchases
The Cliffs
No in-app purchases
Penombra
No in-app purchases









