Comparison

SGOC Abu Dhabi vs Sandes

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

Head to head
About

SGOC Abu Dhabi

Features
Read full description

Abu Dhabi St. George Orthodox Cathedral is one of the parishes under the Brhamavar Diocese of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of the East (Indian Orthodox Church) founded by St.Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ , in AD 52 whose supreme head is the Catholicose of the East. Our Cathedral members always cherish the memories of the benevolent Leader late H.H Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan the then Ruler of Abu Dhabi, who graciously bestowed a piece of land in Khalidiya to construct the first church in Abu Dhabi. He touched the hearts of all our parishioners by laying the foundation stone of the Church in Khaldiya on August 7th 1970. The construction of the first Church was completed within one year and on 1st December 1971 the Church building was sanctified and Holy Qurbana was celebrated by by H.G. Dr. Philipose Mar Theophilos Metropolitan. This eve coincided with the formation of United Arab Emirates as an independent country on December 02, 1971 and H.H Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan became the first President of U A E. The joy of our parishioners multiplied as the leader who laid foundation stone of the Church became the Leader and Father of United Arab Emirates. The philanthropic gesture shown by the late Ruler has imprinted his image in the hearts of each and every parishioner. The gratitude cannot be limited to the Abu Dhabi parish only, since the entire community of 2 million Indian Orthodox Christian pays their tribute to the Ruling family for their whole hearted support throughout these years. St George Orthodox Cathedral plays proactive role along with Emirate of Abu Dhabi in building the Nation through making parishioners as law abiding human beings in this part of the world. The constant church activities are intended to develop them into worthy, sincere, loyal and dedicated society playing a positive role in the development of the nation. Church assists parishioners in leading a purpose driven life and makes them more fruitful. The Church remains open from the morning till midnight. Periodical (Yama) prayers are conducted everyday. Those who visit the Church throughout the day, irrespective of caste, religion and nationality, open their hearts and find peace, comfort and solace through meditation and silent prayers.

About

Sandes

An indigenous instant messaging platform designed for government organizations, offering end-to-end encrypted communication. It supports encrypted backups and OTP services, with privacy governed by Indian government regulations. Integration with other government systems is available at no cost.

Highlights
  • End-to-end encrypted messaging
  • Encrypted backup
  • Encrypted OTP service
  • Government infrastructure hosting
  • Integration with government systems
  • Free to use
Features
Read full description

Sandes is an open source based indigenous instant messaging platform developed by NIC, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India to facilitate instant messaging communication in Government organisations. It is hosted exclusively at Government infrastructure. It supports end to end encrypted messaging and encrypted backup and encrypted OTP service. Its privacy and data policy is governed by rules and regulations of the Government of India. Sandes can be integrated with other Government communications systems for sending encrypted messages without any cost. Currently Sandes is integrated with NIC email, DigiLocker and e-office. At present, full features of Sandes app are available only to the Government verified users. Employees of Government organisation need to contact the Nodal officer of their Ministry/ Department for verification. For information about Nodal officers write to us at support-sandes[at]nic[dot]in

Screenshots

SGOC Abu Dhabi4 screens
Sandes4 screens

Verdict

The call

SGOC Abu Dhabi and Sandes 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

SGOC Abu Dhabi ships an update every 3 weeks, Sandes every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
SGOC Abu Dhabi versus Sandes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSGOC Abu DhabiSandes
PriceFreeFree
Rating—2.6 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—55.6% of reviews
Number of ratings—5 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size51 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOges InfotechNIC

In-app purchases

None

SGOC Abu Dhabi

No in-app purchases

None

Sandes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SGOC Abu Dhabi free?
SGOC Abu Dhabi is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sandes free?
Sandes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do SGOC Abu Dhabi or Sandes have ads?
Neither SGOC Abu Dhabi nor Sandes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SGOC Abu Dhabi or Sandes?
SGOC Abu Dhabi ships an update every 3 weeks, and Sandes every 5 weeks. Most recently, SGOC Abu Dhabi was updated on November 2, 2026 and Sandes on November 7, 2026.

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