Comparison

ServicePlanner vs Ministry Helper

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

Head to head
About

ServicePlanner

This app helps Jehovah's Witnesses manage their ministry and field service activities. It features contact management, activity planning, and a timer for recording time spent. Users can sync data across devices and access a library of publications and videos.

Highlights
  • Dropbox Sync
  • Territory Helper Integration
  • Today Screen with Timer
  • Contact Management & History
  • Contact Filtering & Map View
  • Publication & Video Library
  • Monthly & Annual Activity Tracking
Read full description

ServicePlanner is a Field Ministry and Contact Management app designed for Jehovah's Witnesses. • Dropbox Sync - automatically backup your data and sync across multiple devices. • Integration with Territory Helper. • Today Screen - quick access to the Timer, Videos, Publications, Website Browser, Activity Planner and your scheduled calls for the day. • Timer - record your time spent in the ministry or on "other" work (LDC etc). Tap the timer bar on the Today screen or force touch the app icon. • Contact Management - centrally manage your Calls with a searchable Contact list. Colours are carefully used to indicate the Contact Type and render a heat map showing if your visits are overdue or on schedule. Swipe or long-press on a Contact to quickly reschedule or update a contact. • Contact Visit History & Library - quickly access your call history with a list of previous visits. Colour again is used to visually indicate the Visit Type. Define your Next Visit Date and Plans. A central Library for each contact shows all of the publications you have ever placed with them. • Contact Filtering - powerful filtering allows you to define how you Group and Sort your calls. Search for Contacts using Tags, Language, Locality, Next Visit Date and more criteria. • Map View - get an overview of your Calls, search for addresses, place custom markers for the location of your Car, Territory, Kingdom Hall, your Home and more. You can tap+hold to create a new Contact straight from a map location. • Library - centrally manage Publications and Videos. Optionally add Cover Art to make it easier to visualise items. Video locations can be downloaded for offline use, or streamed to free up storage space. Add items to your Today screen. Note that the Library is empty by default, users will need to populate it themselves. • Websites - use the inbuilt browser to show web content. Bookmark your favourite websites. Supports Reader View with Themes. Reader View supports Chinese Pinyin, Zhuyin, Yale, Sidney Lau above Chinese characters when reading content from the official websites. • Monthly Activity - plan your daily activity with Planned Hours vs Actual Hours. Projected Hours indicate if you are on track with your time. • Service Year - see at a glance your hours per month and a summary of your activity for the Service Year. Projected Hours indicate if you are on target to reach your annual goal. OR ... * "Shared in Ministry" Mode - You can optionally switch both the Month and Annual calendars to just show a green tick when you shared in the ministry, instead of focussing on hours. • Scheduling - define your Annual, Monthly and Daily Hour Goals. These will then be used to track your progress for the Month and Year. Apply your Daily Schedule to your Month and view the Projected Hours - so easy to see if you will get your time in or if you need to alter your schedule. • Witnessing Partners - arrange your partners each day. Contact your witnessing partner by SMS, Phone, or messaging apps. Mark the arrangement as confirmed or not. Icons on the calendar indicate days with arranged partners. Optional integration with iOS calendars. • Reporting - support for multiple Hour Credits and Carry-Over Minutes. Your Monthly Report can be submitted using Email, TXT, Telegram, WhatsApp, LINE, Hourglass or NW Publisher. • "Other Hours" - log your non-ministry hours such as LDC or Branch Consultation work. Up to 5 "Other Hour" categories can be scheduled and planned alongside your Ministry Hours. Configure the category name (eg "LDC") and Reporting options in Settings. --- And this is just the beginning! Please check the website for details and support: www.serviceplanner.app Requirements: iOS 14+ Some mapping features require a connected device. All support and documentation is provided in English. Some cannot locate the app because they search for "Service Planner". The app is called "ServicePlanner".

About

Ministry Helper

Organize your preaching work with this app. Track hours for various activities, set monthly goals, and schedule your service days. Receive reminders to submit reports and calculate annual hours for pioneers.

Highlights
  • Territory Helper compatibility
  • Track 'other theocratic activities'
  • Set monthly hours goal
  • Schedule service weeks and days
  • Enter notes and appointments
  • Monthly report submission reminder
  • Annual hours calculation for pioneers
Features
Read full description

Ministry Helper helps you organize your field service and keep track of your preaching activity. RECORD AND REVIEW YOUR ACTIVITY - Record the time you spend in field service, including with the timer. - Log hours spent on other theocratic activities, such as LDC work and Bethel service. - Set a monthly goal and track your progress. - View monthly summaries and your total hours for the service year, useful for regular pioneers. - Share your field service report and receive a reminder on the first day of the month. MANAGE YOUR TERRITORIES Keep your territory information and access territories assigned through Territory Helper. EXPAND YOUR OPTIONS WITH MINISTRY HELPER PREMIUM With a Premium subscription, you can: - Plan field service, appointments and reminders in the calendar. - Organize return visits and Bible studies with individual records. - View statistics and charts of your activity. - Enable synchronization of supported data across your devices. Your activity data is saved on your device and you can view it without an internet connection. Synchronization is optional: with Premium, you choose whether to enable it in settings. Try it now! Privacy policy: https://ministryhelper.app/en/privacy Terms of use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

ServicePlanner4 screens
Ministry Helper4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Ministry Helper at Free against ServicePlanner's $2.99. Ministry Helper also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). ServicePlanner's advantage is review sentiment (91% vs 50%) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). On rating, ratings volume, ads and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Ministry Helper is free to download; ServicePlanner costs $2.99 up front. Ministry Helper sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. ServicePlanner asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for ServicePlanner against 4.8 for Ministry Helper. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 188 and 120 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 91% of ServicePlanner's written reviews are positive against 50% of Ministry Helper's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ServicePlanner ships an update every 2 months, Ministry Helper fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
ServicePlanner versus Ministry Helper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterServicePlannerMinistry Helper
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (188 ratings)4.8 (120 ratings) — better
Positive reviews91.4% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings188 — better120
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
Best chart rank#105 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB71 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperiMatt SolutionsJonathan Serravalle

Customer experience

ServicePlanner

All ratings186 ratings
Positive92.5%
Neutral2.7%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews162 reviews
Positive91.4%
Neutral3.7%
Negative4.9%

Ministry Helper

All ratings120 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral5.0%
Negative0.8%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

ServicePlanner

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashing or not opening
  • Syncing issues between devices
  • Incorrect translation or localization

Requested features

8 requests
  • Ability to record 'Not at Home' visits
  • Integration with Apple Watch
  • Support for multiple types of hours (ministry, LDC, etc.)
  • Customizable color coding for different visit types
  • Ability to add photos to records
Show 3 more
  • Compatibility with macOS
  • Automatic territory management features
  • Integration with NW Publisher for reporting

Ministry Helper

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

ServicePlanner

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Ministry Helper

Subscriptions2
  • Ministry Helper Premium1 Month trial$0.991 Month
  • Ministry Helper Premium1 Month trial$8.991 Year

Questions

Is ServicePlanner free?
ServicePlanner costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ministry Helper free?
Ministry Helper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ServicePlanner or Ministry Helper?
Ministry Helper is rated higher. ServicePlanner averages 4.7 out of 5 from 188 ratings, while Ministry Helper averages 4.8 from 120 ratings.
Do ServicePlanner or Ministry Helper have ads?
Neither ServicePlanner nor Ministry Helper shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ServicePlanner or Ministry Helper?
ServicePlanner ships an update every 2 months, and Ministry Helper fortnightly. Most recently, ServicePlanner was updated on October 26, 2026 and Ministry Helper on October 24, 2026.

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