Mister Softee NorCal vs Chimes!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mister Softee NorCal
Locate Mister Softee trucks in the Bay Area with a live map. Save your favorite spots and receive alerts when a truck is nearby. Share information about gatherings to potentially attract a truck.
- Live truck map
- Save favorite locations
- Proximity alerts
- Crowd tip reporting
- Private event labeling
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Find your Mister Softee truck in the Bay Area. See where our trucks are on a live map, save the places that matter to you, and get a heads-up when a truck is close by. LIVE MAP Trucks appear on the map while they're out, updated continuously through the afternoon and evening. Every pin shows how recently it was seen, so you always know what you're looking at. YOUR PLACES Save home, work, a park, or anywhere else you'd want to catch us. Type an address - no need to be standing there. A HEADS-UP WHEN WE'RE CLOSE Turn on alerts and we'll let you know when a truck is getting near one of your saved places. Quiet hours are built in, and we deliberately keep alerts rare: no spam, no repeats, no buzzing all afternoon. CROWD TIPS Big group at the park? Let us know about a gathering happening right now. If we're close, we will try to make it there. WHEN A TRUCK IS AT A PRIVATE EVENT Trucks booked for private events still show on the map, clearly labeled, so you know they're not available to flag down. Mister Softee NorCal serves the San Francisco Bay Area.
Chimes!
Discover nearby ice cream vans and get alerts when your favorite vendors are close. Set up geofences to be notified when an active vendor enters your chosen area, then view their location on a map to decide if you want to visit.
- Find nearby ice cream vans
- Receive vendor alerts
- Set custom geofences
- View vendor locations on map
- Vendor profile management
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Chimes helps customers find nearby ice cream vans and receive alerts when a favourite vendor enters their chosen area. Set a postcode and radius to create a geofence circle, then Chimes notifies you when an active vendor comes close. You can open the map to see the vendor location and quickly decide whether to head out and buy. Vendors can manage their display name, contact details, icon, and privacy settings so customers only see and hear about them when they are actively trading. Chimes is designed to make local van discovery simple, timely, and easy to use for both customers and vendors.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Mister Softee NorCal at 3.8 against Chimes!'s 1.5. Mister Softee NorCal also leads on ratings volume (126 vs 4). Chimes!'s advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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.
Mister Softee NorCal holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 1.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mister Softee NorCal has 126 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 14% of Mister Softee NorCal's written reviews are positive against 20% of Chimes!'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Mister Softee NorCal ships an update every 2 months, Chimes! fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mister Softee NorCal | Chimes! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (126 ratings) — better | 1.5 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 14.0% of reviews | 20.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 126 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 50 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mister Softee NorCal, Inc. | RICHARD JAMES STIMSON |
Customer experience
Mister Softee NorCal
Chimes!
Bugs and requests
Mister Softee NorCal
Reported bugs
21 issues- Truck location inaccurate
- Music cannot be silenced
- Location tracking runs when app closed
- App asks for motion cues
- App doesn't show exact location
Show 16 moreShow fewer
- App shows pins with no address
- App constantly asks for location access
- App doesn't update
- Notifications for trucks far away
- App shows trucks across the country
- App stopped showing truck locations
- App tries to demand background refresh permission
- App says background refresh is off when it's on
- Map is non-functional, no zoom
- App doesn't detect truck even when close
- App shows truck in same spot for hours
- App shows wrong states
- Music plays even on do not disturb
- App doesn't work at all
- App doesn't list hours
- App doesn't list exact address
Requested features
10 requests- Update truck locations regularly
- Set a radius for notifications
- Show approximate time of arrival
- Option to view future scheduled locations
- Show accepted payment methods
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Indicate current wait times
- Request truck to come to location
- Develop tracker for NY area
- Allow users to request truck to come home
- Notify when truck within 5 miles
Chimes!
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mister Softee NorCal
No in-app purchases
Chimes!
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Mister Softee NorCal free?
Is Chimes! free?
Which has better reviews, Mister Softee NorCal or Chimes!?
Do Mister Softee NorCal or Chimes! have ads?
Which is updated more often, Mister Softee NorCal or Chimes!?
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