Gen Con vs Pocket Beacon
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Gen Con
Navigate and enhance your convention experience with this official guide. Discover events, manage your schedule, connect with friends, and utilize an interactive map to explore the venue. Event hosts can also use it for electronic badge scanning.
- Event browsing and searching
- Ticket purchasing
- Personal event schedule
- Friend messaging
- Interactive convention map
- Electronic badge scanning
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Make the most of your Gen Con experience with the Official Gen Con Mobile App: your handy electronic guide to The Best Four Days in Gaming. Browse and search for events, purchase tickets, view your event schedule, message with your friends, find your way with the interactive convention map, learn about what's happening at the convention, and more! Event hosts will also use this tool to scan badges for events using electronic ticketing. We're releasing new versions with added features and fixes often, so please keep your app up to date! Report issues or give us feedback through our Technical Support forum at gencon.com/forums
Pocket Beacon
Unlock exclusive content and benefits for fans of a popular web series. Enjoy ad-free viewing, early access to events, merchandise discounts, and bonus episodes. Support independent creator-owned media.
- Ad-free access to video and podcast library
- Exclusive pre-sales for live events
- Invitation to a private Discord server
- Persistent merchandise discount
- Bonus content (Cooldown, Fireside Chats)
- Same-day podcast releases
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Beacon is a special membership program that offers unparalleled and ad-free access to Critical Role and its vast video and podcast library, exclusive pre-sales for live events, invitation to a private Discord server, and a persistent discount on merchandise throughout all international online shops! By becoming a Beacon member, you’ll unlock special bonus content like Critical Role Cooldown and Fireside Chats, same-day Critical Role podcast releases alongside the VODs, and more, all while directly supporting creator-owned independent media.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Gen Con at free against Pocket Beacon's subscription. Pocket Beacon's advantage is rating (3.3 vs 3.0) and ratings volume (365 vs 41). On price, review sentiment, 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.
Pocket Beacon holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pocket Beacon has 365 ratings behind it against 41, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 30% of Gen Con's written reviews are positive against 27% of Pocket Beacon's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Gen Con | Pocket Beacon |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (41 ratings) | 3.3 (365 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 30.0% of reviews — better | 27.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 41 | 365 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.5 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 42 MB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Gen Con, LLC. | Critical Role Productions, LLC |
Customer experience
Gen Con
Pocket Beacon
Bugs and requests
Gen Con
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Pocket Beacon
Reported bugs
3 issues- Videos starting from the beginning
- Freezing when switching to audio mode
- Inconsistent behavior when locking screen
Requested features
4 requests- Picture-in-picture mode
- Offline video downloads
- Customizable playback controls
- Apple TV app support
In-app purchases
Gen Con
No in-app purchases
Pocket Beacon
No in-app purchases
