# 论坛助手 vs Special Date

The clearest difference is price: 论坛助手 at Free against Special Date's $1.99. 论坛助手 also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 7 months) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.2). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

论坛助手 is free to download; Special Date costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

论坛助手 ships an update fortnightly, Special Date every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | 论坛助手 | Special Date |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $1.99 |
| Rating | **[4.8 (148 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/id1419993239/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **148** | — |
| Positive reviews | 89.2% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Fortnightly** | Every 7 months |
| Size | 69 MB | 5 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.0** | 17.2 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [佳骏 吴](https://appshunter.io/developer/866782558) | [贺 赵](https://appshunter.io/developer/1821941017) |

## What reviewers say

### 论坛助手

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/id1419993239)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Good app for forum aggregation
- 👍 Supports older forum versions (Discuz 7.2)
- 👍 Useful features like tag filtering
- 👍 App is well-received by users ('good software', 'great app')
- 👍 Works well for specific forums like Shuimu

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes reported
- 🐛 Image loading issues (spinning circle, not loading)
- 🐛 UI looks outdated ('millennium era')
- 🐛 Some forums not displaying correctly or loading indefinitely
- 🐛 Potential privacy concerns (anti-scraping accusations)

**Reported bugs**

- Crashes when tapping tabs (User, Hot, Forum)
- Crashes on iOS 26.1 when tapping any tab
- Crashes on iOS 26.2 beta 1
- Crashes on latest version for NGA forum
- Crashes after updating to 1.7.5

**Requested features**

- Add iCloud sync for custom forums, sorting, and cookies
- Add option to disable screen tap for page turning
- Add button to jump to the next post
- Add support for more forums (e.g., Nan+, Seying Wuji, Gaoloumi)
- Add option to jump to the last page for forums like Shuimu


### Special Date

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/special-date/id6757748412)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Apple Watch app, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is 论坛助手 free?

论坛助手 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Special Date free?

Special Date costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Do 论坛助手 or Special Date have ads?

Neither 论坛助手 nor Special Date shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, 论坛助手 or Special Date?

论坛助手 ships an update fortnightly, and Special Date every 7 months. Most recently, 论坛助手 was updated on November 2, 2026 and Special Date on October 31, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*