Comparison

Lab Link vs Fona

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

Head to head
About

Lab Link

Features
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Notifications can be sent to any staff member at configurable points within the LIMS workflow: * When a test is requested; * When a test result is first available at the practice, received either from an internal or external laboratory; * When a test result is filed to the patient’s record; * When a request is complete; * After a set reminder period. When notified about new results, they can be viewed directly in the application. Up to 90 days’ of result data is always available for offline viewing on the device. Access to historic result data is possible via the flexible Search function. Search by client, patient, laboratory, equipment or work request ID to easily access your patients’ complete lab result data. Lab-Link utilises Apple Push Notifications to ensure you are informed the instant new result data is available. Notification types and recipients are configurable within LIMS and can be set on a per-request basis. Lab-Link requires dual factor authentication via the Spectrum Practice Management solution. Please speak to your system administrator to set up your account.

About

Fona

Features
Read full description

Fona is a shared phone directory for hospitals. Find the ward, the department or doctor you need, then call with one tap. WHO IT'S FOR Anyone who works in or with a hospital and spends too much of their shift hunting for a number - doctors, nurses, allied health staff, pharmacists, switchboard and ward clerks. SEARCH THAT KEEPS UP Start typing and the list narrows as you go. Search matches the words of a name in any order, so "theatre c" finds "C Theatre" and "cardio reg" finds "Cardiology Registrar on call". Filter to extensions, phones, bleepers or emails when you know what you're after. ONE TAP TO CALL Where a hospital allows direct dialling, Fona knows its prefix and turns extension 4576 into 0219384576 for you. Where it doesn't, Fona calls the switchboard and shows you the extension to ask for. Bleepers work the same way - Fona dials the switchboard and displays the number to page. Emails open in your mail app. Any number or address can be copied with one tap if you'd rather use it elsewhere. FAVOURITES AND RECENTS Star the numbers you reach for on every shift and they sit at the top of their own tab. Favourites are saved to your account, so they follow you to a new phone. The contacts you called most recently appear above them, on the device that made the call. EVERYONE KEEPS IT CURRENT Fona is edited by the people who use it. Anyone with a verified account can add a missing number, fix a wrong one, or remove a ward that no longer exists - no ticket, no waiting for IT. Every change records who made it and when, so mistakes can be traced and undone, and each hospital's admins can restore deleted entries and block anyone who abuses the directory. WORKS WHEN THE SIGNAL DOESN'T Once a directory has loaded, Fona keeps a copy on your phone and searches that copy. Basements, lift lobbies, the back corridor with one bar - the numbers are still there. New and changed contacts sync whenever you have a connection. ADD YOUR HOSPITAL Your hospital not listed? Create it in the app and you become its first admin: set the dialling prefix and switchboard, then start adding contacts. Eighty South African hospital directories are already loaded, with more than thirteen thousand numbers between them. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Fona is a phone directory and nothing more. It holds no patient information and has nowhere to enter any. There is no advertising and no tracking, and it never reads your location or your phone's contacts. Placing a call hands the number to your own dialler - the call is between you and your network. Free. No ads, no subscription, no in-app purchases. IMPORTANT Numbers in Fona are contributed and corrected by its users, and we don't verify them. They can be wrong or out of date, so confirm anything critical before you rely on it. Fona is not an emergency service and cannot connect you to one. Use the numbers and procedures your hospital publishes for cardiac arrests and emergency escalation, and know them independently of this app. GET STARTED Sign in with Google, Apple, or an email address, pick your hospital, and search. That's the whole setup. Privacy policy: https://krikdex-sa.com/fona-privacy.html Terms of use: https://krikdex-sa.com/fona-terms.html

Screenshots

Lab Link4 screens
Fona4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Fona at every 5 days against Lab Link's every 5 months. Lab Link's advantage is iOS requirement (10.3 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lab Link ships an update every 5 months, Fona every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
Lab Link versus Fona: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLab LinkFona
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 5 days β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.3 β€” better15.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size16 MB76 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperA.T. & AssociatesKrikdex (Pty) Ltd

In-app purchases

None

Lab Link

No in-app purchases

None

Fona

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lab Link free?
Lab Link is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Fona free?
Fona is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Lab Link or Fona have ads?
Neither Lab Link nor Fona shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lab Link or Fona?
Lab Link ships an update every 5 months, and Fona every 5 days. Most recently, Lab Link was updated on October 26, 2026 and Fona on October 10, 2026.

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