Comparison

U vs Trace

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

Head to head
About

U

Control and manage your smart home devices from a single application. Easily share access with household members and monitor various UMAX U-Smart devices like cameras, sensors, and lighting.

Highlights
  • Remote device control
  • Household member sharing
  • Energy measurement sockets
  • Security camera monitoring
  • Sensor integration (motion, smoke, gas)
  • Smart lighting control
Features
Read full description

The U-Smart application manages and controls your smart home built with UMAX U-Smart devices. You can easily control and share your smart home devices with other members of your household. Among the UMAX U-Smart devices you can find smart sockets with energy measurement, LED RGB Bulbs, night lamps, security IP cameras, door sensors, motion sensors, smoke and gas sensors, and others. What are you waiting for? Your smart home is here!

About

Trace

Features
Read full description

Trace is a visual diary where your daily words slowly become your portrait. Start with a photo. Write a little each day. Reveal one more piece of the image. Over time, your entries gather into a finished portrait that you can explore, revisit, and save. Trace is made for quiet, personal journaling. It is not a social feed, and it is not built around pressure. A sentence is enough. What you can do in Trace: • Create a portrait from a photo • Write short daily entries • Reveal your portrait piece by piece • Zoom in and revisit past days • Keep multiple portraits over time • Export and import local backups • Save a completed portrait to Photos Why people use Trace: • Writing feels lighter when it is visual • Progress is something you can actually see • Your archive becomes emotional, not just chronological • Everything stays private by default Trace is local-first. No account is required. No ads. No subscription. Just your words, your portrait, and your archive.

Screenshots

U4 screens
Trace4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Trace at every 8 days against U's every 2 months. U's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

U ships an update every 2 months, Trace every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on September 14, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
U versus Trace: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUTrace
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (10 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings10 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 8 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size200 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperUmax Czech a.s.Semicolon Dev Co.,Ltd.

In-app purchases

None

U

No in-app purchases

None

Trace

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is U free?
U is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Trace free?
Trace is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do U or Trace have ads?
Neither U nor Trace shows ads.
Which is updated more often, U or Trace?
U ships an update every 2 months, and Trace every 8 days. Most recently, U was updated on September 14, 2026 and Trace on September 20, 2026.

Other comparisons