United Through Reading vs Patch Vault
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
United Through Reading
Connect military families through shared reading experiences, regardless of distance. Record yourself reading storybooks aloud to children, even during deployments or long workdays. Access a library of ebooks and save or upload your video recordings securely.
- Video recording of storybooks
- Festive frames and user tools
- Ebook library access
- Offline recording and Wi-Fi upload
- On-demand video viewing
- Free book request after recording
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The United Through Reading App keeps military families reading together, no matter the distance. Stay connected at storytime by video recording yourself reading a storybook aloud to the special kids in your life even when military duty, deployment, training, drill weekends, or long work days keep you away. The UTR App is free, secure, and available to active duty service members, veterans, and their families who register through Troop ID from ID.me. Since 1989, United Through Reading has provided service members with the opportunity to share the gift of reading together even when separated by military duty at more than 200 recording locations around the world. With the United Through Reading App, you can: ● Includes built in viewer, festive frames, and enhanced user tools. ● NOW WITH EBOOKS! Choose from our library of ebooks and record video storytime right now! ● Record, save, and upload your video recordings by registering with Troop ID from ID.me. ● Record your video offline and upload when on wifi. The NEW United Through Reading APP allows YOUR FAMILY: - To watch the video on demand online or download for offline viewing. - To request a FREE copy of the book read by the service member after recording via the email notification or on our website (https://bit.ly/UTRbooks) thanks to Dollar General Literacy Foundation.
Patch Vault
Organize and catalog your patch and challenge coin collections with detailed records, photos, and tracking. Easily search, filter, and view item origins on a map. Gain insights into your collection's trends and history.
- Catalog patches and challenge coins
- Add multiple photos
- Track detailed item information
- Search and filter collection
- View origins on interactive map
- Review collection stats and trends
- Sync privately with iCloud
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Keep your patches, challenge coins, and badges organized, photographed, and easy to find. Patch Vault brings your collection's details together on iPhone and iPad. Record the department, station, location, acquisition date, purchase price, tags, notes, and photos for every item, whether it came from a trade, station visit, event, or gift. - Catalog patches, challenge coins, and badges in one collection. - Search names, departments, locations, tags, and notes. - Combine tag, type, format, and favorite filters to find the items you want. - Explore where your items came from on an interactive map. - Sort by title, department, date, price, or recently added. - Earn achievements for collection size, geography, photos, and more. Track progress and share milestones. - Share individual items, collection summaries, and achievements as image cards. - Add photos from other apps using the share sheet. - Keep collection totals and achievement progress close with Home Screen widgets. - Use Siri and Shortcuts for collection stats or a random patch, and find items in Spotlight. - Sync your collection across your devices with iCloud. - Export backups with photos, restore your collection, or export a CSV spreadsheet. - Personalize your app icon and tint. Made for collectors of fire, police, EMS, dispatch, search and rescue, military, government, and other patches, coins, and badges. Start free with up to 25 items and one photo per item. Vault Unlock is an optional, one-time in-app purchase that adds unlimited items, unlimited photos per item, and collection charts.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Patch Vault at 100% against United Through Reading's 29%. Patch Vault also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.8) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months). United Through Reading's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ads (none vs shown). On price 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
Both are free to download. Patch Vault sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. United Through Reading asks for nothing beyond the download.
Patch Vault holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: United Through Reading has 20 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 29% of United Through Reading's written reviews are positive against 100% of Patch Vault's.
United Through Reading ships an update every 5 months, Patch Vault fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | United Through Reading | Patch Vault |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (20 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 28.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 20 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 59 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | United Through Reading | Robotic Snail Software LLC |
Customer experience
United Through Reading
Patch Vault
In-app purchases
United Through Reading
No in-app purchases
Patch Vault
- Small Tip$0.99
- Medium Tip$4.99
- Large Tip$9.99
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- Premium$14.99
Questions
Is United Through Reading free?
Is Patch Vault free?
Which has better reviews, United Through Reading or Patch Vault?
Do United Through Reading or Patch Vault have ads?
Which is updated more often, United Through Reading or Patch Vault?
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