Comparison

Session vs Calliope

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

Head to head
About

Session

Track your progress towards mastering skills by logging dedicated practice time. Manually log sessions or use the automatic timer to record your efforts. Start making measurable progress on your goals today.

Highlights
  • Create custom activities
  • Manual session logging
  • Automatic timer
  • Track progress towards goals
  • Skill mastery tracking
Features
Read full description

ty for 5+ years of Session! but it's time to start a new arc. search timespent on the app store to see what's next. —cal --- "The secret to getting ahead is getting started." ―Mark Twain They say it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill, but who's counting? Now, you can with Session. Create an activity, and log sessions manually or with the automatic timer. Whether it's for 10 hours, 100, 10,000 or more – start making progress towards your goals today.

About

Calliope

Features
Read full description

Turn speech into perfectly synced, word-precise text — entirely on your device. Calliope transcribes conversations, meetings, lectures, and voice memos in real time, then highlights every word as it's spoken, just like synced lyrics in Apple Music. No cloud, no uploads, no waiting: your audio never leaves your device. PRIVATE BY DESIGN - 100% on-device speech recognition - No internet connection required - Your recordings and transcripts never leave your iPhone WORD-PRECISE PLAYBACK - Follow along in real time with word-level highlighting - Tap any word to jump instantly to that moment in the audio - Perfect for reviewing interviews, lectures, and meetings RECORD & IMPORT - Record directly in the app with studio-quality capture - Enhance recordings with Studio Sound for cleaner, clearer audio - Import audio and voice memos from other apps and sources - Live Activities keep your recording status visible from the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island UNDERSTAND MORE, FASTER - AI-powered summaries distill long recordings into key points EXPORT ANYWHERE - Export subtitles as SRT for video editing and captioning - Export clean, formatted Markdown for notes, docs, and publishing - Share transcripts and summaries instantly WHO IT'S FOR - Students transcribing lectures - Journalists and researchers recording interviews - Podcasters and creators captioning content - Professionals capturing meeting notes - Anyone who values privacy and wants their voice recordings to stay theirs Download Calliope and start transcribing today. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Session4 screens
Calliope4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Session at none against Calliope's 2. Session also leads on iOS requirement (13.2 vs 26.0). Calliope's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 4 months). On price, ads 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. Calliope sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Session asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Session ships an update every 4 months, Calliope weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Session versus Calliope: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSessionCalliope
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (936 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews76.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings936 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.2 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGlasshouse Studio, LLCJules LE PRINCE

Bugs and requests

Session

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Timer inconsistencies when exiting the app
  • Inability to add time manually (only minutes, not hours)
  • App crashes when trying to add a session manually

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add delete and rename session functions
  • Implement activity editing (color, icon, name, description)
  • Provide activity reordering capability
  • Include activity time tracking by day/week/month/year
  • Add Pomodoro timer functionality
Show 1 more
  • Integrate music playback or nature sounds

Calliope

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Session

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Calliope

Subscriptions2
  • Calliope Pro - Monthly3 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Calliope Pro - Yearly$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Session free?
Session is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Calliope free?
Calliope is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Session or Calliope have ads?
Neither Session nor Calliope shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Session or Calliope?
Session ships an update every 4 months, and Calliope weekly. Most recently, Session was updated on October 22, 2026 and Calliope on October 23, 2026.

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