Comparison

Pocket Field Notes vs How Long

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

Head to head
About

Pocket Field Notes

Capture and organize field notes with automatic geo-tagging and time stamps. Add photos to your notes and easily share them via email or by viewing their location on a map. Create project folders for efficient management of your field data.

Highlights
  • Automatic geo-tagging
  • Time and date stamping
  • Add photos to notes
  • Create project folders
  • Email notes with attachments
  • View location on map
  • Includes compass
Features
Read full description

Pocket Field Notes allows you to quickly take notes while in the field. Notes are automatically geo-tagged (location services required) and stamped with time and date. You can add pictures to notes with your device's camera (device camera required). Notes can be emailed (email client on device required) with the pictures as attachments. You can easily share with others or send to yourself, so you can cut-and-paste info into another application. You can create project folders and then add notes to it for easy management. View the geo-tagged location on a map, in a web browser (device web browser required). This app is ideal for geologists, wildlife biologists, surveyors, rangers, architects, agriculturalists, engineers, hunters, contractors, maintenance personnel, real estate agents, urban planners, landscapers, naturalists and many others out in the field. + Quick And Easy To Use + Create Project Folders + Add Notes To Project Folders + GEO-Tags Each Note (location services required) + Take Pictures And Add To Notes (device camera required) + Notes Are Time And Date Stamped + Email A Note (email client on device required) + View Location On Map In A Browser (device web browser required) + Great For Anyone Needing To Take Notes In The Field + Compass (heading services required)

About

How Long

Automatically track time spent at important locations like the gym or office using geofencing and Wi-Fi. Set weekly goals, view detailed statistics, and receive smart suggestions for new places. Enjoy battery-friendly background tracking.

Highlights
  • Automatic location time tracking
  • Geofencing and Wi-Fi detection
  • Weekly goal setting and progress tracking
  • Detailed visit statistics
  • Smart place suggestions
  • Battery-friendly background operation
  • Home screen widgets
Features
Read full description

How Long answers one question: how much time do you actually spend at the places that matter? Save your gym, office, coffee shop, or a friend's house, and How Long quietly notices when you arrive and leave. No check-ins, no timers. FOR FAMILIES, WITHOUT THE TRACKING Know when your kid gets to school, when Grandma is home again, when your partner has left the office. Share just the places that matter with the people who matter, and they'll see arrivals and departures there and nothing else. No live map, no history of everywhere someone went. One Pro purchase covers your whole family through Family Sharing. BUILT TO BE TRUSTED • Detects arrivals and departures with geofencing, Wi-Fi, and Apple's visit monitoring, then double-checks before recording anything • Always watches the places closest to you and keeps that up to date as you move • Battery friendly: no constant GPS polling SEE WHERE YOUR TIME GOES • Total hours, visit counts, average session, and streaks for every place • Charts by day, week, month, or year, switchable between places and categories • A heatmap of which hours and days you tend to be there • Year in Review and Trip Recap cards you can share GOALS AND REMINDERS • Weekly goals: specific days or a number of visits per week, with streaks • Reminders when you've been somewhere longer than you meant to • Nudges when it's been too long since your last visit ORGANIZE • Categories for anything: Home Town, Paris 2024, Clients • Notes, ratings, and photos on every place • Smart suggestions for places you visit often but haven't saved • Share places or whole categories with a link FRIENDS (optional) • Share a place with a friend and see when they arrive and leave • A widget showing where a friend is right now • Everything goes through your own iCloud account; we never see it WIDGETS • Streak and weekly progress widgets for any place • Friend status widget HOW LONG PRO (one-time purchase, Family Sharing included) • Unlimited places (3 are free) • Travel Mode: automatically saves restaurants, trails, and sights you spend time at on a trip, with a photo you took there • Hiking detection for places you wander through without stopping • Place photos, and browse your photo library by place • Smart cadence reminders • iCloud backup and CSV export • Automations: send arrivals and departures to Zapier, IFTTT, or Home Assistant PRIVACY Your places and visits are stored on your device. Backup and friend sharing are optional and use your own iCloud account. We do not collect personal information, run analytics, or sell data. How Long needs "Always" location access to detect visits while it is in the background.

Screenshots

Pocket Field Notes4 screens
How Long4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: How Long at Free against Pocket Field Notes's $1.99. How Long also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.0) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months). Pocket Field Notes's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and chart position (#195 vs unranked). On ratings volume and ads 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

How Long is free to download; Pocket Field Notes costs $1.99 up front. How Long sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Pocket Field Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

How Long holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pocket Field Notes ships an update every 3 months, How Long fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Pocket Field Notes versus How Long: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket Field NotesHow Long
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating3.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#195 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS8.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB9 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperMike HempflingGDW Entertainment, LLC

Customer experience

Pocket Field Notes

All ratings4 ratings
Positive25.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative50.0%

How Long

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Pocket Field Notes

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

How Long

One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
Show 1 more
  • How Long Pro$5.99

Questions

Is Pocket Field Notes free?
Pocket Field Notes costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is How Long free?
How Long is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pocket Field Notes or How Long?
How Long is rated higher. Pocket Field Notes averages 3.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while How Long averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Pocket Field Notes or How Long have ads?
Neither Pocket Field Notes nor How Long shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pocket Field Notes or How Long?
Pocket Field Notes ships an update every 3 months, and How Long fortnightly. Most recently, Pocket Field Notes was updated on September 24, 2026 and How Long on September 20, 2026.

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