Comparison

Lifetap Life Counter for MTG vs Decksmith

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

Head to head
About

Lifetap Life Counter for MTG

Track life totals and game states for multiplayer card games. Supports up to six players, various game modes like Commander and Archenemy, and includes features like commander damage tracking and a dice roller.

Highlights
  • Supports 2-6 players
  • Commander damage tracking
  • Planechase and Archenemy support
  • Player profile customization
  • Dice roller and coin flip
  • Turn timer and mana counters
  • Game history and crash protection
Features
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Lifetap is a clean, simple, and free life tracker for your games of Magic: The Gathering. It loads lightning fast, allows for massive 6 player games of EDH / Commander or Three-Headed Giant, and even supports Planechase, Archenemy & Bounty. Main features: - Supports 2 to 6 players, AND includes a One-player mode that still tracks incoming commander damage and counters (Infect, Experience, etc) - Player customization: set your player background to the art of one of Magic: The Gathering's more than 30,000 cards! Or two: partners (and backgrounds) are supported! - Player profiles: each profile with a customized name is automatically saved along with their card art and/or color customization, letting you load your profile in a couple taps - Planechase support: spice things up with a full suite of Planechase cards within the app - Archenemy support: also allows for gameplay with the full set of Archenemy Schemes - Bounty mini-game: play with the 12 bounty cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, with escalating reward levels - Tracks commander damage (partner commander damage included) in a unique, intuitive way! - Also tracks Infect, Treasure tokens, Experience counters, Commander tax, Monarchy, Initiative, Energy, Day/Night, and City's Blessing - Quickly reset games to starting life of 20, 25, 30, or 40. Optionally, let the app randomize seating for you to keep things interesting - An optional turn timer to track how long players are taking. Includes stopwatch, countdown timer (MTGO-style), chess clock mode that tracks priority, and turn time alerts - A dice roller that can randomly pick a player, an opponent, and roll one of many dices - or flip a coin - Mana and storm counters to help players going off keep track of floating mana and storm count - Available in English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Polish, Russian, and Greek - Support for tablets - Game history: track every game with a detailed turn-by-turn log - Past games: all your games saved and searchable, with player profiles, win rates by deck, and insights into who really has the edge - Crash protection: unlike most life counters, game state is saved to memory, so crashes or phones rebooting won't affect the game! More features are in the works, and if you have any specific feature requests, please email me!

About

Decksmith

Effortlessly manage your Magic: The Gathering collection with real-time card scanning and price tracking. Build and validate decks for various formats, analyze their composition, and connect with a community of players. Enjoy offline access and robust privacy controls.

Highlights
  • Real-time card scanning
  • Automatic price tracking
  • Format-aware deck building
  • Collection inventory management
  • Offline access
  • Community features
  • Privacy controls
Features
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Scan a whole binder page in one photo. Decksmith finds every card on it — nine or twelve pockets, or up to about 20 loose cards on the table — and adds them to your collection with artwork and live prices. Then build decks that check their own legality, track every game with your playgroup, and see which of your friends already owns the card you need. — A WHOLE BINDER PAGE, ONE PHOTO — • 9- and 12-pocket binder pages, or loose cards laid out any way round • Pick as many photos as you like in one go • Review everything Decksmith found on one screen before anything is imported • Missed a card? Find it by typing its name • Just opened a pack? Scan single cards live from the camera — THE DECKSMITH COMMUNITY — Magic is played together, so Decksmith is built for your playgroup. • Game tracker: life, poison and commander damage for the whole pod, a random first player, and a top row that turns to face the far side of the table • Every game is filed against the deck you played, with win rates per deck and per commander • Wishlist: track the cards you still want, priced separately from your collection • Search your friends' collections for your wishlist and see who owns which card • Follow players, browse their collections and shared decks, and search all your favorites at once • Share any deck with one tap and collect likes and comments • Friend requests, an activity feed and notifications keep you in the loop — KNOW WHAT IT'S WORTH — Live market prices in USD or EUR, kept next to what you paid — card by card and across your whole collection. — A DECK BUILDER THAT KNOWS THE RULES — Standard, Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Pauper and Casual. Decksmith enforces deck size and copy limits, gives your commander its own slot, validates companions and tells you the moment a deck is legal. Mana curve, card types and average mana value come automatically. — FIND ANY CARD, INSTANTLY — Search the full Magic card database or your own collection. Filter by color, rarity, type, set, mana cost, finish and double-faced cards. Sort by name, price or date added. — SMART LISTS — Save any combination of filters as a list that fills itself — trade binder, EDH staples, every foil under $5 — or curate one by hand. — YOUR CARDS, FULL SCREEN — High-resolution art, glowing borders on foils, pinch to zoom, swipe from card to card and flip double-faced cards with a tap. — IPHONE, IPAD AND THE WEB — Sign in at app.decksmith.community with your free account, and your collection, decks and lists are on any computer, always in sync with your iPhone. — PRIVACY YOU CONTROL — Scanning, your collection, prices, deck building, lists and the gallery all work without an account, and your collection lives on your device. A free account is only needed for sync, the Community and the game tracker. Then you decide what is visible: your profile, whether you can be found, and each deck public or private. Block or report anyone. Export or delete your data at any time. — NO LOCK-IN — Import CSV exports from the popular collection and deck-building sites, restore a full Decksmith backup, and export everything to a single file whenever you like. No ads. No tracking. No subscription. The Community is free to use until December 31, 2026. Card data and images provided by Scryfall. Decksmith is an unofficial fan app and is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Wizards of the Coast. Magic: The Gathering is © Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Screenshots

Lifetap Life Counter for MTG4 screens
Decksmith4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Lifetap Life Counter for MTG at 2.2K against Decksmith's 1. Lifetap Life Counter for MTG also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). On price, rating, review sentiment 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

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

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Lifetap Life Counter for MTG against 5.0 for Decksmith. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lifetap Life Counter for MTG has 2.2K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 98% of Lifetap Life Counter for MTG's written reviews are positive against 100% of Decksmith's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lifetap Life Counter for MTG ships an update weekly, Decksmith every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Lifetap Life Counter for MTG versus Decksmith: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLifetap Life Counter for MTGDecksmith
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (2.2K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews98.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2.2K — better1
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size63 MB27 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperMichael BourkasWaldemar Schneider

Customer experience

Lifetap Life Counter for MTG

All ratings2,149 ratings
Positive99.0%
Neutral0.4%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews327 reviews
Positive98.2%
Neutral0.6%
Negative1.2%

Decksmith

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Lifetap Life Counter for MTG

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashes when changing number of players
  • Life totals sometimes decrease unexpectedly

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to edit Planechase and Archenemy decks
  • Implement a history/log feature
  • Allow custom player profile images
  • Add support for partner commander damage tracking

Decksmith

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Lifetap Life Counter for MTG

No in-app purchases

None

Decksmith

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lifetap Life Counter for MTG free?
Lifetap Life Counter for MTG is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Decksmith free?
Decksmith is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Lifetap Life Counter for MTG or Decksmith?
Decksmith is rated higher. Lifetap Life Counter for MTG averages 4.9 out of 5 from 2.2K ratings, while Decksmith averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Lifetap Life Counter for MTG or Decksmith have ads?
Neither Lifetap Life Counter for MTG nor Decksmith shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lifetap Life Counter for MTG or Decksmith?
Lifetap Life Counter for MTG ships an update weekly, and Decksmith every 5 weeks. Most recently, Lifetap Life Counter for MTG was updated on October 27, 2026 and Decksmith on October 28, 2026.

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