Comparison

ARC View vs Bruce's Retirement Planner

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

Head to head
About

ARC View

Monitor your investment portfolio and communicate directly with your financial advisor. Stay informed about your financial status and manage your accounts efficiently.

Highlights
  • Portfolio monitoring
  • Advisor contact
  • Account management
  • Financial status updates
Features
Read full description

ARC View allows you to easily monitor your portfolio and contact your advisor.

About

Bruce's Retirement Planner

Project your entire financial life to estimate retirement readiness and spending capacity. Built by an actuary, it models bank and insurer methodologies for markets and lifespans. Your data remains private on your device.

Highlights
  • Comprehensive financial planning (income, expenses, accounts, debt)
  • Couples planning with survivor benefits
  • Healthcare cost projection (employer, ACA, Medicare)
  • Social Security claiming and taxation simulation
  • Life event impact analysis
  • Thousands of market and lifespan futures simulation
  • Dynamic spending guardrails
Features
Read full description

Project all your finances to estimate when you can retire and how much you can spend. Free while we earn our first reviews. Data stays private on your phone. Built by an actuary, on the models banks use for markets and insurers use for lifespans. PLAN YOUR WHOLE FINANCIAL LIFE • Income, expenses, your home and mortgage, 401(k), 457(b), Roth, and HSA accounts, pensions, stocks, other real estate and debt, cash • Couples in full: two lifespans, survivor benefits, spousal rollovers, and the tax change when filing status switches • Healthcare in three phases: employer coverage, the pre-Medicare gap with ACA subsidies, then Medicare including IRMAA surcharges • Social Security with claim age math from 62 to 70, cost of living increases, survivor rules, and the taxation of benefits • Life events: windfalls, college, a new child, buying or selling a home, paying off the mortgage early, de-risking your portfolio, moving states in retirement • Pension handling: defined benefit pensions with cost of living increases, survivor elections, and each state's pension tax rules, plus annuity quotes priced against mortality tables SIMULATE THOUSANDS OF FUTURES • A multi asset market model (US and international stocks, bonds, REITs, cash), not a single straight line return • How long you live varies too: each future draws a lifespan from Social Security life tables, or from your answers to 10 quick questions about health and lifestyle, so your odds cover a long retirement as well as a short one • The 2026 US tax code: federal plus all 50 states and DC, capital gains, NIIT, RMDs, payroll taxes, the new senior deduction • Roth conversion strategies, 401(k) and 457(b) contributions with employer match, and SEPP 72(t) withdrawals • Dynamic spending guardrails: cut spending in downturns, and see how often cuts happen and what they add up to UNDERSTAND WHAT MATTERS • One clear answer: the chance your plan survives • Every year, line by line: open any year to see income, spending, taxes, required withdrawals, Roth conversions, and the balance in every account, in today's dollars or that year's • Sensitivity analysis ranks what you can't control (returns, inflation, how long you live, work ending early, a long-term care stay) by how far your outcome swings with each • Improve Your Plan finds what you could change to improve your odds (spending, claim age, withdrawal order, de-risking) and applies your pick to a copy of the plan • Compare scenarios side by side, lock one in as your plan, and track your net worth against it in the Journal PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your financial data stays on your device, with automatic backup to your own private iCloud. There is no account to create, no sign up, and no ads, and nothing that identifies you or your finances ever leaves your phone. To make the app better we count which features get used, anonymously and never your numbers, and you can switch that off in Settings. An optional Face ID lock keeps your plans private even if someone borrows your phone. FREE FOR EARLY ADOPTERS The full app is free while we earn our first reviews, and advanced features may move to a subscription later. If you find a bug or want a feature, write to us from Support in Settings, and the person who wrote the code will answer. Bruce's Retirement Planner is a planning tool, not financial advice. Projections are estimates based on the assumptions you enter, not predictions or guarantees. For decisions about your money, consult a qualified professional.

Screenshots

ARC View4 screens
Bruce's Retirement Planner4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Bruce's Retirement Planner at 4.9 against ARC View's 3.7. Bruce's Retirement Planner also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (32 vs 3). ARC View's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Bruce's Retirement Planner holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bruce's Retirement Planner has 32 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ARC View ships an update every 5 months, Bruce's Retirement Planner every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ARC View versus Bruce's Retirement Planner: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterARC ViewBruce's Retirement Planner
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (3 ratings)4.9 (32 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings332 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdvisor Resource Council, LLCHailcat LLC

Customer experience

ARC View

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Bruce's Retirement Planner

All ratings32 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

ARC View

No in-app purchases

None

Bruce's Retirement Planner

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ARC View free?
ARC View is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bruce's Retirement Planner free?
Bruce's Retirement Planner is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ARC View or Bruce's Retirement Planner?
Bruce's Retirement Planner is rated higher. ARC View averages 3.7 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Bruce's Retirement Planner averages 4.9 from 32 ratings.
Do ARC View or Bruce's Retirement Planner have ads?
Neither ARC View nor Bruce's Retirement Planner shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ARC View or Bruce's Retirement Planner?
ARC View ships an update every 5 months, and Bruce's Retirement Planner every 3 days. Most recently, ARC View was updated on November 3, 2026 and Bruce's Retirement Planner on November 7, 2026.

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