gistalt vs Search on Shift
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
gistalt
This medical game challenges players to quickly assess patient acuity by swiping left for stable patients and right for those needing immediate intervention. It's designed to make training clinical impression skills engaging and fun.
- Patient acuity assessment
- Swipe-based gameplay
- Vital signs and lab results
- Imaging interpretation
- Performance scoring
- Regular content updates
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Your clinical impression (or "gestalt") about a patient's acuity is both critical and difficult to train. gistalt was designed to make it fun! Your goal playing gistalt is to accurately identify which patients are sick (requiring hospitalization or immediate interventions for stabilization) or not-sick (conditions that can be safely treated with outpatient follow-up). gistalt games are simple and fun. You'll start with a stack of patient presentations including vital signs, laboratory results and imaging. Swipe each card left (for not-sick) or right (for-sick) to see the next question. At the end of the stack, review your responses and see your score. Your gistalt score specially gauges your ability to detect the most critically-ill patients and institute the treatments that will make a difference. New questions are added regularly and don't require an app update.
Search on Shift
This medical reference app consolidates emergency medicine resources into a single, searchable platform. Quickly access websites, notes, and curated educational content for efficient learning and on-shift reference. It helps track your progress across various medical materials.
- Unified search for EM websites and notes
- Curated learning recommendations (podcasts, articles)
- Learning progress tracking
- Customizable website selection
- Upload and edit personal notes (CSV, Anki, textbooks)
- Flashcards for board exam prep
- Dark mode
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Everything Emergency Medicine in one app. Quickly reference your favorite website resources and your own notes with one search. It's like a browser for Emergency Medicine! The app is designed for EM residents, attending physicians, and medical students. It can be helpful for other specialties as well! SEARCH SMARTER - Type "chest tube" and you will immediately see the best video procedure guide, websites, notes, and other results from popular resources in Emergency Medicine - Type "stroke" and the NIHSS will appear - Type "distal radius" and a fracture guide with splinting tips will appear SIMPLIFIED LEARNING RECOMMENDATIONS - We reviewed all of the content out there so you don't have to get overwhelmed by it all! - It's easy! Go to work, use the app as a reference on shift, then pick a podcast to learn more on your way home! - We also help you track your learning across all of the educational material available to EM residents. FEATURES - Search across popular websites such as: WikEM, Life in the Fastlane, EMRAP Corependium, EMCrit, UpToDate, DynaMed, JournalFeed, and more - Recommended podcasts and articles for education off shift - Track your learning progress across all your resources in Emergency Medicine - Select your preferred websites - Improved layouts for better viewing - Handpicked images, videos, and procedure guides depending on your search term - Upload your own notes from a CSV file - Upload your own notes from Anki - Upload your own textbook - Edit your own notes within the app - Add notes within the app - Backup your notes for use outside of the app - Sync your notes across iOS devices - Flashcards for board exam prep and ITE prep - Dark mode PRICING - Free trial (introductory offer) then a monthly or yearly subscription - This includes access to all the features listed above - Download the app to start your free trial or purchase a subscription
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: gistalt at none against Search on Shift's 2. gistalt also leads on iOS requirement (13.4 vs 15.0). Search on Shift's advantage is update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 22 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Search on Shift sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. gistalt asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for gistalt against 5.0 for Search on Shift. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16 and 6 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
gistalt ships an update every 22 months, Search on Shift every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | gistalt | Search on Shift |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (16 ratings) | 5.0 (6 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 16 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 22 months | Every 4 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.4 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Tom Fadial | Made by Nick LLC |
Customer experience
gistalt
Search on Shift
In-app purchases
gistalt
No in-app purchases
Search on Shift
- Monthly Subscription3 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription3 Days trial$99.991 Year
