fastbackward vs U Remote Control
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
fastbackward
Relive past memories with your photos. This app resurfaces pictures taken on this day in previous years, helping you recall significant life events and see your personal growth. It also displays photos on a map using EXIF data and can show random memories if no photos exist for the date.
- Resurfaces photos from previous years
- Displays photos on a map using EXIF data
- Excludes screenshots from memories
- On-device processing for privacy
- Shows random memories if no photos for the date
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Have you ever wondered what you were doing on this day last year? Or the year before? What about the year before that? With fastbackward you'll not only know, but have your photos to remind you, too. Taking photos is great, but looking at those photos is where the real fun begins. Your iPhone takes stunning photos but it needs fastbackward to surface the most important photos at the right time. Your iPhone is full of photos but they're a jumbled mess in the Photos app. What makes fastbackward so valuable is the way it surfaces photos you took today, but in years past. You'll see your kids growing up as well as any big life events that happened on this day, too. Didn't take a photo on this day? Fastbackward can show you a random memory instead. As well as showing you your photos and jogging your memory, fastbackward will also use your photos' EXIF data to plot where you took them on a map. You'll never wonder where you took your favourite landscape photo ever again. Features include: - The ability to exclude screenshots from your memories. - Privacy. Because your photos are hugely personal, fastbackward doesn't upload any of them to the internet. All of the processing is carried out on your device, right where it should be. - EXIF data used to display a map of where you took your photos.
U Remote Control
Control your home automation devices and media players with this unofficial remote control app. It supports various remotes, allowing you to manage lights, switches, climate, and media with real-time updates and customizable widgets.
- Remote registration
- Profile navigation
- Entity toggling and navigation
- Real-time media player updates
- Full activity support
- Configurable widgets
- Live activity integration
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Unofficial remote control application for Unfolded Circle remotes Remote 2 & 3 are advanced physical remotes that can take control of all your home devices (TV, receivers...) as well as your automation devices (Philips Hue, any Home Assistant device...) and more through community integrations. - Remotes registration : register one or several remotes - Navigation by profiles like in the remote. Another profile can be selected from the 3 dots upper right button - Swipe left/right between profile pages, click on entity icon for toggling (lights, switch, climates, covers) or navigating into (activities, remotes, media players) - Pull down in profile pages to refresh the data (in case of disconnection) - Sliders for lights, shutters and climate directly in the profile pages to set brightness / position / temperature, tap to open and access additional settings - Full activities support : UI pages & buttons including long press support, media players with artwork, position and titles. A touchpad is also available in a dedicated tab, as well as the access to the included entities. - Media players : updated in realtime (artwork, title, position...) and scrubbing - Wake the remote on LAN through pull to refresh - Configurable widgets : main commands for active activities with media info. A configurable page from the app settings will also show a list of selected entities to toggle (to toggle activities, lights, climates...) - Live activities : when entering into a running activity and minimizing the app, the current activity & media is accessible from the dynamic island or from the lock screen with the same commands as the widget
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: U Remote Control at none against fastbackward's 1. U Remote Control also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 weeks) and device support (4 vs 1). fastbackward's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, review sentiment, ads and iOS requirement 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. fastbackward sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. U Remote Control asks for nothing beyond the download.
fastbackward holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 3 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
fastbackward ships an update every 3 weeks, U Remote Control every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | fastbackward | U Remote Control |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Maximilian Krauss | Damien Bain-Thouverez |
Customer experience
fastbackward
U Remote Control
In-app purchases
fastbackward
- fastbackward Pro$1.99
U Remote Control
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is fastbackward free?
Is U Remote Control free?
Which has better reviews, fastbackward or U Remote Control?
Do fastbackward or U Remote Control have ads?
Which is updated more often, fastbackward or U Remote Control?
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