Cowry vs Access Buddy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Cowry
Manage your micro-transaction payments easily. Top up credit via bank transfers or cash, track your payment history, and view your balance. Transfer credit to friends and family, and receive low balance notifications.
- Top up credit via bank transfers or cash
- Check payment history
- View pay as you go balance
- Transfer credit to friends and family
- Airtime recharge
- Low balance notifications
- Scan bus QR codes
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What's new about this Cowry Payments App Your phone is now your ticket. Browse bus and rail routes, buy tickets instantly, and scan your QR code to tap in and out, no card or cash needed. What’s great about The Cowry Payments app? • Top up pay as you go credit through bank transfers, or cash • Check payment history • Check all the bus routes • Check your pay as you go balance • Transfer credit among your friends and family • Airtime Recharge • Allow notifications when your pay as you go balance falls below a certain amount Keeping on top of your spend is easy; see the date, time and cost of your journeys as far back as possible. The Transport for Lagos Cowry and contactless app will request access to your camera. This is so that you can scan your bus QR code. We will never store the scanned pictures. Please provide any feedback using this link https://touchandpay.me/contact
Access Buddy
Manage your Retirement Savings Account on the go. Access account balances, view transactions, request statements, and track benefit applications. Connect with customer support and find branch locations.
- Access RSA balance
- View transaction details
- Request RSA statement
- Track benefits application status
- Locate branch offices
- Live chat support
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Your RSA at your fingertips! Access Buddy gives you real-time access to your Retirement Savings Account anywhere and anytime. Access Pensions is providing a future shaping experience to customers with Access Buddy. All Access Pensions customers can subscribe to this service at no cost. Features available include: Access your RSA Balance View details of your latest transactions Request your RSA statement by date range View your next of kin details Track your benefits application status Locate all Access Pensions branches and offices See our responses to FAQs Read our latest newsletters Chat live with our customer experience consultants To access your RSA account on the Access Buddy, download the app, request for access with your registered phone number and you’ll receive your access code via SMS.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Access Buddy at 3.8 against Cowry's 3.4. Access Buddy also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). Cowry's advantage is ratings volume (58 vs 5). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Access Buddy holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Cowry has 58 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 55% of Cowry's written reviews are positive against 50% of Access Buddy's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Cowry ships an update every 2 months, Access Buddy every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Cowry | Access Buddy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (58 ratings) | 3.8 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 54.5% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 58 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 88 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Touch and Pay Technologies Limited | Access Pensions |
Customer experience
Cowry
Access Buddy
In-app purchases
Cowry
No in-app purchases
Access Buddy
No in-app purchases
