NorthStarVIP vs BucketDrop
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NorthStarVIP
This app provides comprehensive guides for new residents, covering city overviews, local news, weather, real estate markets, schools, and attractions. It aims to help people quickly settle into their new surroundings by offering essential local information.
- Area guides
- Local news and weather
- Real estate market info
- School information
- Things to do
- Restaurant listings
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NorthStarVIP app includes comprehensive area guides with an overview of the city, local news and weather, purchase and rental market info, info on local schools, things to do, restaurants and other important information to help relocating people to quickly settle into their new location.
BucketDrop
This app helps you remember and organize places you want to visit. Save restaurants, beaches, or bars, and get notified when you're nearby. Organize your saved spots into trips and even collaborate with friends.
- Save places with notes and photos
- Organize saved spots into trips
- Proximity notifications
- Interactive map view
- Collaborate on trips with friends
- Discover community trips
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Ever hear about a great restaurant, a hidden beach, or a cool bar, and then completely forget about it? BucketDrop fixes that. Search for any place, save it as a Drop, and organize your Drops into Trips. See somewhere cool on Instagram? Make a trip. Collecting local spots to try? Make a trip. Your friend just recommended the best tacos in town? Search, save, done. BucketDrop notifies you when you're near a saved place. So when you're driving past that restaurant you bookmarked three months ago, you'll actually remember it. You can also: Add notes, photos, and categories to every Drop See all your saved places on an interactive map Check off places when you visit and leave a rating Invite friends to collaborate on trips together Make trips public and browse what others are planning Discover trending trips from the community Whether it's a dream vacation or a Tuesday night dinner spot, BucketDrop keeps your places in one place.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: BucketDrop at 5.0 against NorthStarVIP's 4.3. NorthStarVIP's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (11 vs 1). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support 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.
BucketDrop holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NorthStarVIP has 11 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
NorthStarVIP ships an update monthly, BucketDrop every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NorthStarVIP | BucketDrop |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (11 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 11 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | John L Merriweather | Tyler Henderson |
In-app purchases
NorthStarVIP
No in-app purchases
BucketDrop
No in-app purchases
