Comparison

SDSU Safe vs next4

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

Head to head
About

SDSU Safe

This official campus safety application provides students, faculty, and staff with enhanced security on university grounds. It offers emergency contact options, real-time location sharing with friends, incident reporting, and access to support resources and campus maps.

Highlights
  • Emergency contacts
  • Friend Walk location sharing
  • Report incidents
  • Support resources access
  • Campus map navigation
  • Safety notifications
Read full description

SDSU Safe is the official safety app of San Diego State University. It is the only app that integrates with SDSU’s safety and security systems. Campus Security has worked to develop a unique app that provides students, faculty and staff with added safety on the SDSU campus. The app will send you important safety alerts and provide instant access to campus safety resources. SDSU Safe features include: - Emergency Contacts: Contact the correct services for the SDSU area in case of an emergency or a non-emergency concern - Friend Walk: Send your location to a friend through email or SMS on your device. Once the friend accepts the Friend Walk request, the user picks their destination and their friend tracks their location in real time; they can keep an eye on them to make sure they make it safely to their destination. - Report an Incident: Multiple ways to report a safety/security concern directly to SDSU Police. - Support Resources: Access support resources in one convenient app to enjoy a successful experience at SDSU. - Be Prepared: Enhance your safety with the set of tools provided in one convenient app. - Campus Map: Navigate around the SDSU area. - Safety Notifications: Receive instant notifications and instructions from SDSU Police when on-campus emergencies occur. Download today to ensure you’re prepared in the event of an emergency.

About

next4

This app helps you discover colleges by ranking them based on your preferences. It uses a unique card-sorting system to understand what matters most to you, providing a personalized list of schools with clear explanations for their ranking.

Highlights
  • Card-sorting preference system
  • Personalized college rankings
  • Detailed school breakdowns
  • Majors quiz
  • No account required
  • Offline data storage
Features
Read full description

You know roughly what you want out of college. Turning that into an actual list of schools is the hard part. next4 doesn't ask you to fill out another search form. You sort a deck of 86 cards — things like class size, city vs. college town, Greek life, research opportunities, distance from home — into five piles: Not For Me, Would Rather Not, Doesn't Matter, Would Like, and Must Have. Pick up to seven Must Haves. That's the whole input. Then next4 ranks 6,000+ U.S. colleges against what you just told it, and shows you why. WHY IT'S DIFFERENT Most college finders rank on a score they won't explain. next4's matching is deterministic — the same answers always produce the same list, and every school comes back carrying the specific cards of yours that put it there, grouped the way you sorted them. If a school is #3, you can see the reason in your own words. We only rank on things the data can actually defend. If the data can't answer for a school on some card, that school is neither rewarded nor punished — unknown is neutral, never a strike. HOW IT WORKS 1. Answer a few quick questions — home state, GPA range, test scores if you have them, budget, intended majors, what year you're in. 2. Rank what matters most to you. 3. Sort the 86 cards. 4. Get your ranked matches instantly. 5. Swipe right to save a school, left to pass. 6. Open any school for the full breakdown: cost, size, programs, and the cards that matched. Not sure what you want to study? A separate majors quiz ranks fields of study by what you're actually drawn to. BUILT ON REAL DATA Rankings run against federal and public sources — IPEDS enrollment, cost and program data, Clery campus statistics, EADA athletics, NCHC honors college listings, and BEA cost-of-living figures. Not scraped opinions. NO ACCOUNT, NO INBOX There's no sign-up, no password, and no email. Your sort and saved schools live on your device. You can turn analytics off in Settings at any time. BEFORE YOU START next4 helps you build a list worth researching. It does not predict or guarantee admission, and it is not a substitute for a school counselor or professional advice. Always check details directly with a college before you rely on them.

Screenshots

SDSU Safe4 screens
next44 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: next4 at 5.0 against SDSU Safe's 3.0. SDSU Safe's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.4). On price, ratings volume, 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

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

next4 holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 3 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
SDSU Safe versus next4: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSDSU Safenext4
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Number of ratings33
Update frequencyEvery 12 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB41 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperSan Diego State UniversityLUKA BENJAMIN HADZIC

Customer experience

SDSU Safe

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%

next4

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

SDSU Safe

No in-app purchases

None

next4

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SDSU Safe free?
SDSU Safe is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is next4 free?
next4 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SDSU Safe or next4?
next4 is rated higher. SDSU Safe averages 3.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while next4 averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do SDSU Safe or next4 have ads?
Neither SDSU Safe nor next4 shows ads.

Other comparisons