Universalis vs Catholic Calendar
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Universalis
This app provides the Liturgy of the Hours and Mass readings for every day, along with additional spiritual content. It offers offline access, customizable display options, and optional spoken audio. It's designed for daily prayer and spiritual enrichment.
- Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office)
- Daily Mass readings and prayers
- Offline access
- Customizable display (fonts, themes)
- Spiritual reading and commentaries
- Optional spoken audio add-on
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Universalis is a missal and a breviary, and more besides. It gives you the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) and the Mass for every day; plus valuable additional material. Tens of thousands of people use Universalis daily. Come and join them! • Single purchase: the app lasts for ever. It does not need a subscription to make it work. • No Internet needed: everything you need is already built in. • No cleverness needed: each day, Universalis works out exactly what you need to see. • View any date: past, present and future. • Use your own local calendar: USA, Canada, Singapore, Ireland, and every diocese in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. • Easy to read and use: a choice of fonts; big or small type; dark or light theme; page-turning or scrolling. • Optional add-on: spoken audio read by real human beings (this needs a subscription: see below). • Latin if you want it: by itself or alongside the English. • Help and support: tips and instructions are included; or press “Contact Us” to send us a message, and we will reply. EXTRA MATERIAL • The “About Today” page tells you what saints are being celebrated today, worldwide. It includes reflections, biographies and illustrations. • “Mass Today” gives you the Order of Mass and today’s readings and prayers, all in one page. Bishops have been known to use it to say Mass from their iPads! • “Spiritual Reading” gathers the patristic and hagiographic readings for all the saints and feasts of the day. • “The Rosary” has a verse of Scripture for every Hail Mary of every Mystery. Spoken audio is included. • Daily Books takes selected spiritual classics and presents them in daily instalments to focus and enrich your prayer life. • Commentaries on the day’s Mass readings from a leading biblical scholar. And more – Home Screen widgets; liturgical events for your iOS calendar; daily email service; copy and paste into other apps; reminders and alarms; Mass readings on your Apple Watch. LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Divine Office) The complete official Liturgy of the Hours of the Catholic Church, as used worldwide. Morning (Lauds), daytime (Terce, Sext and None), evening (Vespers), night (Compline) and the deeply reflective Office of Readings. Do as many or as few of them as you like. • The psalms and canticles match the official English and American books. Scripture readings – United States: RSV. Elsewhere: Jerusalem Bible (with RSV as an optional add-on). READINGS AT MASS The exact prayers and readings at Mass for each day. • England, Wales, Scotland: the official ESV version. • United States: the official NAB version. • Elsewhere: Jerusalem Bible readings and Grail psalms, as used at Mass in most of the English-speaking world. OPTIONAL ADD-ON AUDIO (in-app purchase required) Just press the button and listen! If you want to see what you are hearing, the text is highlighted to follow the sound. After an initial download, no Internet is required. Works with CarPlay too. • Spoken English Liturgy of the Hours: every Hour of every day of every year. Monthly or annual subscription. • Spoken English Mass Readings: First and Second Reading and the Gospel. Jerusalem Bible translation only. Monthly or annual subscription. (You can listen to a sample before subscribing. Following App Store rules, subscriptions renew automatically but you can cancel auto-renewal at any time.) • Sung Latin Compline (Night Prayer): by the boys of the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School. Single purchase. -- Privacy policy and terms of service: universalis.com/n-ios-privacy.htm
Catholic Calendar
Access daily Catholic Mass readings, saints, and celebrations. Includes the Rosary with scripture and offline access. Offers optional monthly subscriptions for the full Liturgy of the Hours and more detailed Mass texts.
- Daily liturgical calendar
- Saints and feast days
- Order of Mass
- The Rosary with scripture
- Offline access
- Liturgy of the Hours (subscription)
- Customizable display options
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Universalis is a missal and a breviary, and more besides. It gives you the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) and the Mass for every day; plus valuable additional material. The Catholic Calendar app lets you join in with the tens of thousands of people who use Universalis daily, through a free app plus a small monthly subscription of roughly $0.99 / £0.79 / €0.99 (the App Store will tell you the exact figure). If you prefer a single purchase instead of a monthly subscription, get the Universalis app instead of the Catholic Calendar app. WHAT YOU GET FOR FREE • A complete liturgical calendar listing every saint and feast for your region. • The “About Today” page tells you what saints are being celebrated today, not only in your region but worldwide. It includes reflections and biographies. • The Order of Mass with all the possible alternative texts. • The Rosary with a verse of Scripture for every Hail Mary of every Mystery. Spoken audio is included if you want to listen to it. • No Internet needed: everything you need is already built in. • No cleverness needed: each day, Catholic Calendar works out exactly what you need to see. • View any date: past, present and future. • Use your own local calendar: USA, Canada, Singapore, Ireland, and every diocese in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. • Easy to read and use: a choice of fonts; big or small type; dark or light theme; page-turning or scrolling. • Help and support: tips and instructions are included; or press “Contact Us” to send us a message, and we will reply. And more – Home Screen widgets; liturgical events for your iOS calendar; copy and paste into other apps; reminders and alarms. THE MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION ADDS: (Your first month is free.) LITURGY OF THE HOURS: The complete official Liturgy of the Hours of the Catholic Church, as used worldwide. Morning (Lauds), daytime (Terce, Sext and None), evening (Vespers), night (Compline) and the deeply reflective Office of Readings. Do as many or as few of them as you like. • The psalms and canticles match the official English and American books. Scripture readings are from the Jerusalem Bible or the RSV. • Latin if you want it: by itself or alongside the English. MASS: The exact prayers and readings at Mass for each day. • England, Wales, Scotland: the official ESV version. • United States: the official NAB version. • Elsewhere: Jerusalem Bible readings and Grail psalms. • Latin if you want it: alongside the English. AND ALSO… • Illustrations in the About Today page. • “Mass Today” gives you the Order of Mass and today’s readings and prayers, all in one page. Bishops have been known to use it to say Mass from their iPads! • “Spiritual Reading” gathers the patristic and hagiographic readings for all the saints and feasts of the day. • Daily Books takes selected spiritual classics and presents them in daily instalments to focus and enrich your prayer life. • Commentaries on the day’s Mass readings from a leading biblical scholar. And more – daily email service; Mass readings on your Apple Watch. OPTIONAL ADD-ON AUDIO (in-app purchase required) Just press the button and listen! If you want to see what you are hearing, the text is highlighted to follow the sound. After an initial download, no Internet is required. Works with CarPlay too. • Spoken English Liturgy of the Hours: every Hour of every day of every year. Monthly or annual subscription. • Spoken English Mass Readings: First and Second Reading and the Gospel. Jerusalem Bible translation only. Monthly or annual subscription. (You can listen to a sample before subscribing. Following App Store rules, subscriptions renew automatically but you can cancel auto-renewal at any time.) • Sung Latin Compline (Night Prayer): by the boys of the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School. Single purchase. -- Privacy policy & terms of service: universalis.com/n-ios-privacy.htm.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Catholic Calendar at Free against Universalis's $9.99. Universalis's advantage is review sentiment (95% vs 82%) and ratings volume (9.4K vs 916). On rating, update cadence, 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
Catholic Calendar is free to download; Universalis costs $9.99 up front. Universalis sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Catholic Calendar sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Universalis against 4.8 for Catholic Calendar. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Universalis has 9.4K ratings behind it against 916, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 95% of Universalis's written reviews are positive against 82% of Catholic Calendar's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Universalis | Catholic Calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.9 (9.4K ratings) — better | 4.8 (916 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 94.6% of reviews — better | 81.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 9.4K — better | 916 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #4 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 79 MB | 79 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Universalis Publishing | Universalis Publishing |
Customer experience
Universalis
Catholic Calendar
User reviews
Universalis
From 9.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🙏 Wonderful Catholic app
- 🙌 Great app for Catholic devotions
- 📚 This is a wonderful app for the laity
- 🙏 Excellent resource for Mass and Liturgy of the Hours
- 🌟 Comprehensive and easy to use
Room to improve
- 🤔 Hymns selection could be improved
- 🤔 Navigation can be confusing
- 🤔 Kenyan version text does not match book
- 🤔 Difficult to navigate, missing menu buttons
Catholic Calendar
From 916 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Keeps me informed and organized
- 👍 Best app for daily prayer
- 👍 Great prayer tool
- 👍 Wonderful spiritual aid
- 👍 Faithful companion
Room to improve
- 🐛 Psalter
- 🐛 Notification Bells TAKE OVER MY iPhone!!!
- 🐛 App crashes
- 🐛 Something is wrong
- 🐛 Subscription not sharable across apple family members
Bugs and requests
Universalis
Reported bugs
2 issues- Gospel readings sometimes incorrect
- App crashes when trying to change hymns or readings
Requested features
5 requests- Add Salesian saints and young saints
- Include NAB translation for US users
- Add option for 1962 liturgical calendar
- Improve hymn selection, especially for seasons
- Implement more inclusive language in prayers
Catholic Calendar
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes when you try to open
- Crashes on iPhone 6 with IOS 12
- App refuses to open
- Update with widget for iOS14 opens and immediately closes
Requested features
8 requests- Look up option
- Memorial Dates
- Add Eastern Catholic Saints' Feasts, & other Feasts only celebrated by Eastern Catholics, to the Eastern General calendar
- Add Holy Rosary & Divine Mercy Chaplet
- Add 1961 General & local liturgical calendars, 1961 Roman Breviary, 1962 Roman Missal
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- Alerts
- Spanish daily readings
- Add dates to calendar
In-app purchases
Universalis
- Daily Mass Readings1 Month trial$1.991 Month
- Daytime Hours1 Month trial$2.991 Month
- All Hours1 Month trial$2.991 Month
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- Daily Mass Readings1 Month trial$19.991 Year
- Daytime Hours1 Month trial$29.991 Year
- All Hours1 Month trial$29.991 Year
- Add-on translation: RSV Hours$1.99
- Sung Latin Compline$3.99
- Revelations of Divine Love$5.99
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- Journey into Light$5.99
Catholic Calendar
- Daily texts7 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Daily Mass Readings1 Month trial$1.991 Month
- Daytime Hours1 Month trial$2.991 Month
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- All Hours1 Month trial$2.991 Month
- Daily Mass Readings1 Month trial$19.991 Year
- All Hours1 Month trial$29.991 Year
- July 2011$0.99
- September 2011$0.99
- October 2011$0.99
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- Sung Latin Compline$3.99
Questions
Is Universalis free?
Is Catholic Calendar free?
Which has better reviews, Universalis or Catholic Calendar?
Do Universalis or Catholic Calendar have ads?
Which is updated more often, Universalis or Catholic Calendar?
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