Catholic Calendar vs Square Note
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
Square Note
Access a vast library of Gregorian Chant scores with over 800 unique chants. Learn to read square note notation and hear melodies with adjustable speed and pitch. Ideal for choirs, scholas, or personal study.
- Extensive library of Gregorian Chant scores
- Learn square note notation
- Adjustable melody playback (speed, pitch)
- Customizable chant viewing settings
- Bookmark favorite chants
- Search by name or full text
- Includes Mass Propers, Commons, and Kyriale
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Gregorian Chant for the Masses! Square Note puts a huge library of Gregorian Chant scores—over 800 unique chants and counting—right at your fingertips. Always wanted to learn how to read square note notation? Always wanted to have the amazing Gregorian Chants of the Catholic Church on your iPhone and iPad? Square Note brings the ancient music of the Church to your mobile devices, ready for you to utilize in your schola, your choir, or your home. * Beautifully rendered chant that automatically formats itself to fit nicely on your screen. * Hear the melodies of the chants, adjusting speed and pitch, to learn how the chants are sung. * Easily adjust chant viewing settings, including zooming in, zooming out, and toggling certain chant markings. * Bookmark your favorite chants or the ones you'll be practicing in your schola. * Search and find chants by name or even by searching through the full text of the chant. * Automatically include Gloria Patri paradigms to your Introit and Communion antiphons. CURRENT CHANTS: Mass Propers for the Proper of Seasons (Ordinary Form and Extraordinary Form); some propers for major Feasts and Solemnities; most commons for both the OF and EF; Latin Kyriale, including all traditional 18 Masses and 6 Creeds; some Marian antiphons (simple and solemn forms) and a smattering of other antiphons and hymns. More chants to come--let us know what you'd like to see included!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Square Note at none against Catholic Calendar's 10. Square Note also leads on review sentiment (93% vs 82%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). Catholic Calendar's advantage is ratings volume (976 vs 70). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Catholic Calendar sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Square Note asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Catholic Calendar against 4.7 for Square Note. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Catholic Calendar has 976 ratings behind it against 70, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Catholic Calendar's written reviews are positive against 93% of Square Note's.
Catholic Calendar ships an update every 3 weeks, Square Note every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Catholic Calendar | Square Note |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (976 ratings) — better | 4.7 (70 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.8% of reviews | 92.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 976 — better | 70 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 78 MB | 55 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Universalis Publishing | Oblates of St. Joseph |
Customer experience
Catholic Calendar
Square Note
User reviews
Catholic Calendar
From 976 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
Square Note
From 70 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- 🎶 Great for learning chant
- 🎵 Excellent for choir practice
- 💡 Helpful for beginners
- ✨ Beautifully laid out
Room to improve
- ❓ Playback issues on iPhone
- 🎵 Missing punctuation on notes
- 🎵 Some chants are missing
- 🎵 Missing Epiphany season
- 🎵 Missing traditional nuptial propers
Bugs and requests
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
Square Note
Reported bugs
3 issues- Cannot get music to play on iPhone
- Playback won't work after iOS 14 update
- Sundays of paschaltide enumerated differently in OF & EF
Requested features
25 requests- Add liturgical calendar for 1962 missal
- Add traditional nuptial propers (deus Israel)
- Include psalm tones for singing psalms
- Add common chants of the Divine Office
- Add different tones of the Te Lucis hymn
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- Add the antiennes des Vêpres
- Include parts of the Divine office (e.g., compline)
- Add the Exultet
- Add chants from the breviary (Roman Breviary hymns)
- Add Mass XVIIII and Feast of All Saints Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion
- Add the Benedicamus Domino for Masses
- Separate Marian antiphons from other Marian chants
- Add a keyboard for playing notes
- Add the Jubilate Deo sequence (beginners compilation)
- Provide alternate chant sounds
- Allow transposition into other octaves
- Include English translations of each chant
- Add sung chants, not just notes
- Offer a crisper sound option for chant tone
- Provide a choice of different types of chant tones
- Add notation for punctums or scalici
- Add notation for the Exultet
- Add notation for breviary hymns
- Add notation for Mass XVIIII and Feast of All Saints
- Add notation for Benedicamus Domino
In-app purchases
Catholic Calendar
- Daily texts7 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Daily Mass Readings1 Month trial$1.991 Month
- Daytime Hours1 Month trial$2.991 Month
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- 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
Square Note
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Catholic Calendar free?
Is Square Note free?
Which has better reviews, Catholic Calendar or Square Note?
Do Catholic Calendar or Square Note have ads?
Which is updated more often, Catholic Calendar or Square Note?
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