Comparison

Scheduler vs Calendars

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

Head to head
About

Scheduler

Easily visualize and manage your rotating work shifts for up to six years in advance. Ideal for public service employees, it handles common and custom schedules, vacation time, and even overlays a partner's schedule for better family planning.

Highlights
  • Visualize schedule for six years
  • Supports custom and common shift patterns
  • Tracks vacation and sick time
  • Records and formats shift trades
  • Overlays partner's schedule
  • Logs events with date, time, and location
  • Countdown to retirement
Features
Read full description

Visualize Your Shift Schedule From Jeff: Please don't put questions or suggestions in a review -- there's no way for me to reply directly to you. Instead. use the in-app email buttons (on the Help tab), or send to sched@buddy.com. If your schedule varies from week to week, keeping track of your working days can be a chore, and it’s often difficult to quickly figure out when you’ll be on-duty weeks or months in the future. Scheduler to the rescue! Designed for public-service employees such as police officers, firefighters and health-care workers — anyone who works an unusual but predictable schedule — Scheduler always shows your schedule for the next six years from “today.” Common shift schedules are built-in, such as the “Berkeley” (a.k.a. “California”), “48-96” and “Dupont,” but you can easily change them or create other repeating schedules covering any number of days. See the screenshots (here and on the web site) for some examples. And there’s even a “Doofus” mode for showing irregular schedules (e.g., health-care workers). If your spouse/partner works a shift schedule, too, you can have that entirely different rotation appear on the calendar with yours. This will help you organize family activities such as vacations and day-care. Features: • Displays your schedule for the next six years, including vacations and holidays. • Perfect for public-service workers such as police officers and firefighters. • Records trades (swaps). Tracks hours earned or owed on a person-by-person basis. • Formats emails for sending out trade offers and approval requests. • Maintains a record of your OT hours. • Tracks your vacation time: automatically computes hours earned and shows weekly balances. Also records and totals sick time. • Logs “events” with date, time and location — you can edit the title, text, and location details when you have time. • Overlays an entirely separate schedule for your spouse/partner to help you coordinate your lives. • Adjustable colors for shifts, vacations, Kelly days, holidays, etc. • Mark special days such as Kellys, paydays, “early” shifts, or training days. • Countdown to retirement. • Extensive Help pages for every feature and screen; indexed. • Includes UK Rota features for London train and bus drivers. Notes: 1. You *can* enter a custom schedule. 2. You *can* set the text that appears on each day. 3. You *can* enter very long rotations. 4. You *can* superimpose text to mark special days on the calendar. 5. You *can* set bi-weekly repeating events (e.g., for paydays) 6. Scheduler is complicated. Please don't give up and leave a bad review -- I can't help you that way. If you have questions or comments, the best way to contact me is by using the in-app email button on the Help screen (2nd best: sched@buddy.com). I reply to all emails immediately (or within a few hours if I'm sleeping or traveling, which isn't often). If you didn't hear from me promptly, it means there was failure in the "Tubes." Please try again to contact me. Attention FDNY (firemen): you'll find my other app, FDNY, more useful for FD New York.

About

Calendars

This app combines a calendar, task manager, daily planner, and habit tracker. It helps users plan their day, build habits, boost productivity, and stay organized with seamless syncing across all Apple devices. Features include event creation, to-do list management, natural language input, and integration with popular meeting platforms.

Highlights
  • Calendar, task, and habit management
  • Daily, weekly, and monthly views
  • Natural language event creation
  • To-do list organization
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Meeting platform integration
Features
Read full description

Calendars by Readdle is the all-in-one calendar, task manager, daily planner, and habit tracker — seamlessly working across all your Apple devices: Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Plan your day, build better habits, boost productivity, and stay organized with powerful features and smooth sync between all your devices. What you can do with Calendars: • View and manage your calendar with daily, weekly, and monthly views • Create events, set reminders, and never miss important dates • Use the built-in agenda planner to focus on what matters most • Organize your to-do list and manage your tasks with ease • Quickly add events or to-do items using natural language • Build routines and track your habits to stay consistent • Take a guided productivity course to improve time management and focus • Sync across devices with Google Calendar, iCloud, and more • Customize your planner calendar with color coding and widgets • Join Zoom, Google Meet, or GoToMeeting directly from your calendar • Stay in control of your time, wherever you are Whether you're planning a busy workday, building new habits, or working on personal growth, Calendars brings everything together to help you own your time — across all your Apple devices. Privacy Policy: https://readdle.com/calendars/legal/privacy Terms of Service: https://readdle.com/calendars/legal/terms Have questions, comments, or issues? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at http://readdle.com/contact

Screenshots

Scheduler4 screens
Calendars4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Calendars at Free against Scheduler's $7.99. Calendars also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.8) and ratings volume (122K vs 74). Scheduler's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 20) and review sentiment (79% vs 55%). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Calendars is free to download; Scheduler costs $7.99 up front. Calendars sells 18 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Scheduler asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Calendars holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Calendars has 122K ratings behind it against 74, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 79% of Scheduler's written reviews are positive against 55% of Calendars's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Scheduler ships an update every 9 days, Calendars every 11 days. Both last shipped on September 25, 2026.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Scheduler versus Calendars: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSchedulerCalendars
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating3.8 (74 ratings)4.7 (122K ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.9% of reviews — better55.4% of reviews
Number of ratings74122K — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 11 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank—#108 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS14.0 — better18.2
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB407 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperThe Buddy System, LLCReaddle Technologies Limited

Customer experience

Scheduler

All ratings74 ratings
Positive67.6%
Neutral6.8%
Negative25.7%
Written reviews171 reviews
Positive78.9%
Neutral6.4%
Negative14.6%

Calendars

All ratings121,639 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral3.1%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews1,251 reviews
Positive55.4%
Neutral8.9%
Negative35.7%

User reviews

Scheduler

From 74 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Outstanding app for shift workers
  • 👍 Highly customizable and flexible
  • 📆 Excellent for planning schedules years in advance
  • 💰 Worth every penny
  • 🤝 Great customer support

Room to improve

  • 🕰️ Steep learning curve
  • 🔀 Issues with repeating events and schedules
  • 🔄 Problems with updates causing data loss
  • 💤 Outdated UI and appearance

Calendars

From 122K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌟 Excellent calendar app
  • 👍 Easy to use and organize
  • 🎨 Helpful color-coding
  • 📆 Seamless integration with other calendars
  • 🗓️ Detailed monthly/weekly views

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional glitches and data loss
  • 💰 Concerns over subscription model
  • 🕰️ Cumbersome date/time selection process
  • 🔍 Limited location search functionality
  • 🔄 Sync issues between devices

Bugs and requests

Scheduler

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Events and schedules disappearing after updates
  • Vacation and overtime tracking not working correctly

Requested features

4 requests
  • Drag and drop support for shift swapping
  • List view option for events
  • Ability to use emojis in event titles
  • Removal of unnecessary time zone settings

Calendars

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Disappearing events and appointments
  • Upgrade process causing data loss
  • Freezing and crashing on certain devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Recurring events for free users
  • Customizable widgets and app icons
  • Ability to archive/restore past events
  • Improved Apple Watch integration
  • Shared calendars and family management

In-app purchases

None

Scheduler

No in-app purchases

18 purchases

Calendars

Subscriptions9
  • Calendars PRO 1 Month$3.991 Month
  • Calendars by Readdle: Interesting Calendars1 Month trial$3.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Month7 Days trial$3.991 Month
Show 6 more
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year3 Months trial$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year7 Days trial2 variants$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year1 Year trial$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year14 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year7 Days trial$21.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time9
  • Calendars PRO LifetimeFree
  • Invites & Attendees Upgrade$1.99
  • Smart Input Upgrade$1.99
Show 6 more
  • Full Upgrade$4.99
  • Interesting Calendars$5.99
  • My schedule planner, Organizer$6.99
  • Full Pack$12.99
  • Reminders & Calendars$19.99
  • Recurring Events$31.99

Questions

Is Scheduler free?
Scheduler costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Calendars free?
Calendars is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Scheduler or Calendars?
Calendars is rated higher. Scheduler averages 3.8 out of 5 from 74 ratings, while Calendars averages 4.7 from 122K ratings.
Do Scheduler or Calendars have ads?
Neither Scheduler nor Calendars shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Scheduler or Calendars?
Scheduler ships an update every 9 days, and Calendars every 11 days. Most recently, Scheduler was updated on September 25, 2026 and Calendars on September 25, 2026.

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