Scheduler vs Calendars
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
Read full descriptionHide 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.
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.
- Calendar, task, and habit management
- Daily, weekly, and monthly views
- Natural language event creation
- To-do list organization
- Cross-device syncing
- Meeting platform integration
Read full descriptionHide 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
Verdict
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
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.
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.
Scheduler ships an update every 9 days, Calendars every 11 days. Both last shipped on September 25, 2026.
| Parameter | Scheduler | Calendars |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.8 (74 ratings) | 4.7 (122K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.9% of reviews — better | 55.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 74 | 122K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 11 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #108 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 18.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 407 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | The Buddy System, LLC | Readdle Technologies Limited |
Customer experience
Scheduler
Calendars
User reviews
Scheduler
From 74 App Store ratingsWhat 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 ratingsWhat 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
Scheduler
No in-app purchases
Calendars
- 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 moreShow fewer
- 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
- Calendars PRO LifetimeFree
- Invites & Attendees Upgrade$1.99
- Smart Input Upgrade$1.99
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- 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









