Comparison

Scheduler vs First Due Mobile

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

First Due Mobile

Receive instant incident notifications and navigate emergency scenes with advanced routing. Access integrated building data, pre-plans, and real-time unit tracking for enhanced situational awareness and team communication.

Highlights
  • Incident tracking and notification
  • Emergency response routing
  • Integrated building data
  • Pre-incident planning and mapping
  • Team chat and communication
  • Live unit tracking
Features
Read full description

First Due Mobile is finally here! Be notified, arrive safely and understand your scene like never before. First Due Mobile includes: -Incident tracking and notification -Emergency response specific routing -Integrated Assessor, Building Department and Fire Prevention data! -Quick size-up on every building -Detailed pre-plans on every building including residential! -Pre-Incident Planning & Mapping -Chat for easy communication with your team -Incident statusing and responding functionality -Live unit and team member tracking during incident

Screenshots

Scheduler4 screens
First Due Mobile4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Scheduler at 79% against First Due Mobile's 0%. Scheduler also leads on rating (3.9 vs 1.6) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 7 months). First Due Mobile's advantage is price (Free vs $7.99). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

First Due Mobile is free to download; Scheduler costs $7.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Scheduler holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 1.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Scheduler has 75 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Scheduler's written reviews are positive against 0% of First Due Mobile's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Scheduler ships an update every 9 days, First Due Mobile every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Scheduler versus First Due Mobile: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSchedulerFirst Due Mobile
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating3.9 (75 ratings) — better1.6 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews78.9% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings75 — better10
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB224 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperThe Buddy System, LLCLocality Media, Inc.

Customer experience

Scheduler

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

First Due Mobile

All ratings8 ratings
Positive12.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative87.5%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

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

First Due Mobile

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Scheduler

No in-app purchases

None

First Due Mobile

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Scheduler free?
Scheduler costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is First Due Mobile free?
First Due Mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Scheduler or First Due Mobile?
Scheduler is rated higher. Scheduler averages 3.9 out of 5 from 75 ratings, while First Due Mobile averages 1.6 from 10 ratings.
Do Scheduler or First Due Mobile have ads?
Neither Scheduler nor First Due Mobile shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Scheduler or First Due Mobile?
Scheduler ships an update every 9 days, and First Due Mobile every 7 months. Most recently, Scheduler was updated on October 26, 2026 and First Due Mobile on October 24, 2026.

Other comparisons