Scheduler vs Chief Mobile
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Scheduler
This app helps shift workers visualize their work schedules up to six years in advance. It supports various common shift patterns, allows for custom schedules, and can overlay a partner's schedule for better family planning. It also tracks overtime, vacation, and sick time.
- Visualize schedules up to six years ahead
- Supports custom and common shift patterns
- Tracks overtime, vacation, and sick time
- Overlays partner's schedule
- Records and formats trade offers
- Countdown to retirement
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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.
Chief Mobile
Receive and map emergency dispatches from your 911 center with push notifications and dual alerting systems. Stay informed about incidents, personnel messages, and company schedules. Update your status and track response times.
- Redundant alerting (Tone & CAD)
- Incident mapping
- Push notifications for dispatches
- Personnel messaging
- Status updates and ETA tracking
- Company schedule viewing
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Chief Mobile is has redundant alerting using a combination of Tone Alerting & CAD Alerting. Allows you to receive & map incidents from your 911 dispatch center quickly. A push notification will alert you when a new dispatch occurs and forward you to the incident information and map. With Tone Alert, Chief Mobile works like your Fire Pager providing two sources for alerting. You can also receive messages that are sent out by other personnel. Get notified of open shifts, training, and other announcements instantly. The latest version allows you to reply to messages. Allows your personnel to update their status (i.e. Responding Station 1, Available, etc.). Their ETA is tracked while responding. Allows companies that use Chief Scheduling to view the company schedule by day and their own schedule. Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Chief Mobile at Free against Scheduler's $7.99. Chief Mobile also leads on device support (4 vs 2). Scheduler's advantage is rating (3.9 vs 3.4) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On ratings volume, ads and iOS requirement 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
Chief Mobile is free to download; Scheduler costs $7.99 up front. Chief Mobile sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Scheduler asks for nothing beyond the download.
Scheduler holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 75 and 43 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Scheduler's written reviews are positive against 66% of Chief Mobile's.
Scheduler ships an update fortnightly, Chief Mobile every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Scheduler | Chief Mobile |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.9 (75 ratings) — better | 3.4 (43 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 78.9% of reviews — better | 65.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 75 — better | 43 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #200 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 112 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | The Buddy System, LLC | Chief Technologies, LLC |
Customer experience
Scheduler
Chief Mobile
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
Chief Mobile
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Scheduler
No in-app purchases
Chief Mobile
- Pro Version$4.99
Questions
Is Scheduler free?
Is Chief Mobile free?
Which has better reviews, Scheduler or Chief Mobile?
Do Scheduler or Chief Mobile have ads?
Which is updated more often, Scheduler or Chief Mobile?
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