Comparison

Pilot Time vs Julian

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

Head to head
About

Pilot Time

Instantly view local, military, and UTC time with a tap. Developed by pilots, this app eliminates mental time conversions by displaying current and past/future times across various time zones. Easily select continents and cities for quick comparisons.

Highlights
  • View local, military, and UTC time
  • Compare current location time to UTC
  • Display frequently used time zones
  • Convert past, current, and future times
  • Easy continent and city time zone selection
Features
Read full description

Stop converting time in your head! See local, military, and UTC time (GMT and Zulu time zones) with a tap. Developed by pilots who can never remember the current UTC (GMT/Zulu) time conversion, Pilot Time instantly gives you the current time and date for your zone, plus UTC time. Pilot Time can: - Compare the time and date at your current location (in 12-hour format and 24-hour format) to UTC time. - Show the 3 time zones you looked at most recently, plus UTC time. - Quickly convert any past, current, or future time to or from any time zone (including GMT). And selecting time zones is easy: first find the continent, then the city you want. No more mental calculations. (The time is provided by your phone's operating system, not a central server. Time zones are taken from the IANA Time Zone Database.)

About

Julian

This app provides a quick and efficient way to view and convert between 11 different types of dates, including standard Julian dates, Mars Sol dates, and Unix time. It features a calendar for easy navigation and allows copying dates to the clipboard. The current date can be displayed on the app icon and Apple Watch complications.

Highlights
  • 11 date type conversions
  • Calendar view
  • Copy to clipboard
  • App icon badge display
  • Apple Watch complications
Features
Read full description

Julian makes it simple to find any day of the year, convert dates, and understand your year at a glance on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Browse the calendar to explore past and future dates, or enter a day number to jump straight to the matching date. Choose the date format you prefer and instantly see the day of the year, year progress, days remaining, week number, and current quarter. Convert between calendar dates, ordinal dates, ISO 8601 dates, ISO week dates, Julian calendar dates, Julian Day Numbers, and Unix timestamps. Add or subtract days, weeks, months, or years, or calculate the exact time between two dates. Julian supports a wide range of astronomical and time counting systems, including CCSDS Julian Date, CNES Julian Date, Dublin Julian Date, Lilian Date, Mars Sol Date, Modified Julian Date, Rata Die, Reduced Julian Date, Truncated Julian Date, and Unix Time. Copy any date value with a tap, or copy and share a complete date summary. Save your favorite formats for fast access whenever you need them. Keep important date information visible with Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets. Customize their layout, colors, and content. Larger widgets can show additional date values and calendar views without opening the app. On Apple Watch, quickly view yesterday, today, and tomorrow, look up any day of the year, and choose complications that match your watch face. Use Siri to retrieve date values and check your year progress. Add Julian actions to Shortcuts to convert dates, perform calculations, copy results, and open detailed date information. Personalize Julian with seven color themes, alternate app icons, and System, Light, or Dark appearance. Set your preferred first day of the week and choose which month begins your first quarter. For an instant glance, enable the optional app icon badge to show the current day of the year. Badge updates are silent and do not create banners or sounds. Notification permission is required.

Screenshots

Pilot Time4 screens
Julian4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pilot Time at none against Julian's 3. Pilot Time also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Julian's advantage is ratings volume (4.6K vs 19) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). On price, review sentiment, ads 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

Both are free to download. Julian sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Pilot Time asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Julian holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Julian has 4.6K ratings behind it against 19, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 73% of Pilot Time's written reviews are positive against 65% of Julian's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pilot Time ships an update every 6 months, Julian every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Pilot Time versus Julian: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPilot TimeJulian
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (19 ratings)4.8 (4.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews73.2% of reviews — better65.4% of reviews
Number of ratings194.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWillowRoot Apps, LLC.Juan Carlos Perez

Customer experience

Pilot Time

All ratings19 ratings
Positive89.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.5%
Written reviews112 reviews
Positive73.2%
Neutral8.0%
Negative18.8%

Julian

All ratings4,642 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral2.6%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews81 reviews
Positive65.4%
Neutral18.5%
Negative16.0%

User reviews

Pilot Time

From 19 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and intuitive user interface
  • 🎯 Accurate time zone conversions
  • 💰 Free application with no cost
  • ⚡ Quick and easy access to Zulu time
  • 📱 iOS widget functionality

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes on app launch
  • 📺 Intrusive advertisement pop-ups
  • 🔧 Widget loading failures
  • 📋 Limited city/location database
  • 🎯 Defaults to Los Angeles time zone

Julian

From 4.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent for work/professional use
  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 👍 Helpful for daily tasks
  • 👍 Convenient complication on Apple Watch

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Complication issues on Apple Watch (not updating, getting stuck)
  • 🐛 Date discrepancies between app and complication
  • 🐛 App not functioning properly after updates

Bugs and requests

Pilot Time

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • App crashes upon opening after updates
  • Widget displays 'UNABLE TO LOAD' error
  • App crashes when changing time zones
  • Incorrect time zone offsets for some locations (e.g., Sydney)
  • Time doesn't update when app is reopened
Show 4 more
  • Incorrect time zone naming conventions
  • Incompatibility with iOS 18 widgets
  • 12-hour clock incorrectly identifies noon as AM
  • App freezes on startup with certain iOS versions

Requested features

11 requests
  • Favorites or saved locations tab
  • Flight time and air time calculator
  • Julian date display for each time zone
  • GPS location detection for automatic time zone
  • Multiple simultaneous time zone display (3-4 zones)
Show 6 more
  • 24-hour format option only
  • Search cities by typing functionality
  • State listings for US locations
  • Flight forecast hour conversion chart
  • Decimal format for logbook entries
  • Ability to set custom background images

Julian

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Complication not updating correctly on Apple Watch
  • Date displayed incorrectly, one day behind
  • App not functioning properly after updates

Requested features

4 requests
  • Display current date along with Julian date
  • Add countdown/days remaining functionality
  • Display week number
  • Show Julian date on app icon

In-app purchases

None

Pilot Time

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Julian

One-time3
  • Short Cup$0.99
  • Tall Cup$1.99
  • Grande Cup$2.99

Questions

Is Pilot Time free?
Pilot Time is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Julian free?
Julian is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pilot Time or Julian?
Julian is rated higher. Pilot Time averages 4.5 out of 5 from 19 ratings, while Julian averages 4.8 from 4.6K ratings.
Do Pilot Time or Julian have ads?
Neither Pilot Time nor Julian shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pilot Time or Julian?
Pilot Time ships an update every 6 months, and Julian every 2 months. Most recently, Pilot Time was updated on September 21, 2026 and Julian on September 22, 2026.

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