Comparison

TimeTree vs ICS

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

Head to head
About

TimeTree

Explore a vast public knowledge base of evolutionary timescales and divergence times among organisms. This app uses a hierarchical system to find and present molecular time estimates from scientific literature, allowing users to compare species and view summary statistics.

Highlights
  • Explore evolutionary timescales
  • View organism divergence times
  • Access scientific literature data
  • Hierarchical tree-based system
  • Compute summary statistics
  • Compare species divergence
Features
Read full description

TimeTree 4 is a public knowledge-base for information on the evolutionary timescale of life. This application allows easy exploration of the thousands of divergence times among organisms in the scientific literature. A tree-based (hierarchical) system is used to identify all published molecular time estimates bearing on the divergence of two chosen organisms, such as species, compute summary statistics, and present the results. Names of two taxa to be compared are entered in the search window and the results are presented on a set of self-explanatory tabs. TimeTree 4 contains data from 2,274 studies including 50,632 species. We will be adding more data in the future as it comes in from researchers. TimeTree 4 requires iOS 8.0 or newer. The TimeTree project is jointly directed by Blair Hedges (Center for Biodiversity, Temple University) and Sudhir Kumar (Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine, Temple University). This project has been supported, in part, by grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, NASA Astrobiology Institute, and Science Foundation of Arizona.

About

ICS

Access authoritative geological time scale data and information on Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSPs). Explore charts, detailed GSSP information, and relevant statistics.

Highlights
  • Demonstration of ICS chart
  • Detailed GSSP information
  • GSSP statistics
  • Authoritative data service
Features
Read full description

ICS Timescale is the official APP of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It is designed to provide authoritative data service of ICS. The main functions include: 1) Demonstration of the ICS chart. 2) Detail information about each GSSP. 3) Statistics of the GSSPs.

Screenshots

TimeTree4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ICS at 4.3 against TimeTree's 4.0. ICS also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 8 months). TimeTree's advantage is review sentiment (65% vs 50%) and ratings volume (10 vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ICS holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 3 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 65% of TimeTree's written reviews are positive against 50% of ICS's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TimeTree ships an update every 8 months, ICS every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
TimeTree versus ICS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTimeTreeICS
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (10 ratings)4.3 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews65.1% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings10 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS8.0 — better9.0
Further details — not scored
Size66 MB20 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperArizona and Penn State Universities隽轩 樊

Customer experience

TimeTree

All ratings10 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews43 reviews
Positive65.1%
Neutral2.3%
Negative32.6%

ICS

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

TimeTree

No in-app purchases

None

ICS

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is TimeTree free?
TimeTree is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ICS free?
ICS is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, TimeTree or ICS?
ICS is rated higher. TimeTree averages 4.0 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while ICS averages 4.3 from 3 ratings.
Do TimeTree or ICS have ads?
Neither TimeTree nor ICS shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TimeTree or ICS?
TimeTree ships an update every 8 months, and ICS every 2 months. Most recently, TimeTree was updated on October 16, 2026 and ICS on October 4, 2026.

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