Comparison

When I Work Staff Scheduling vs Shyft

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

Head to head
About

When I Work Staff Scheduling

Streamline employee scheduling, time tracking, and team communication. This app helps reduce chaos and costs by improving accountability, facilitating shift trades, and providing instant notifications for schedule changes. It's designed for shift-based workplaces to enhance team management and boost productivity.

Highlights
  • Employee scheduling
  • Time clock
  • Team messaging
  • Shift trades
  • Time off requests
  • Auto scheduling
  • Labor forecasting
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Join more than 200,000 workplaces running on When I Work to reduce chaos, costs, and turnover with employee scheduling and time tracking for the modern workforce. When I Work is an employee scheduling app that does more than just save you time on scheduling. It also helps you improve communication, eliminate excuses, boost accountability among your staff, track time and attendance, and grow your business. “2026 Shortlist” - Capterra “2025 Category Leader” - Getapp "Fastest Implementation" - G2 Crowd MANAGERS LOVE IT: • Easy to use time clock to clock in and out • Message with staff 1:1 or in groups • Monitor and approve shift trades and time off requests • View the entire staff schedule anywhere at anytime • Create a work calendar to efficiently plan schedules • Quickly alert staff of changes and updates to the schedule • Messaging and scheduling permissions for easier management • Geofencing features to prevent buddy punching EMPLOYEES LOVE IT: • Clock in and out of shifts from the app • Instantly trade shifts with coworkers • View work schedules from anywhere at anytime • Pick up extra hours with open shifts • Check the work calendar to easily request time off • Privately message coworkers 1:1 or in groups within the app • Easily check who's working which shifts WHEN I WORK FEATURES: When I Work is employee-focused and built exclusively for shift-based workplaces. We monitor our systems 24/7/365 to give you and your employees peace of mind that your data is safe and secure. Choose When I Work to get the best in: • Team management - Onboard new employees, approve time off requests, review shift trades, and fill shifts in seconds. • Team accountability - Shift confirmation, mobile clock in, shift task lists, team task lists, and chat ensure everyone is on the same page. • Team communication - Notify your team of changes instantly and communicate with coworkers 1:1 or in group chats. • Team empowerment - Your team can manage availability, submit time-off requests, and collaborate on shift trades. • One-click scheduling - Build your entire work schedule in one click with Auto Scheduling. • Confident shift coverage - Receive shift confirmations from employees and be notified immediately of swaps and drops. • Share schedules - Publish the schedule and your whole team is instantly notified of their shifts. • Labor forecasting - Easy-to-use labor tools help you manage your labor budget efficiently. • Control overtime costs - Get overtime alerts and labor reporting to make managing labor costs easier. • Schedule enforcement - Limit clock ins to shifts and locations to ensure that everyone is where they need to be at the right time. • Payroll integration - Import your timesheets to quickly and accurately process payroll. • Labor reports - Use labor distribution to manage costs and forecast for the future. Terms of use: https://wheniwork.com/terms Privacy policy: https://wheniwork.com/privacy

About

Shyft

This app helps employees manage their work schedules, swap shifts with colleagues, and communicate with their team. It allows users to find coverage for shifts they can't work or pick up extra shifts for additional income. Managers can also use it to post open shifts and manage team schedules.

Highlights
  • Swap shifts with team members
  • Message coworkers
  • Manage work schedules
  • Find coverage for shifts
  • Pick up extra work shifts
  • Request time off
  • Post open shifts (admin)
Features
Read full description

Shyft empowers employees to swap their shifts, message team members, and manage schedules, all from their mobile device. Every day, users rely on Shyft to help make real time adjustments to their work schedule and stay connected with their team. Whether you need one important shift covered, or you are looking to broadcast thousands of shifts, Shyft is here to help. VIEW YOUR WORK SCHEDULE Access and manage your work schedule on your mobile device. View shifts you are working, all shift details, and get push notification reminders before each shift. FIND COVERAGE FOR YOUR SHIFT Can’t make it to work? No problem! Post your shift on the Shift Marketplace and find coverage from another team member. Once a manager approves, you are off the hook! PICK UP EXTRA WORK SHIFTS Looking to earn extra income? Pick up shifts by browsing available work opportunities on the Shift Marketplace. Tap on a shift to apply. Once you are approved, head in to work! COMMUNICATE WITH YOU TEAM Stay connected without trading phone numbers with your coworkers. Access the Community tab to send direct messages or post multimedia on team channels. REQUEST TIME OFF Make time off requests for days you need off in your calendar. View accrual balances, and submit the request for managers to approve. TAKE VOLUNTARY TIME OFF When VTO opportunities are made available, tap to apply and offer to take the day off. Once approved, enjoy your day off! ADMIN FEATURES: POST OPEN SHIFTS Broadcast 1 or 100s of open shifts with the tap of a button. If you need team members to work, post a shift, add a description, and select the group. Then manage applications as they come in. APPROVE AND DENY SHIFTS Review and approve or deny shift swap applications between team members, and for manager posted shifts. Manage multiple applications all on one shift card. VIEW TEAM ROSTERS Manage the daily roster and see which employees are working when. View job positions and shift start/end times. Add Open Shifts and VTOs directly from the roster card. POST ANNOUNCEMENTS Post announcements with read receipts. Send announcements to your location on a team channel, and see who has marked the announcement as read. SHARE PHOTO SCHEDULES Still using paper scheduling? Take a photo of a printed schedule to send to your team. Team members will be able to view the schedule in their shift calendar. MANAGE USERS & GROUPS View all location team members and approve or deny users into the location. Create new groups for shift posting and communication channels to send messages. Have a question? Tap Send Feedback in the app or visit support.myshyft.com.

Screenshots

When I Work Staff Scheduling4 screens
Shyft4 screens

Verdict

The call

When I Work Staff Scheduling and Shyft both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 90% of When I Work Staff Scheduling's written reviews are positive against 35% of Shyft's. When I Work Staff Scheduling also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs monthly) and chart position (#102 vs unranked). Shyft's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. When I Work Staff Scheduling sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Shyft asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for When I Work Staff Scheduling against 4.8 for Shyft. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 57K and 31K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 90% of When I Work Staff Scheduling's written reviews are positive against 35% of Shyft's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

When I Work Staff Scheduling ships an update every 9 days, Shyft monthly. Both last shipped on September 26, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
When I Work Staff Scheduling versus Shyft: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWhen I Work Staff SchedulingShyft
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (57K ratings)4.8 (31K ratings)
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews — better35.5% of reviews
Number of ratings57K — better31K
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#102 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size229 MB44 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperWhen I Work, Inc.Shyft Technologies, Inc.

Customer experience

When I Work Staff Scheduling

All ratings57,071 ratings
Positive96.4%
Neutral1.8%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews1,398 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral3.0%
Negative7.0%

Shyft

All ratings30,707 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral2.7%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews155 reviews
Positive35.5%
Neutral17.4%
Negative47.1%

User reviews

When I Work Staff Scheduling

From 57K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Convenient for scheduling
  • 💡 Helpful for shift swapping and communication
  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 👍 Effective for managing staff

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔍 Difficult to navigate some features
  • 🔍 Lack of customization options
  • 🔍 Issues with shift approval and time-off requests
  • 🔍 Problems with the messaging/chat functionality

Shyft

From 31K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use for shift swapping and scheduling
  • 💡 Helpful for managers and employees
  • 🚀 Streamlines communication and shift coverage

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and glitchy after updates
  • 🤔 Confusing and less user-friendly interface after updates
  • 🤔 Difficult to navigate and find information

Bugs and requests

When I Work Staff Scheduling

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes or freezes frequently
  • Unreliable notifications and alerts
  • Syncing issues between mobile and web versions
  • Problems with location-based clock-in/out features

Requested features

6 requests
  • Allow employees to view Sunday schedules
  • Improve shift drop/swap process
  • Add a sick day request feature
  • Provide more flexibility in availability settings
  • Enhance the calendar view and scheduling tools
Show 1 more
  • Improve the messaging/chat experience

Shyft

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Notifications not working properly
  • Shifts disappearing from the app
  • Constant log-out issues

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to sync work schedule to personal calendar
  • Option to cancel shift coverage requests
  • Improved real-time schedule updates

In-app purchases

10 purchases

When I Work Staff Scheduling

One-time10
  • Annual Micro Scheduling Plan$99.99
  • Annual Mini Scheduling Plan$209.99
  • Annual Small Scheduling Plan$299.99
Show 7 more
  • Annual Medium Scheduling$399.99
  • Annual Large Scheduling$499.99
  • Annual Small Scheduling and Attendance$599.99
  • Annual XL Scheduling$599.99
  • Annual Medium Scheduling and Attendance$799.99
  • Annual Super Scheduling$799.99
  • Annual Plus Scheduling$999.99
None

Shyft

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is When I Work Staff Scheduling free?
When I Work Staff Scheduling is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shyft free?
Shyft is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, When I Work Staff Scheduling or Shyft?
When I Work Staff Scheduling and Shyft are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 57K and 31K ratings respectively.
Do When I Work Staff Scheduling or Shyft have ads?
Neither When I Work Staff Scheduling nor Shyft shows ads.
Which is updated more often, When I Work Staff Scheduling or Shyft?
When I Work Staff Scheduling ships an update every 9 days, and Shyft monthly. Most recently, When I Work Staff Scheduling was updated on September 26, 2026 and Shyft on September 26, 2026.

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