MyCompassion vs Shades Mountain
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MyCompassion
Easily manage your child sponsorship journey. Send letters, view photos and updates, receive prayer requests, and learn about their world. Stay connected with real-time alerts.
- Send letters to sponsored child
- View photos and updates
- Receive prayer requests
- Set prayer reminders
- Discover stories and facts
- Real-time alerts and updates
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You’ve already started something amazing by becoming a sponsor. Now, make your sponsorship journey easier with the MyCompassion app — designed just for you. See the impact of your support with just a tap! With the app, you can: • Quickly send letters to your sponsored child. It’s easy! • See their latest photos and updates. You’ll love watching them grow. • Get prayer requests and even set reminders to pray. • Discover stories and facts about their world — it’s like traveling without leaving home. • Stay in the loop with real-time alerts and updates! Ready to explore? Download the MyCompassion app now to start enjoying these new features!
Shades Mountain
This app enhances your on-campus experience with tools for connection, giving, event discovery, and group management. It also facilitates children's check-ins and helps you engage with the church's mission.
- Online connection card
- Giving capabilities
- Event discovery
- Group management
- Children's check-in
- Connect with church mission
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The Shades app offers you a suite of tools to complement your on campus experience. You can complete our online connection card, give, find upcoming events, manage your groups, check in your kids, and much more! Download the app to connect with Shades and its mission as we send transformed people to influence their world for Christ.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Shades Mountain at 5.0 against MyCompassion's 3.6. MyCompassion's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 29 months) and ratings volume (42 vs 2). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Shades Mountain holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MyCompassion has 42 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
MyCompassion ships an update every 2 months, Shades Mountain every 29 months. The most recent releases landed on August 19, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MyCompassion | Shades Mountain |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (42 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 51.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 42 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 29 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 75 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Compassion International, Inc. | Shades Mountain Baptist Church |
Customer experience
MyCompassion
Shades Mountain
Bugs and requests
MyCompassion
Reported bugs
18 issues- Login process takes excessive time to load
- Letter drafts fail to save or save incompletely
- App crashes when uploading photos
- Letter button requires multiple clicks to function
- App force closes during prayer selection
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Text disappears from letter body during composition
- App crashes when attaching images
- Notification badges persist even after reading
- Child information not syncing across devices
- Letters show incorrect or duplicate dates
- App crashes on iOS 8.2 when clicking bio headings
- Login credentials not persisting between sessions
- Gift sending interface freezes without options
- Template selection error message despite selection
- App becomes unresponsive during letter writing
- Photo upload reverts to main screen
- Account creation kicks user out of app
- Technical difficulties message on app open
Requested features
14 requests- Restore previous app version with better navigation
- Improve login speed and eliminate re-login requirement
- Add Apple Pencil support for handwritten letters on iPad
- Implement push notifications for received letters
- Make child photos larger and easier to access
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Show all letter history instead of limiting to last 5
- Add suggested topics for letter writing
- Reduce marketing content on home page
- Full-screen map view option
- Ability to make app payments and donations
- Better notification system for unread letters
- Automatic tracking of last letter sent date
- Dark mode option
- Improved draft auto-save functionality
Shades Mountain
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
MyCompassion
No in-app purchases
Shades Mountain
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is MyCompassion free?
Is Shades Mountain free?
Which has better reviews, MyCompassion or Shades Mountain?
Do MyCompassion or Shades Mountain have ads?
Which is updated more often, MyCompassion or Shades Mountain?
Other comparisons
