MyCompassion vs First 5
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!
First 5
This app provides daily biblical teachings to help users establish a consistent spiritual practice. It offers tools for highlighting, saving, and sharing scripture, along with a built-in Bible and community features.
- Daily biblical teachings
- Highlight, save, and share scripture
- Integrated Bible reader
- Customizable reminders
- Community groups
- Exportable notes
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Transform your time with God using the First 5 app, developed by Proverbs 31 Ministries. First 5 is specifically designed to greet you with a short teaching in God’s Word daily before you get distracted by social media and everything else competing for your attention. It’s our hope you create a daily habit of reading God’s Word through your time spent in the First 5 app. Features • New Teaching Every Day: We unpack books of the Bible, focusing on passages of Scripture each day and seeing how they apply to our lives. • Highlight, Save and Share: You can highlight any portion of our daily teachings to bookmark, share or add a personal note. Review your notes and activity through your profile and use the export feature to save them to your device. • Reminder Functionality: Set up a reminder in the app to go off at any time you choose. This way, you can read each teaching at a time that works best in your schedule. • Bible: Don't have your Bible handy? Use this feature for your daily Bible reading. You can search any passage of Scripture and even bookmark, highlight and create a graphic to share with a friend. * Community: Find community among our First 5 friends in private and public groups.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: First 5 at 4.5 against MyCompassion's 3.6. First 5 also leads on review sentiment (73% vs 51%) and ratings volume (879 vs 42). MyCompassion's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
First 5 holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: First 5 has 879 ratings behind it against 42, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 51% of MyCompassion's written reviews are positive against 73% of First 5's.
MyCompassion ships an update every 2 months, First 5 every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 15, 2026.
| Parameter | MyCompassion | First 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (42 ratings) | 4.5 (879 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 51.4% of reviews | 72.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 42 | 879 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 75 MB | 40 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Compassion International, Inc. | Proverbs 31 Ministry, Inc. |
Customer experience
MyCompassion
First 5
User reviews
MyCompassion
From 42 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💌 Easy letter writing and composition
- 📸 Photo attachment capability
- 🗺️ Location and weather information about sponsored child
- 🙏 Prayer reminders and prompts
- 📖 Access to letter history and correspondence
Room to improve
- ⏱️ Extremely slow login process
- 💾 Letters not saving properly or disappearing
- 🔄 Frequent app crashes
- 🔐 Requires re-login on every app open
- 🖼️ Photo upload functionality broken
First 5
From 879 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Solid biblical teaching
- 👍 Comprehensive and beautiful app
- 👍 Excellent resource for Bible study
- 👍 Helpful for spiritual growth
- 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes or freezes
- 🐛 Glitchy or buggy functionality
- 🐛 Restricted access requiring sign-up
- 👎 Text is too small, no font size options
- 👎 Lack of dark mode or night theme
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
First 5
Reported bugs
4 issues- App not loading or showing blank screen
- Inability to access past or current studies
- Login/sign-in issues and account problems
- Repeated log-outs and sign-in requirements
Requested features
5 requests- Add dark mode or night theme
- Improve font size and zoom options
- Allow offline access to past studies
- Implement text-to-speech feature
- Provide more customization options
In-app purchases
MyCompassion
No in-app purchases
First 5
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is MyCompassion free?
Is First 5 free?
Which has better reviews, MyCompassion or First 5?
Do MyCompassion or First 5 have ads?
Which is updated more often, MyCompassion or First 5?
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