SmallTalk Intensive Care vs Patient Communicator
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SmallTalk Intensive Care
This app offers a picture-based vocabulary for patients with communication difficulties to express their needs and feelings to medical staff. It's designed for individuals recovering from strokes, those with aphasia, or anyone facing speech impairments.
- Picture-based vocabulary
- Customizable phrase icons
- Phrase rearrangement
- Reset to original settings
- Supports stroke survivors
- Aids aphasia patients
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SmallTalk Intensive Care provides a picture-based vocabulary of phrases that patients can use to communicate their needs and feelings to medical-care providers in the ICU. It includes phrases such as “I have chest pain” and “I want a doctor.” The app can be used by anyone who has difficulty speaking from having suffered a stroke. It can also be used for individual with other language impairments, non-native speakers, or those being intubated or on a tracheotomy tube. You can easily rearrange the order of the icons or remove others to make it simpler to focus on your most important messages. Then, reset the app to return to original settings. WHO IS THIS APP FOR? + Stroke Survivors + People with Aphasia + Caregivers of People with Aphasia + Speech-Language Pathologists + Speech-Language Pathology Students + Emergency Healthcare Workers Learn more about Lingraphica at www.aphasia.com
Patient Communicator
Facilitates communication between patients, families, and caregivers with multi-language translations and tools to express needs, pain, and moods. Includes educational materials and a diary to track progress during and after a hospital stay.
- Multi-language translation (18 languages)
- Patient diary for progress tracking
- Pain and mood expression scale
- Glossary of medical terms
- Educational booklet download
- Translatable phrases for needs
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The Patient Communicator by the Society of Critical Care Medicine is designed to improve communication among patients, families, and caregivers. With translations in 18 languages; a diary feature; options to easily communicate about pain, moods, and needs; a glossary of terms and other education materials for patients and families; the Patient Communicator app can help ease the stress of a hospital stay. Features include: - A diary function that allows patients to track their daily progress during and after a hospital stay - Translation capabilities that allow for two-way communication in 18 languages on a variety of topics, such as pain, basic needs, feelings, and moods - A scale that allows patients to identify where on the body they feel sensations of pain, itching, and nausea and express the intensity of these sensations - More than 30 translatable phrases that allow patients to express various needs related to their care and well-being - A glossary of terms to help educate patients and families about the intensive care unit - A free download of the booklet Understanding Your ICU Stay: Information for Patients and Families Available translation languages: - English - Español (Spanish) - Mandarin (普通话 ) - Dutch (Nederlands) - Hindi - French (Français) - Italiano - Portuguese (Portuges) - Russian - Swedish (Svenska) - Czech (Čeština) - Polnisch (Polski/Polish) - Turkish - Ukrainian (українська) - Lithuanian (Lietuvių) - Arabic - German (Deutsch) - Japanese Contact support@sccm.org for more information.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: SmallTalk Intensive Care at 100% against Patient Communicator's 40%. SmallTalk Intensive Care also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16.0). Patient Communicator'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.
SmallTalk Intensive Care holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 10 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of SmallTalk Intensive Care's written reviews are positive against 40% of Patient Communicator's.
SmallTalk Intensive Care ships an update every 8 months, Patient Communicator every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SmallTalk Intensive Care | Patient Communicator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.6 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 40.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 10 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 266 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Lingraphicare, Inc. | Society of Critical Care Medicine |
Customer experience
SmallTalk Intensive Care
Patient Communicator
In-app purchases
SmallTalk Intensive Care
No in-app purchases
Patient Communicator
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is SmallTalk Intensive Care free?
Is Patient Communicator free?
Which has better reviews, SmallTalk Intensive Care or Patient Communicator?
Do SmallTalk Intensive Care or Patient Communicator have ads?
Which is updated more often, SmallTalk Intensive Care or Patient Communicator?
Other comparisons
