AO Surgery Reference vs Bullets*
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AO Surgery Reference
Access a comprehensive online repository of surgical knowledge for fracture management. It provides detailed guidance on diagnosis, treatment, and aftercare for numerous fracture types, supported by extensive illustrations and expert review.
- 353 fracture types covered
- 172 surgical approaches
- 1222 surgical procedures
- Over 30,000 illustrations
- Feline, canine, and equine fracture care
- Powerful search function
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QUICK ONLINE REFERENCE IN CLINICAL LIFE Gain easy access to the award-winning AO Surgery Reference. AO Surgery Reference is an online repository for surgical knowledge. It describes the complete surgical management process from diagnosis to aftercare for all fractures of a given anatomical region, and also assembles relevant material that the AO has published before. It gives access to: • aid in surgical decision making for 353 fracture types • 172 approaches • 1222 surgical procedures • all richly illustrated with more than 30'000 Illustrations and much more. To ensure the quality of the content, it is authored, edited, and peer reviewed by experienced AO Faculty from all over the world, some of which are also well-known textbook authors/editors. This is a relaunch of the AO Surgery Reference app utilizing the same responsive user interface that was released February 2020. The highlights are: • Consistent navigational logic and user experience on all screen sizes • Inclusion of feline, canine, and equine fracture care • Combination of Preparation – Approach – Reduction and Fixation – Aftercare into one step called treatment. • Introduction of a powerful search function, allowing simplifications of the user interface as it replaces previous shortcuts.
Bullets*
Access medical and orthopedic educational content, including topics, questions, and cases. Create custom exams, review scientific articles, and monitor community activity. Earn CME credits through self-assessment exams and collaborative learning.
- Medical and orthopedic topics
- Customizable exams (Testmaster)
- Article review with PDFs
- Community activity feed
- Earn CME credits
- Point of Care Learning (PoCL)
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The companion APP for Orthobullets.com and Medbullets.com. Bullets* contains medbullets and orthobullets Topics, Questions, Techniques, Cases, Videos, and Evidence. Our Testmaster allows you to create, take, and review customized exams. Article links allows for quick review of scientific abstracts and often the PDF is provided and can be viewed on your phone. Our "Home" screen allows you to monitor a thread of educational activity within our community. All educational activity, including the Qbank, is synced with the main platform for seamless use on both your iPhone APP and computer. You can earn CME by taking Self-Assessment Exams and contributing to our free collaboration community by posting educational comments with scientific references as part of our Point of Care Learning (PoCL) activity. All CME Study Plan examinations can be taken on the iPhone and can be found on your CME Dashboard. Residents on the PASS institutional platform can take PASS exams, complete their PASS Skillmaster learning modules, and submit both Rotation and Milestone Skill Evaluations to faculty. Faculty members using PASS Pro 2.0 can grade Rotation Evaluations and Milestone Skill Evaluations on the APP, eliminating the need to log in with each evaluation.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Bullets* at every 8 days against AO Surgery Reference's every 6 months. Bullets* also leads on ratings volume (61 vs 14). AO Surgery Reference's advantage is rating (4.4 vs 4.0) and review sentiment (82% vs 68%). 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.
AO Surgery Reference holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14 and 61 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of AO Surgery Reference's written reviews are positive against 68% of Bullets*'s.
AO Surgery Reference ships an update every 6 months, Bullets* every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AO Surgery Reference | Bullets* |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (14 ratings) — better | 4.0 (61 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 82.2% of reviews — better | 67.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 14 | 61 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 168 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | AO Foundation | Lineage Medical, LLC |
Customer experience
AO Surgery Reference
Bullets*
In-app purchases
AO Surgery Reference
No in-app purchases
Bullets*
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is AO Surgery Reference free?
Is Bullets* free?
Which has better reviews, AO Surgery Reference or Bullets*?
Do AO Surgery Reference or Bullets* have ads?
Which is updated more often, AO Surgery Reference or Bullets*?
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