AO Surgery Reference vs AAOS Annual Meeting
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.
AAOS Annual Meeting
This app serves as a comprehensive resource for the AAOS Annual Meeting. Users can personalize their experience by creating a custom agenda with educational programs, exhibit hall activities, and featured exhibitors.
- Custom agenda builder
- Add education programs
- Exhibit Hall activities
- Must-see exhibitors
- Personalized learning path
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The Annual Meeting mobile app is your go-to AAOS Annual Meeting resource. You can choose your ideal learning path by adding education programs, Exhibit Hall activities, and must-see exhibitors to your custom agenda.
Screenshots
Verdict
AO Surgery Reference and AAOS Annual Meeting both sit at 4.4 stars, but that hides the real split: 86% of AO Surgery Reference's written reviews are positive against 23% of AAOS Annual Meeting's. AO Surgery Reference also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). AAOS Annual Meeting's advantage is ratings volume (658 vs 14). On price, rating, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for AO Surgery Reference against 4.5 for AAOS Annual Meeting. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AAOS Annual Meeting has 658 ratings behind it against 14, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 86% of AO Surgery Reference's written reviews are positive against 23% of AAOS Annual Meeting's.
AO Surgery Reference ships an update every 6 months, AAOS Annual Meeting every 7 months. Both last shipped on October 23, 2026.
| Parameter | AO Surgery Reference | AAOS Annual Meeting |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (14 ratings) | 4.5 (658 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 85.8% of reviews — better | 23.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 14 | 658 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 134 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | AO Foundation | American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Mobile |
Customer experience
AO Surgery Reference
AAOS Annual Meeting
Bugs and requests
AO Surgery Reference
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
AAOS Annual Meeting
Reported bugs
3 issues- Meeting filters didn't work properly
- Unable to find classes signed up for
- Log-in to access My Meeting not intuitive
Requested features
3 requests- Include hotel already chosen on personal profile
- QR code scan for login/access
- Populate paid courses/schedule automatically via scan
In-app purchases
AO Surgery Reference
No in-app purchases
AAOS Annual Meeting
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is AO Surgery Reference free?
Is AAOS Annual Meeting free?
Which has better reviews, AO Surgery Reference or AAOS Annual Meeting?
Do AO Surgery Reference or AAOS Annual Meeting have ads?
Which is updated more often, AO Surgery Reference or AAOS Annual Meeting?
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