Comparison

Groups vs Lucent Ally

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Groups

This app transforms your phone's contacts into a private social network. Organize people, share updates, and stay connected without sharing your data with large tech companies. It offers features for communication, event planning, and contact management.

Highlights
  • Organize contacts into custom groups
  • Set reminders to reach out
  • Send personalized group messages
  • Create events and invite guests
  • Share content from any app
  • Data privacy focused
Features
Read full description

You've just found the best, easiest app for staying in touch with people. Try it for yourself — it's free! Downloaded by millions in over 100 countries, Groups turns your phone's native contacts into a private social network. Organize your groups, share with friends and family, and stay connected — without feeding Big Tech your data. ORGANIZE YOUR CONTACTS: ◆ Group by how you know them — friends, family, work, hobbies ◆ See who you met recently and interaction history ◆ Smart search finds anyone instantly ◆ Clean up duplicates and merge contacts STAY IN TOUCH: ◆ Set reminders to reach out to people who matter ◆ Send personalized messages to your whole circle at once ◆ Message templates for birthdays, holidays, events ◆ Track who you haven't spoken to in a while SHARE TOGETHER: ◆ Exchange contact info instantly with QR codes ◆ Take Group Photos with fun AI effects ◆ Create events and invite people (they join via browser — no app needed) ◆ Share links, photos, and content from any app ◆ Custom icons for each group YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS: ◆ Unlike Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, your contacts never leave your phone. ◆ Messages go directly through SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, or Email — recipients don't need Groups to receive them. ◆ No algorithms deciding who sees your posts. No ads. No data mining. No selling your information. ◆ Just a better way to stay connected with the people you actually care about. Through channels you already use. WORKS WITH EVERYTHING: ◆ Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, and more. ◆ Fully compatible with iOS features like Do Not Disturb, Voice Messages, and Shortcuts. Now available on iPad. OWN YOUR COMMUNITY Every contact is real social capital. Whether you're organizing a book club, coordinating family events, or building a community around shared interests — Groups helps you bring people together on your terms. Free to download. Start growing your private social network today.

About

Lucent Ally

Read full description

Introducing Lucent Ally, organize, record, and analyze your Life. Welcome to Lucent Ally, the ultimate app for organizing your life, tracking important information, and visualizing your data with ease. Whether you're managing personal projects, tracking habits, or keeping detailed records, Lucent Ally is designed to help you stay organized and informed. Key Features: 1. Create and manage groups Organize Your Life: Create groups (also known as folders) for different areas of your life, such as personal projects, work tasks, expense tracking or anything that you might be intrested in. Flexible Structure: Each group allows you to organize information in a way that makes sense to you. 2. Customizable Entries Tailor to your needs: Define your own entry types by creating models with different fields. There are fields to track Payments, Emotions, Dates, Numbers, Texts, Tags, Images, Locations, Birthdays, Passwords, Emails, Phone numbers, and more. Easy to Use: Once you've created a model entry with your desired fields, you can quickly add those to any group. 3. Visualize Your Data Insightful Charts: Turn your data into beautiful charts. See trends and pattersn at a glance. Make informed decisions: Use visualizations to understand your data better and make informed decisions based on what you track. 4. Two Modes: Local and Shared Local Mode: On Your Device: In Local Mode, all groups and entries are saved only on your physical device. This ensures your data remains only accessible to you. No Internet Needed: Access your information anytime without requiring an internet connection. Shared Mode: Cloud Storage: In Shared Mode, all groups and entries are saved securely on a cloud server. This allows you to share data and charts with others. Collaborate Easily: Perfect for teams or shared projects, enabling seamless collaboration and networked data gathering. 5. Encryption available: Secure Your Data: Choose to encrypt local groups to keep your sensitive information safe. Your data is protected with the highest security standards. 6. Your data stays private! No Ads! No login! No internet required! Privacy pledge: We do not collect or sell your private information! This App is advertisement free and does not require a login! Peace of Mind: Feel confident that your private information remains private! How It Works: Choose Your Mode: Local Mode: For maximum privacy and offline access, keep your data stored only on your device. Optionally secure your groups with a password to encrypt its contents. Shared Mode: For cloud access and collaboration, save your data on our secure servers. Create a Group: Start by creating a new group for the area you want to organize. For example, create a group for "Work Projects" or "Expense Journal". Define Model Entries: Customize your entries by selecting from a variety of fields. You might create a model entry "Expense" with a Date field, a Text field for notes and a Payment field to track what you spend and earn. Add Entries: Use this Model to start adding data to your groups. For example, in your "Expense Journal" group, you might add an "Expense" entry with the name "Lucent Ally". ;) View Charts: Visualize your data with charts. Get a detailed overview of what you spend and earn, track project progress, see how your mood changes or analyze any other data you’ve recorded. Why Lucent Ally? User-friendly: Designed for ease of use, Lucent Ally requires no technical skills. Simply create, record, and view your data. Highly customizable: Adapt the app to suit your unique needs with flexible Model Entries. Flexible secure storage: Choose between Local Mode for privacy and Shared Mode for accessibility and collaboration.

Screenshots

Groups4 screens
Lucent Ally4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Groups at Free against Lucent Ally's $4.00. Lucent Ally's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 13) and ads (none vs shown). On update cadence, device support and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Groups is free to download; Lucent Ally costs $4.00 up front. Groups sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Lucent Ally asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Groups ships an update every 8 days, Lucent Ally weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and May 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Groups versus Lucent Ally: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGroupsLucent Ally
PriceFree — better$4.00
Rating4.2 (4.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews59.3% of reviews
Number of ratings4.9K — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.617.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size146 MB32 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperQbix, Inc.Christoph Maximilian Kortl

Bugs and requests

Groups

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Groups disappearing
  • Contacts not syncing properly
  • Inability to create new groups
  • Freezing and crashing on certain actions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to delete groups and contacts
  • Improved group management and sorting
  • Option to send mass texts without individual replies
  • Better integration with native contacts app

Lucent Ally

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

11 purchases

Groups

Subscriptions3
  • Unlock All Features$0.991 Month
  • Plus$1.991 Month
  • Premium$2.991 Month
One-time8
  • Turn off Ads$1.99
  • Turn off Ads$4.99
  • + 500 icons$5.99
Show 5 more
  • Unlock All Features$5.99
  • + I just like your app2 variants$9.99
  • Unlock All Features$9.99
  • + I just like your app$14.99
  • + I really love your app!2 variants$19.99
None

Lucent Ally

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Groups free?
Groups is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Lucent Ally free?
Lucent Ally costs $4.00, with no in-app purchases.
Do Groups or Lucent Ally have ads?
Groups shows ads; Lucent Ally does not.
Which is updated more often, Groups or Lucent Ally?
Groups ships an update every 8 days, and Lucent Ally weekly. Most recently, Groups was updated on September 23, 2026 and Lucent Ally on May 17, 2026.

Other comparisons