Comparison

Spok Mobile vs Cisco Jabber

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

Head to head

Spok Mobile

Free

💼 Business

★ 1.6144 ratingsView app →

Cisco Jabber

Free

💼 Business

★ 4.617K ratingsView app →

About

Spok Mobile

This app facilitates critical messaging and alerting for professionals in healthcare, government, and public safety. It enables secure communication for urgent situations, with some features requiring a subscription to a supported system.

Highlights

Critical messaging
Alerting
Healthcare communication
Government communication
Public safety communication
Secure messaging

Features

Read full description

Spok Mobile™ is a critical messaging / alerting application for use in healthcare, government, and public safety environments. Some functionality requires a subscription / connection to a supported Spok system.

About

Cisco Jabber

This application provides a unified communication experience, offering presence, instant messaging, voice, voice messaging, and video calling. It allows users to escalate calls into multi-party conferences and integrates with other collaboration tools.

Highlights

Instant messaging and presence
Integrated voice and video calling
Visual voicemail
Escalate to WebEx meetings
Cross-platform compatibility

Features

Read full description

Cisco Jabber™ for iPhone and iPad is a collaboration application that provides presence, instant messaging (IM), voice, voice messaging, and video calling capabilities on Apple iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Escalate your Jabber calls into multi-party conferencing with Cisco WebEx® Meetings. This application supports the following capabilities: • Integrated voice • High-quality video with interoperability to Cisco video endpoints • IM, presence • Visual voicemail • One-tap escalation to WebEx meetings (cross-launches the Cisco WebEx® Meetings application) Device and Operating System Requirements: The latest Cisco Jabber for iPhone and iPad Release is supported on iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. iPhone models compatible with iOS18: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/iphone-models-compatible-with-ios-18-iphe3fa5df43/18.0/ios/18.0 iPad models compatible with iPadOS 18: https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/ipad-models-compatible-with-ipados-18-ipad213a25b2/ipados For more information about Cisco Jabber, visit: http://www.cisco.com/go/jabber IMPORTANT: If connecting to Cisco Unified Communications Manager, administrators must enable the correct Cisco Jabber for iPhone and iPad configurations, or proper connectivity will not be established. For details, review the latest Cisco Jabber Installation and Configuration Guide, and Server Setup Guide. IMPORTANT: Most of the features described above are specific to a particular system configuration. Please check with your IT administrator to determine the specific features that are available to you. Portions of Cisco Jabber are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), and are “Copyright © 1999 Erik Walthinsen omega@cse.ogi.edu”. You may obtain a copy of the LGPL license at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.html. Cisco, Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Cisco Jabber are trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. Copyright © 2013-2025 Cisco Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. By tapping “Install” you agree to install Jabber and all future software updates, and you accept the terms of service and privacy statement below: http://www.cisco.com/web/siteassets/legal/privacy.html Email us at jabber-ios-feedback@cisco.com with any feedback. Support URL http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/jabber-iphone-ipad/tsd-products-support-series-home.html Marketing URL http://www.cisco.com/go/jabber

Screenshots

Spok Mobile4 screens

Cisco Jabber4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Cisco Jabber at 4.6 against Spok Mobile's 1.6. Cisco Jabber also leads on monetization model (free vs subscription) and ratings volume (17K vs 144). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Cisco Jabber holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 1.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Cisco Jabber has 17K ratings behind it against 144, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 10% of Spok Mobile's written reviews are positive against 27% of Cisco Jabber's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spok Mobile ships an update every 4 months, Cisco Jabber every 2 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level

Spok Mobile versus Cisco Jabber: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter	Spok Mobile	Cisco Jabber
Price	Free	Free
Rating	1.6 (144 ratings)	4.6 (17K ratings) — better
Positive reviews	10.4% of reviews	27.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings	144	17K — better
Update frequency	Every 4 months	Every 2 months — better
Ads	No	No
In-app purchases	No	No
Monetization	Subscription	Free — better
Devices	iPhone, iPad, iPod	iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS	15.0 — better	16.0
Further details — not scored
Size	39 MB	170 MB
Age rating	4+	4+
Developer	Spok, Inc.	Cisco

Customer experience

Spok Mobile

All ratings128 ratings

Positive10.9%

Neutral3.9%

Negative85.2%

Written reviews115 reviews

Positive10.4%

Neutral9.6%

Negative80.0%

Cisco Jabber

All ratings16,760 ratings

Positive89.6%

Neutral3.8%

Negative6.6%

Written reviews355 reviews

Positive27.0%

Neutral12.1%

Negative60.8%

User reviews

Spok Mobile

From 144 App Store ratings

What we love

🔒 HIPAA-compliant secure messaging
📱 Eliminates need to carry physical pager
🌍 Works with Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity
✅ Messages generally deliver when functioning properly

Room to improve

🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
📳 Unreliable push notifications - requires opening app to receive alerts
🔊 Extremely loud audio alerts with no volume control
🎨 Outdated, clunky user interface from 1990s-2000s era
⏰ Inconsistent notification timing and delivery delays

Cisco Jabber

From 17K App Store ratings

What we love

🚀 Works well when it's working
👍 Good app when it functions properly
🚀 Excellent video and audio quality

Room to improve

🐛 Frequent disconnections and login issues
🐛 Unreliable notifications and missed calls
🐛 Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
🐛 Crashes and freezes
🔋 High battery consumption

Bugs and requests

Spok Mobile

Reported bugs

24 issues

App crashes on startup or when opening messages
Push notifications fail to deliver unless app is open
Audio settings revert to high volume automatically
Status switcher disappeared after iOS updates
Alerts continue after message is opened

Show 19 more

Messages arrive hours or days late
Null messages received with no information
App logs out unexpectedly
Badges show unread pages but app won't load them
Registration errors during setup
Login timeouts and unresponsive authentication
Dark mode makes text unreadable
Incompatible with iOS low battery mode
Phone number links require multiple taps to work
App breaks with iOS updates
Messages disappear from history quickly
Confirm receipt system broken on iOS
App freezes during update process
Incompatible with VPN connections
CarPlay compatibility issues
Notifications don't work with Focus mode enabled
Message body doesn't display in notifications
Slow app startup and message loading
Pages received out of order or with wrong timestamps

Requested features

20 requests

Apple Watch support with message preview
Customizable alert tones and volume control
Ability to mute/silence pager independently from phone
Copy and paste functionality within messages
Search function for messages

Show 15 more

Better message threading and group messaging
On-call directory integration
Character count display before sending
Repeat notification alerts until acknowledged
Message preview in notifications and lock screen
Delete all messages button
Better dark mode support
Improved Focus mode integration
Vibrate-only alert option
Custom ringtone selection from iTunes store
Message templates/canned responses
Improved favorites list
Better message history retention
Multimedia support expansion
One-time alert option instead of multiple alerts

Cisco Jabber

Reported bugs

3 issues

Inability to receive calls when app is in background
Notifications not working as expected
Frequent need to log in and reconnect

Requested features

3 requests

Allow customization of ringtones
Improve syncing of chat history across devices
Add support for iPad multitasking

In-app purchases

None

Spok Mobile

No in-app purchases

None

Cisco Jabber

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Spok Mobile free?

Spok Mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

Is Cisco Jabber free?

Cisco Jabber is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

Which has better reviews, Spok Mobile or Cisco Jabber?

Cisco Jabber is rated higher. Spok Mobile averages 1.6 out of 5 from 144 ratings, while Cisco Jabber averages 4.6 from 17K ratings.

Do Spok Mobile or Cisco Jabber have ads?

Neither Spok Mobile nor Cisco Jabber shows ads.

Which is updated more often, Spok Mobile or Cisco Jabber?

Spok Mobile ships an update every 4 months, and Cisco Jabber every 2 months. Most recently, Spok Mobile was updated on November 1, 2026 and Cisco Jabber on November 1, 2026.