Standard Life vs Obsidian
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Standard Life
Manage your pension and investments on the go. Increase, top up, or stop pension payments, view plan values, and track transactions. Secure messaging and a retirement income tool are also available.
- Manage pension payments
- Top up pension
- View plan value and performance
- Secure messaging
- Retirement income tool
- Update beneficiaries
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The Standard Life app includes great features which can help you manage your money on the go. Our App provides the ability to: - Manage your pension payments: increase, setup, stop & reduce - Top up your pension - View recent transactions - View the value of your plan(s), fund performance and daily fund changes - Manage your beneficiaries - Update your retirement date - Transfer in other pensions - Change your investments - Withdraw cash if aged 55 or over - View charges & discounts on your pension plan Send and receive secure messages with attachments via the mailbox and there is an option to be notified when you receive a new message. Why not try our retirement income tool to see what your retirement could look like in 5 minutes and explore your options. We aim to provide access to the features listed wherever possible, but not all products are supported Help and support You can access FAQs from our Help page or send us a secure message about your plan from our Mailbox page. If you run into any issues with the App let us know at: mobile-app@standardlife.com Feedback We are always updating the App with new features and tools. We want to hear from you - you can leave us a review or leave feedback in the App within the help section. Getting started You must be a customer with us to use the App. If you are not registered for online servicing you can do this on the App. Once you are logged in you can choose to set a passcode, fingerprint or facial recognition if your device allows. Additional information The Standard Life app is not available for WRAP products and Aberdeen Standard Capital customers. Some With Profits Policies, along with some of our Bonds and Investment Fund products cannot be viewed. Transferring other pensions won’t be right for everyone. Payments and withdrawals Not all products support payments through the app and you may be prompted to contact us or your employer if you have a workplace pension. Any changes to regular payments will come from the bank account that you have set up with us. When making payments, topping up or amending a regular payment it’s important to note that investment returns aren't guaranteed. The value of your investment can go down as well as up and may be worth less than you paid in. Cookie policy Cookies do many different jobs like storing your preferences, helping you navigate effectively, and improving your overall experience of a website or app. Cookies make the interaction between you and the app quicker and easier. For example, a cookie might store information so you don't have to keep entering it. Some cookies are needed to make our app work and keep it secure so they can't be turned off. These are classed as 'essential cookies'. Others are optional and you can change your preferences, these are classed as 'experience and insight cookies'. Who we are Phoenix Life Limited, trading name as Standard Life, is registered in England and Wales (1016269) at 10 Brindleyplace, Birmingham, B1 2JB. Phoenix Life Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
Obsidian
This app functions as a private, offline ledger to meticulously record your assets and their assigned categories and values. It allows for manual net worth tracking and periodic data snapshots without any automated analysis, prediction, or cloud-based features. The focus is on simple, secure, local data storage for personal asset management.
- Private offline ledger
- Record assets
- Assign categories and values
- Manual net worth tracking
- Periodic data snapshots
- Local data storage only
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OBSIDIAN is a private, offline ledger. It records what you own. It reflects where you stand. It does not analyse, predict, or advise. There are no accounts. There is no cloud. There is no sharing. All data is stored locally on your device. Functions include: Recording assets Assigning categories and optional values Maintaining a manual net worth Capturing periodic snapshots Receiving one daily signal Nothing updates automatically. Nothing is inferred. There are no charts. There are no feeds. There are no performance metrics. OBSIDIAN is reviewed occasionally, not monitored continuously. It is not a budgeting tool. It is not an investment platform. It does not provide financial advice. No tracking. No analytics. No data collection. No data transmission. OBSIDIAN is priced intentionally.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Standard Life at Free against Obsidian's $999.99. Standard Life also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (25 vs 1). Obsidian's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (100% vs 84%). On 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
Standard Life is free to download; Obsidian costs $999.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Obsidian holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Standard Life has 25 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Standard Life's written reviews are positive against 100% of Obsidian's.
Standard Life ships an update fortnightly, Obsidian every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Standard Life | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $999.99 |
| Rating | 4.3 (25 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 25 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 78 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Standard Life Assets and Employee Services Limited | 1BIGRIG Ltd |
Customer experience
Standard Life
Obsidian
Bugs and requests
Standard Life
Reported bugs
3 issues- Login screen freezes
- App crashes on startup
- Pension balance disappearing from web app
Requested features
3 requests- Add ability to update beneficiary details
- Provide investment growth statistics
- Improve compatibility with tablet landscape mode
Obsidian
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Standard Life
No in-app purchases
Obsidian
No in-app purchases









