Comparison

CDC vs COVID Symptom

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

Head to head
About

CDC

Access the latest health information and news directly from the official source. Organize your home screen to prioritize what matters most and receive real-time updates. Explore a variety of content including disease data, videos, podcasts, and journal articles.

Highlights
  • Up-to-date health information
  • Customizable home screen
  • Disease case counts
  • Videos and podcasts
  • Journal articles
  • Searchable web content
Features
Read full description

Get the official CDC Mobile application to access the most up to date health information. FILTERING OPTIONS Organize your home screen so that the information that’s most important to you appears first! Turn off the content you don’t want with just a flip of a switch and reset it all with the tap of a button. CONTENT The app ensures that you’re getting the most up to date health information. The home screen lets you see all your information in one place and updates whenever your device is connected to WI-FI. Enjoy a greater variety of content such as Image of the Week, disease case counts, videos, and podcasts to give you the most current health information from CDC. Browse the latest articles, stay on top of health news in the Newsroom section, and view CDC Images of the Week. If you’re a journal reader, view the latest Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, Emerging and Infectious Disease journal, or the latest on Preventing Chronic Diseases. You can even search CDC’s web content from the app. We'd love to hear your thoughts about the app! Rate the CDC Mobile App in the App Store or leave a comment to let us know how we're doing. You can even send us an email through the app if you have suggestions for improvements! DISCLAIMER THE MATERIALS EMBODIED IN THIS SOFTWARE ARE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC) OR THE UNITED STATES (U.S.) GOVERNMENT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFIT, LOSS OF USE, SAVINGS OR REVENUE, OR THE CLAIMS OF THIRD PARTIES, WHETHER OR NOT CDC OR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS, HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE POSSESSION, USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

About

COVID Symptom

Easily record and monitor your COVID-19 symptoms over time. This app helps alleviate anxiety by providing a clear history of your health status and test results. Contribute to vital COVID research by sharing anonymized data.

Highlights
  • Track key COVID symptoms
  • View symptom history
  • Alleviate anxiety
  • Contribute to COVID research
  • Share symptom reports with doctors
  • Record test results
Features
Read full description

An easy-to-use app to track and record COVID-19 symptoms. There is no fee to use this app. In this time of crisis, every resident of the world is anxious about getting COVID-19, and views every sneeze, every cough, and fever as a sign that they may have COVID-19. Governments of every country are concerned about the spread of COVID-19, and are in search of solutions to help their citizens, and understand and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Are you anxious about COVID-19? Are you having fever, cough, or other symptoms? Have you been tested for COVID-19? Have you had contact with someone with COVID-19? Does a family member or friend have COVID-19? Do you want to contribute towards COVID research? In an attempt to solve these issues, we have built this COVID-19 symptoms tracker. Here are the key things you can do with this app: - Track key COVID symptoms - See history of your symptoms - Help alleviate anxiety - Help scientists and researchers to track, study, and model prevalence of COVID-19 in our communities - Share a report of your symptoms with your doctor - Maintain a record of your COVID-19 test results We have a well-researched list of COVID-19 related symptoms which can be tracked. Please note this app does not provide medical advice. If you have severe symptoms, please call 911, call your doctor, or go to the hospital emergency room. This app is currently not advised for use by people who are hospitalized with severe symptoms. Data Security: Your personally identifiable information, such as email ids and phone numbers will not be shared with anyone. We do not track your location, and do not collect or store any location data, except for a country and postal code that you can optionally enter. Your Donated Data will be made available to researchers. We may use aggregated, Donated Data to create heat maps showing prevalence of symptoms in the community, in order to help the public and policy makers better understand the spread of COVID-19. For questions and support, please contact help@covidsymptom.org You can also share this COVID symptoms tracker app with your friends and family to help them track their symptoms, contribute to COVID research and join our fight against COVID-19. Let's all unite and help each other out to fight this pandemic. If you would like to volunteer to help this project, please contact "volunteer@covidsymptom.org"

Screenshots

CDC4 screens
COVID Symptom4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: COVID Symptom at 72% against CDC's 22%. COVID Symptom also leads on rating (4.4 vs 2.9) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). On price, ratings volume, 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

COVID Symptom holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 413 and 402 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 22% of CDC's written reviews are positive against 72% of COVID Symptom's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CDC ships an update monthly, COVID Symptom weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 15, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
CDC versus COVID Symptom: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCDCCOVID Symptom
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.9 (413 ratings)4.4 (402 ratings) — better
Positive reviews22.5% of reviews72.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings413 — better402
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size38 MB33 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperCenters For Disease Control and PreventionThe University of Michigan

Customer experience

CDC

All ratings413 ratings
Positive45.0%
Neutral5.6%
Negative49.4%
Written reviews89 reviews
Positive22.5%
Neutral10.1%
Negative67.4%

COVID Symptom

All ratings402 ratings
Positive82.8%
Neutral9.2%
Negative8.0%
Written reviews87 reviews
Positive72.4%
Neutral8.0%
Negative19.5%

User reviews

CDC

From 413 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Informative and reliable health information
  • 🚀 Easy to navigate and access data
  • 👍 Useful for public health professionals and students

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • ⚠️ Outdated or inaccurate information, especially regarding COVID-19
  • 🔒 Privacy and security concerns
  • 👎 Lack of trust in the CDC due to political influence

COVID Symptom

From 402 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 💡 Helpful for tracking symptoms
  • 🚀 Simple and intuitive interface
  • 🚀 Convenient for daily health monitoring
  • 👍 Great for research and public health data collection

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitchy and unreliable
  • 🐛 Unable to add custom symptoms or notes
  • 🐛 Cannot enter historical data
  • 🐛 Issues with accepting location data (postcodes/zip codes)
  • 🐛 Reports not generating or corrupted

Bugs and requests

CDC

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Links within articles not working
  • App freezing or not loading past the splash screen
  • Symptom checker and other features not functioning properly

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved contact tracing tools
  • More up-to-date and comprehensive disease data
  • Better integration with other health apps and platforms
  • Landscape mode support for tablets

COVID Symptom

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Symptom and health data not saving properly
  • Gender and other settings not persisting
  • Oxygen saturation readings not accepted below certain levels
  • Inconsistent app behavior and crashes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more symptom options, including uncommon ones
  • Allow users to add custom symptoms or notes
  • Implement ability to retroactively add past symptoms and data
  • Improve location data handling to accept more formats
  • Generate comprehensive health reports for users

In-app purchases

None

CDC

No in-app purchases

None

COVID Symptom

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is CDC free?
CDC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is COVID Symptom free?
COVID Symptom is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, CDC or COVID Symptom?
COVID Symptom is rated higher. CDC averages 2.9 out of 5 from 413 ratings, while COVID Symptom averages 4.4 from 402 ratings.
Do CDC or COVID Symptom have ads?
Neither CDC nor COVID Symptom shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CDC or COVID Symptom?
CDC ships an update monthly, and COVID Symptom weekly. Most recently, CDC was updated on September 15, 2026 and COVID Symptom on September 28, 2026.

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