MyState vs Top Hat
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MyState
This app serves as a comprehensive student toolkit, offering essential information and features for navigating university life. It provides real-time updates on campus transportation, dining options, class schedules, and campus events. Students can also access a directory, library services, and campus maps to enhance their academic and social experience.
- Customizable dashboard
- Class schedule and GPA calculator
- Real-time bus arrival predictions
- Dining hall hours and menus
- Campus directory and map
- Student organization discovery
- Library catalog and account management
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Cyclone Nation, meet MyState. MyState is the ultimate student toolkit to help you get the most out of your adventure at Iowa State. Use MyState to catch the next bus, locate your next class, see what's to eat, quickly find your instructor's office, and much more! + Dashboard - Quickly see information to start your adventure. Weather, CyRide, Classes, Dining, and more! Customize the Dashboard just for you. + Classes - View your class schedule, including locations and instructors. Calculate your GPA or check the line at testing centers and see their hours. + CyRide - Check to see when busses are scheduled to arrive at any of the bus stops in Ames, with arrival predictions from MyRide. + Dining - Find operating hours and menus for any dining location on campus. + Directory - Easily find individuals and offices on campus. + Events - See which exciting official ISU events are going on in the area. + Fairs - Prepare for and navigate career and other fairs by marking booths as favorites and seeing them on a map of the fair locations. + Library - View your checked-out items, holds, and fines; find locations and hours; search the main library catalog. + Map - Find buildings, dining locations, art on campus, testing centers, recreation centers, and more! + News - Read and share the latest updates from across campus. + Photostream - Check out user-submitted photos of the Iowa State campus. + StuOrgs - Discover, join, and subscribe to student orgs. Manage existing org memberships and subscriptions. + Testing Centers - View Testing Center locations and availability. + More - Stream KURE 88.5 along with other fun extras! MyState. Built by students, for students!
Top Hat
Enhance your learning experience with interactive resources, in-class participation tools, and dynamic digital textbooks. Engage with professors and peers, and test your knowledge with quizzes and polls to improve comprehension and retention.
- Follow lecture slides on your device
- In-class response system
- In-app discussions with peers and professors
- Dynamic, interactive digital textbooks
- Take polls and quizzes
- Access graded and non-graded homework
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Top Hat is the perfect companion app to our comprehensive assessment platform that helps you learn better before, during and after class. Top Hat makes learning fun and engaging (seriously!) and sets you up for success, helping you connect with your professors, your peers and the content you’re learning in and out of the classroom. Here’s what Top Hat offers you: Compelling resources, delivered on your smartphone or laptop: • Follow your prof’s lecture slides on your own device • Contribute in class with an easy-to-use response system that’s always with you • Participate with your profs and peers using in-app discussions Content tailored to your course: • Experience dynamic, interactive textbooks loaded up with images, videos, audio clips and more • Read your digital materials from anywhere and keep them forever Quizzes, tests and polls that improve learning comprehension: • Challenge yourself by taking polls and quizzes on your own devices • Improve your knowledge retention with interactive assessment elements • Check for gaps in your understanding with graded and non-graded homework and short quizzes Thanks for using Top Hat. As you experience the app, we’d love to get your feedback: support@tophat.com or follow us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook @TopHat
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Top Hat at 4.6 against MyState's 2.9. Top Hat also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (23K vs 79). MyState's advantage is review sentiment (28% vs 15%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Top Hat holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Top Hat has 23K ratings behind it against 79, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 28% of MyState's written reviews are positive against 15% of Top Hat's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
MyState ships an update every 3 months, Top Hat fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MyState | Top Hat |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.9 (79 ratings) | 4.6 (23K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 27.5% of reviews — better | 14.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 79 | 23K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | #150 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 62 MB | 162 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Iowa State University of Science and Technology | Top Hat Monocle |
Customer experience
MyState
Top Hat
User reviews
MyState
From 79 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Useful for class schedule
- 👍 Great app when student
- 👍 Contains all needed information
- 👍 Cool app
- 👍 Sleek design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bus tracker inaccurate
- 🐛 Class schedule issues
- 🐛 Dining hall hours inaccurate
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Bus tracker unreliable
Top Hat
From 23K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Smooth and intuitive interface
- 👍 Useful for attendance and in-class quizzes
- 💡 Potential for interactive learning
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 💰 Expensive subscription fees
- 🔒 Privacy concerns with location tracking
Bugs and requests
MyState
Reported bugs
43 issues- Bus tracker estimates off by 10-15 minutes
- Bus tracker states no buses when there are
- App crashes when opening
- Class schedule issues persist
- Bus tracker not showing buses
Show 38 moreShow fewer
- Dining hall hours inaccurate
- Bus tracker times inaccurate
- App crashes when pressing bus stop on map
- App crashes immediately without opening
- App opens to main page then shuts down
- App crashes after new update
- App won't open after update
- App crashes when loading
- App shows blank white screen on login
- App endlessly tries to sign in then crashes
- App crashes whenever
- App won't load anything
- App crashes when trying to view schedule
- App freezes on installation
- Map randomly zooms out
- Map doesn't stay in hybrid/satellite mode
- CyRide section crashes if no other bus predicted
- CyRide section crashes if bus not running
- CyRide section shows wrong bus times
- CyRide section arrival times not available for all stops
- Class schedule messed up
- Calendar sync adds classes at wrong time
- Calendar upload button doesn't work
- Cannot log in to email
- App crashes when trying to enter system privacy settings
- Anonymous usage statistics option resets
- Map doesn't load
- Dining section doesn't work
- Login screen freezes
- App crashes on splash screen
- App crashes on welcome page
- App crashes when opening after update
- Bus routes annoying to figure out
- New bus schedule doesn't show bus type or arrival time
- Bus stops in alphabetical order
- Laundry availability not functioning correctly
- App crashes when opening on older devices
- App crashes when opening on iPhone 2nd gen iPod touch
Requested features
20 requests- Add support for alumni
- Third-party access for Ubill
- More accurate bus times
- Show all bus stops on map
- Add parking information
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Add date, time, and weather to dashboard
- Add computer lab availability
- Restore dining center hours and menus
- Add iPad version
- Link to night/final exam schedules
- Offline bus schedule option
- Campus map with buildings
- Restore Cyride functionality from old app
- Add 'My Bus Stops' tab
- Option to change bus stop order
- Support for summer Cyride schedules
- Fix time zone issues for class schedule
- Improve bus route navigation
- Add dark mode
- More practical Cyride interface
Top Hat
Reported bugs
3 issues- Answers not registering correctly
- Slides not loading properly on mobile devices
- Inconsistent performance across platforms
Requested features
3 requests- Add page numbers and search functionality to ebooks
- Improve syncing between mobile and web versions
- Allow more flexible location settings for attendance
In-app purchases
MyState
No in-app purchases
Top Hat
No in-app purchases
