Comparison

Calendars vs Simple Rota Maker

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

Head to head
About

Calendars

This app combines a calendar, task manager, daily planner, and habit tracker. It helps users plan their day, build habits, boost productivity, and stay organized with seamless syncing across all Apple devices. Features include event creation, to-do list management, natural language input, and integration with popular meeting platforms.

Highlights
  • Calendar, task, and habit management
  • Daily, weekly, and monthly views
  • Natural language event creation
  • To-do list organization
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Meeting platform integration
Features
Read full description

Calendars by Readdle is the all-in-one calendar, task manager, daily planner, and habit tracker — seamlessly working across all your Apple devices: Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Plan your day, build better habits, boost productivity, and stay organized with powerful features and smooth sync between all your devices. What you can do with Calendars: • View and manage your calendar with daily, weekly, and monthly views • Create events, set reminders, and never miss important dates • Use the built-in agenda planner to focus on what matters most • Organize your to-do list and manage your tasks with ease • Quickly add events or to-do items using natural language • Build routines and track your habits to stay consistent • Take a guided productivity course to improve time management and focus • Sync across devices with Google Calendar, iCloud, and more • Customize your planner calendar with color coding and widgets • Join Zoom, Google Meet, or GoToMeeting directly from your calendar • Stay in control of your time, wherever you are Whether you're planning a busy workday, building new habits, or working on personal growth, Calendars brings everything together to help you own your time — across all your Apple devices. Privacy Policy: https://readdle.com/calendars/legal/privacy Terms of Service: https://readdle.com/calendars/legal/terms Have questions, comments, or issues? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at http://readdle.com/contact

About

Simple Rota Maker

This app helps you create and manage work schedules and personal appointments. It can automatically generate rolling rota patterns for multiple workers and includes a task manager for to-do lists and audio notes. Share schedules easily with dynamic links.

Highlights
  • Automatic rolling rota generation
  • Manual schedule creation
  • Integrated task manager
  • Audio note recording
  • Shareable dynamic links
  • Export rotas to spreadsheets
  • Worker availability settings
Features
Read full description

Automatically generate rolling rota patterns—perfect for scheduling multiple workers over an indefinite period. Easily create your schedule or manual rotas with a few taps—ideal for managing your work shifts, personal schedules, appointments, or customizing worker rota patterns. A powerful yet simple task manager. Organize your to-do lists alongside your work shifts to stay super productive & on top of your schedule. In a hurry? Quickly record an audio note to replay anytime. Seamlessly create tasks, assign them to workers, & share dynamic links that open the task directly on their devices, automatically saving a copy for easy access and tracking. The simplest tool to customize your work shifts, personal schedules, appointments, & timetables—or create & share rolling rotas to roster multiple workers into hourly or daily shifts, complete with a built-in task manager. -For an automated rolling shift pattern, simply enter: • The names & number of workers • Optional worker availability or exclusion dates: Specify dates when workers must work or must be away, & the app will include or exclude them as needed Done! The app generates: • A beautiful monthly calendar for 24-hour or once-a-day shifts. • A sleek weekly calendar for shifts lasting 1-23 hours. Key Features: • Ensures workers receive an equal number of shifts. • Allows multiple workers per shift. • Lets you set a daily shift end time with ease. • Handles complex rolling block patterns like ‘n’ days on ‘n’ days off seamlessly. -Export rotas to spreadsheet apps like Excel -View detailed rota breakdowns, including the number of weekdays, weekends, & hours each worker is scheduled to work, along with additional worker statistics. -Easily edit the rota to adjust shifts, give workers more or fewer shifts, or modify must-work & away dates with ease. -Take full control & create your custom rota manually in just three easy taps. -For your personal work shifts, schedules, appointments, or timetables: • Simply enter shift or schedule names, select a date range, & populate the calendar with just a tap! • View 1-3 shifts per day in a clean, easy-to-read calendar format. • annotate your custom calendar with powerful notes that expand when you tap on a date. Share dynamic links to allow coworkers to view & edit the rota. Each time a link is opened, a duplicate “.share” version of your rota is created, which can be edited & shared back & forth. From these links, workers can: • Open the rota on their device. • Download their specific shifts. • Add shifts to their device calendar. • Set shift reminders. • Download the rota as a spreadsheet. -Annotate the rota with notes that follows & updates with the dynamic link to your rota. -Enhance your notes with powerful formatting options, including headings, bold, italics, underline, & a variety of font colours. - Stay organised & in control with your all-in-one task manager—perfect for creating to-do lists, shopping lists, & assigning tasks to coworkers. Whether you’re managing personal goals or team projects, it’s the simple way to keep everything on track. -Export your rota, schedule, or shifts seamlessly to your Calendar app for effortless integration and accessibility. -Set reminders for shifts or schedules & receive notifications to stay informed when a work shift is approaching. -Access your rota & tasks from any device—your task lists & rosters are securely saved to your profile for seamless access anytime. -Long-press the name of your rota or tasks to pin them to the top of your list for quick access. -Save & rename multiple versions of your rota & tasks for easy organization & reference, with an archive page to store & access old tasks & rosters. -Save your rota as an image or print it directly for easy sharing and reference. -Start your day with daily motivational quotes delivered directly to your profile. -Enjoy an integrated games page to unwind, relax, & recharge with a variety of fun games. Need help? Email us!

Screenshots

Calendars4 screens
Simple Rota Maker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Calendars at 4.7 against Simple Rota Maker's 3.0. Calendars also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (55% vs 27%). Simple Rota Maker's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.2). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Calendars sells 18 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Simple Rota Maker sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Calendars holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Calendars has 122K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of Calendars's written reviews are positive against 27% of Simple Rota Maker's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Calendars ships an update every 11 days, Simple Rota Maker every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and June 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Calendars versus Simple Rota Maker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCalendarsSimple Rota Maker
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (122K ratings) — better3.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews55.4% of reviews — better27.3% of reviews
Number of ratings122K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 11 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#109 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.215.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size408 MB28 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperReaddle Technologies LimitedMembers of Us Limited

Customer experience

Calendars

All ratings121,813 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral3.1%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews1,252 reviews
Positive55.4%
Neutral8.9%
Negative35.8%

Simple Rota Maker

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive27.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative72.7%

Bugs and requests

Calendars

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Disappearing events and appointments
  • Upgrade process causing data loss
  • Freezing and crashing on certain devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Recurring events for free users
  • Customizable widgets and app icons
  • Ability to archive/restore past events
  • Improved Apple Watch integration
  • Shared calendars and family management

Simple Rota Maker

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

18 purchases

Calendars

Subscriptions9
  • Calendars PRO 1 Month$3.991 Month
  • Calendars by Readdle: Interesting Calendars1 Month trial$3.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Month7 Days trial$3.991 Month
Show 6 more
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year3 Months trial$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year7 Days trial2 variants$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year1 Year trial$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year14 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year7 Days trial$21.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time9
  • Calendars PRO LifetimeFree
  • Invites & Attendees Upgrade$1.99
  • Smart Input Upgrade$1.99
Show 6 more
  • Full Upgrade$4.99
  • Interesting Calendars$5.99
  • My schedule planner, Organizer$6.99
  • Full Pack$12.99
  • Reminders & Calendars$19.99
  • Recurring Events$31.99
6 purchases

Simple Rota Maker

One-time6
  • Simple Rota Maker Pro$1.99
  • Monday to Saturday Rota$2.99
  • Saturday To Sunday Rota$2.99
Show 3 more
  • Simple Rota Maker Ad Free$3.99
  • Customise day of week roster$4.99
  • Rolling Block Scheduler$9.99

Questions

Is Calendars free?
Calendars is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Simple Rota Maker free?
Simple Rota Maker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Calendars or Simple Rota Maker?
Calendars is rated higher. Calendars averages 4.7 out of 5 from 122K ratings, while Simple Rota Maker averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Calendars or Simple Rota Maker have ads?
Simple Rota Maker shows ads; Calendars does not.
Which is updated more often, Calendars or Simple Rota Maker?
Calendars ships an update every 11 days, and Simple Rota Maker every 2 weeks. Most recently, Calendars was updated on September 26, 2026 and Simple Rota Maker on June 1, 2026.

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