Comparison

Varsity Central vs Friendly

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

Head to head
About

Varsity Central

This app connects users with the latest news, information, and career opportunities from Varsity Brands. Stay updated on company initiatives, philanthropic efforts, and important announcements through digital communications and push notifications.

Highlights
  • Latest news and information
  • Career opportunities
  • Philanthropic partner updates
  • Digital communications
  • Push notifications
Features
Read full description

At Varsity Brands, our mission is to elevate the student experience by combining the power of sport, spirit, and achievement through our three interconnected businesses: BSN SPORTS, Varsity Spirit, and Herff Jones. Together, we foster individual, school, and community pride by offering customizable products and programs to a wide range of educational institutions, including elementary and middle schools, high schools, and colleges and universities. Additionally, we extend our services to club, select, professional, and collegiate sports teams, ensuring that our impact is felt at every level of athletic engagement. Varsity Central provides a modern, digital communications experience connecting our team members, prospective employees, partners, and other interested parties to the latest Varsity Brands news and information. With push notifications, you can stay in the know on important updates. Varsity Central users can also: • Stay up to date with the latest news, information, and resources • Learn more about career opportunities and our commitment to fostering a vibrant and inclusive culture • Support our commitment to our philanthropic partner, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

About

Friendly

Organize group events, manage RSVPs, and split expenses seamlessly with friends. Features include customizable event themes, private group chats, and integrated payment options for easy settlement.

Highlights
  • Customizable event themes
  • AI-generated cover art
  • Private group invitations
  • Guest RSVPs and waitlist management
  • Party wall with chat and polls
  • Integrated expense splitting
  • Payment settlement via Venmo/Apple Cash
Features
Read full description

Friendly is your friend group’s home base, the one app you use together to plan everything and settle up afterwards. MAKE IT AN EVENT Give every get-together a look: 14 animated themes from confetti to cosmic, plus a cover you upload or have AI paint for you. Set the date, place, capacity, and a few questions for guests. Meetings work too, with calendar invites sent to every guest. INVITE THE RIGHT PEOPLE Build groups from your contacts and invite by name, email, or phone number. Each event is private to the people you invite; nobody else can see it. EVERYONE’S IN THE LOOP Guests RSVP, bring a +1, hype the event, answer your questions, chat on the party wall with photos, GIFs, and reactions, vote in polls, and add songs to the playlist. Hosts approve guests and manage a waitlist when things fill up. Notifications keep everyone up to date, with a reminder the morning of, and every event can sync to your calendar. SETTLE UP, NO SPREADSHEET Log what people paid, scan a receipt to split it item by item, and see who owes whom at a glance. Settle with Venmo or Apple Cash in a tap and mark it paid. Friendly is free, private by design, and built for real friend groups, not followers.

Screenshots

Varsity Central3 screens
Friendly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Friendly at 5.0 against Varsity Central's 4.7. Friendly also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs fortnightly) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Varsity Central's advantage is ratings volume (6 vs 1). 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

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

Friendly holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Varsity Central has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Varsity Central ships an update fortnightly, Friendly every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
Varsity Central versus Friendly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVarsity CentralFriendly
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (6 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings6 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size86 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVarsity Brands, LLCFrontier Consulting, LLC

Customer experience

Varsity Central

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%

Friendly

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Varsity Central

No in-app purchases

None

Friendly

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Varsity Central free?
Varsity Central is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Friendly free?
Friendly is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Varsity Central or Friendly?
Friendly is rated higher. Varsity Central averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Friendly averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Varsity Central or Friendly have ads?
Neither Varsity Central nor Friendly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Varsity Central or Friendly?
Varsity Central ships an update fortnightly, and Friendly every 5 days. Most recently, Varsity Central was updated on October 25, 2026 and Friendly on October 24, 2026.

Other comparisons