Bates' Pocket Guide vs ViewMedica
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bates' Pocket Guide
This app provides essential information for obtaining health histories and conducting physical exams. It features step-by-step techniques, updated images, and differential diagnoses for quick and accurate interpretation of findings. Ideal for students and professionals needing a fast reference.
- Over 130 detailed topics
- Step-by-step instructions
- Updated photographs and illustrations
- Two-column layout
- New Algorithms for symptom approaches
- Differential diagnoses
- Highlighting and note-taking
- Advanced search
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*Featuring the latest content from the latest edition* ABOUT THE BATES' GUIDE: The Bates’ Pocket Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking contains the critical information needed to obtain a meaningful health history, conduct a thorough physical exam, and interpret the findings quickly and accurately. Locate answers fast and review step-by-step techniques and possible findings using the distinctive two-column format with updated images. Bates’ Pocket Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking is the ideal quick-reference resource for today’s medical, PA, pharmacy, and nursing students. FEATURES: • Over 130 detailed topics with step-by-step instructions • Updated photographs, illustrations, and references reinforce key content based on the latest evidence-based information • Two-column layout optimized for smartphones and tablets • New Algorithms provide helpful starting approaches for patients with common presenting symptoms. • Differential diagnoses for common, normal, and abnormal findings • Highlight and take notes within any entry • Advanced Search helps find topics quickly • “Favorites” for bookmarking important entries Authors: Lynn S. Bickley MD, FACP, Peter G. Szilagyi MD, MPH, Richard M. Hoffman MD, MPH, FACP, Rainier P. Soriano MD Publisher: Wolters Kluwer | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Powered by: Unbound Medicine Unbound Privacy Policy: www.unboundmedicine.com/privacy Unbound Terms of Use: https://www.unboundmedicine.com/end_user_license_agreement
ViewMedica
Access a library of award-winning patient education videos to explain complex medical information. Healthcare professionals can use these visual aids to enhance patient understanding of conditions and procedures. The app allows for annotation and saving of video frames.
- Access patient education videos
- Print related brochures
- Draw on video frames
- Save annotated images
- Favorite frequently used videos
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The ViewMedica On-Demand app gives subscribers of ViewMedica On-Demand videos a convenient way to use our award-winning patient education content. Our industry-leading, highly-visual videos help physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals explain complex medical information in a patient-friendly way. PATIENT EDUCATION VIDEOS • Hospitals and Practices that subscribe to ViewMedica On-Demand for their patient education videos can view all of their content in this app. • Print the patient education brochures that relate to your licensed videos. • Use Markup Mode to draw on any frame of your videos. Then save those images to your screenshots library. • Add your most-used videos or presentations to your Favorites menu for easy access. ABOUT SWARM INTERACTIVE AND VIEWMEDICA The maker of ViewMedica, Swarm Interactive, Inc., has been producing award-winning medical animations since 1998. Visit the ViewMedica website to learn more about the ViewMedica patient education system, and see how ViewMedica can enhance your patient education efforts. A ViewMedica video subscription gives you access to thousands of patient education videos. These industry-leading, highly-visual videos have been used by physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals for more than 20 years. Videos cover all the major medical specialties describing the conditions and procedures that you care most about.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ViewMedica at none against Bates' Pocket Guide's 1. ViewMedica also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and update cadence (every 7 months vs every 14 months). Bates' Pocket Guide's advantage is ratings volume (302 vs 2). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Bates' Pocket Guide sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ViewMedica asks for nothing beyond the download.
ViewMedica holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bates' Pocket Guide has 302 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Bates' Pocket Guide ships an update every 14 months, ViewMedica every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bates' Pocket Guide | ViewMedica |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (302 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 40.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 302 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 14 months | Every 7 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Unbound Medicine, Inc. | Swarm Interactive, Inc. |
Customer experience
Bates' Pocket Guide
ViewMedica
Bugs and requests
Bates' Pocket Guide
Reported bugs
9 issues- Sectional information is wrong
- Topics do not correlate to information
- Asterisk information is incorrect
- App information needs updating and reviewing
- Software is glitchy
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- Hard to navigate between topics
- Algorithm images are mismatched with titles
- Doesn't take Bates account
- Didn't work (iOS 7)
Requested features
5 requests- Update and review app information for accuracy
- Improve content layout and navigation
- Offer better preview options before purchase
- Provide discounts for existing textbook/resource owners
- Clarify product offerings to avoid buyer confusion
ViewMedica
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bates' Pocket Guide
- Bates' Pocket Guide 9th ed.$69.99
ViewMedica
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Bates' Pocket Guide free?
Is ViewMedica free?
Which has better reviews, Bates' Pocket Guide or ViewMedica?
Do Bates' Pocket Guide or ViewMedica have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bates' Pocket Guide or ViewMedica?
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