Bates' Pocket Guide vs Clinical Sense
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
Clinical Sense
Enhance your diagnostic and patient management skills through realistic clinical scenarios. This app offers engaging, real-world cases across various medical specialties, designed for healthcare professionals and students to practice and learn.
- Realistic clinical scenarios
- Patient management over time
- Real-time critical decision-making
- Wide range of medical specialties
- Concise diagnostic reasoning discussions
- Weekly new scenario releases
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With Clinical Sense, you can improve your ability to appropriately manage a patient over time: from presentation, to admission, to discharge and follow-up. Assume the role of a physician navigating a plethora of challenging clinical situations and make critical medical decisions in real time. Clinical Sense is designed for practicing physicians, medical students, nursing professionals, and other healthcare practitioners who want to learn and have fun while doing so. After all, practice makes perfect; and practice can be fun! Our scenarios offer a wide range of medical specialties, which can be played in minutes. They are also accompanied by a concise yet comprehensive discussion of the diagnostic reasoning, including insights into the ideal management of complications that may arise. The scenarios in this award-winning app are all based on the actual case-management experiences of more than 200 physicians across 30 specialties from all over the world. New scenarios are released every week, often in keeping with global endemic and epidemic trends, to help you brush up on the management skills that are the need of the hour! Achievements: • #1 ranked app in 40+ countries. • Top ranked free medical app in 120 countries. • 1,000,000+ downloads worldwide.
Screenshots
Verdict
Bates' Pocket Guide and Clinical Sense both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 93% of Clinical Sense's written reviews are positive against 41% of Bates' Pocket Guide's. Clinical Sense also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (monthly vs every 11 months). Bates' Pocket Guide's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, rating and ratings volume 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. Clinical Sense asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Bates' Pocket Guide against 4.8 for Clinical Sense. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 304 and 260 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 41% of Bates' Pocket Guide's written reviews are positive against 93% of Clinical Sense's.
Bates' Pocket Guide ships an update every 11 months, Clinical Sense monthly. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.
| Parameter | Bates' Pocket Guide | Clinical Sense |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (304 ratings) — better | 4.8 (260 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 40.9% of reviews | 92.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 304 — better | 260 |
| Update frequency | Every 11 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 489 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | +17 |
| Developer | Unbound Medicine, Inc. | Medical Joyworks LLC |
Customer experience
Bates' Pocket Guide
Clinical Sense
User reviews
Bates' Pocket Guide
From 304 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Reliable reference
- 🖼️ Helpful pictures for diagnosis
- 📚 Good for quick reference
- 💡 Easy to understand and logical format
- 🎯 Useful for clinicals and easy to maneuver
Room to improve
- 💰 Overpriced app
- 🔄 Outdated software
- 🖱️ Not user-friendly navigation
- 💸 Repeated payments required
- ❌ Incorrect information/algorithms
Clinical Sense
From 260 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent app
- 👍 Amazing app
- 👍 Wonderful way for teaching
- 👍 Great cases
- 👍 Engaging and informative
Room to improve
- 🤔 So hard
- 🐛 Crashes right away
- 🐛 Crashes repeatedly
- 🤔 Incomplete history
- 🤔 Too long
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
Clinical Sense
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes on iPad
- Crashes on iPhone 7
- Crashes after a few pages into a scenario
Requested features
8 requests- More pain scenarios
- More psychiatrist medicine
- Imaging results
- More questions about differential diagnosis and history/physical exam
- Unlock all learning topics
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- More cases
- Randomization of cases
- Cases with more vague/conflicting clinical findings
In-app purchases
Bates' Pocket Guide
- Bates' Pocket Guide 9th ed.$69.99
Clinical Sense
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Bates' Pocket Guide free?
Is Clinical Sense free?
Which has better reviews, Bates' Pocket Guide or Clinical Sense?
Do Bates' Pocket Guide or Clinical Sense have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bates' Pocket Guide or Clinical Sense?
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