Comparison

Synctrain vs ScholarSide

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

Head to head
About

Synctrain

Securely synchronize files and folders between your devices. Stream audio and video directly from other devices. Manage file sharing permissions to control access to your data.

Highlights
  • Secure file synchronization
  • Full folder synchronization
  • Specific file selection
  • Audio and video streaming
  • Cross-device file mirroring
  • Customizable sharing permissions
Features
Read full description

With Synctrain you can securely synchronize files with other devices that have Syncthing installed. You can choose to synchronize full folders, or choose specific files. With Synctrain you can also stream audio and video files from other devices. When you synchronize files, all changes, including deleting files, also happen on your other devices. Do not use Synctrain for back-up purposes, and always keep a back-up of your data. You decide with which devices you share which files. This also means the app makers cannot help you access or recover any lost files. This app is powered by Syncthing. This app is however not associated with or endorsed by Syncthing nor its developers. Please do not expect support from the Syncthing developers. Instead, contact the maker of this app if you have questions.

About

ScholarSide

Features
Read full description

ScholarSide turns a pile of papers into a reading plan. It's a focused reading system for researchers, grad students, and anyone who reads academic papers with purpose — not another PDF dump, but a way to decide what to read, how deeply, and what you got out of it. Add a paper by arXiv link, arXiv ID, or DOI and ScholarSide fills in the title, authors, venue, and abstract for you. Every paper gets a card built around one simple idea: a reason you saved it. No more folders of mystery PDFs. TRIAGE, DON'T HOARD • A pipeline board from Inbox to Finished, with drag-and-drop and one-at-a-time triage • Give every paper a reason: background, method, baseline, to implement, assigned, or just curious • Flags for meeting prep, relevance, and how well you actually understand it READING MODES Not every paper deserves a deep read. Pick a mode and ScholarSide guides you with a timed checklist: • 5-minute skim — should I read this at all? • 20-minute structured read — understand the contribution • 60-minute deep read — own the method and the math • Implementation read — extract everything needed to reimplement STRUCTURED NOTES Capture a paper the way you think about it: problem, method, key equations, algorithm, experiments, results, limitations, and open questions — plus a confusion tracker, so "I don't get this part" becomes a to-do instead of a dead end. PROJECTS & REVIEW • Group papers into research projects with a reading order and open questions • A weekly review that surfaces stale papers, unresolved confusions, and what to read next • Lab-meeting prep built from your own notes OPTIONAL AI ASSIST (BRING YOUR OWN KEY) Add your own Anthropic API key and Claude can draft a summary, fill in the structured notes, or explain a paper at the level you choose — always as an editable draft that sits beside your own notes, never replacing them. Your key stays in the device Keychain and usage is billed to your account. The app is fully functional without it. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No account. No ads. No tracking. Everything lives on your device. Export notes to Markdown and your library to BibTeX any time.

Screenshots

Synctrain4 screens
ScholarSide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Synctrain at 17.0 against ScholarSide's 26.5. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Synctrain versus ScholarSide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSynctrainScholarSide
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (123 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews89.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings123 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperT-ShapedNeel Roy

Bugs and requests

Synctrain

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Occasional app crashes
  • Sync delays on some devices

Requested features

2 requests
  • Direct photo/video sync to remote devices
  • Faster initial connection to server

ScholarSide

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Synctrain

No in-app purchases

None

ScholarSide

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Synctrain free?
Synctrain is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ScholarSide free?
ScholarSide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Synctrain or ScholarSide have ads?
Neither Synctrain nor ScholarSide shows ads.

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