Synctrain vs ScholarSide
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Secure file synchronization
- Full folder synchronization
- Specific file selection
- Audio and video streaming
- Cross-device file mirroring
- Customizable sharing permissions
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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.
ScholarSide
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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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Synctrain | ScholarSide |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (123 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 89.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 123 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 26.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | T-Shaped | Neel 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
Synctrain
No in-app purchases
ScholarSide
No in-app purchases









