Comparison

ESS Mobile vs Arial Caregiver

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

Head to head
About

ESS Mobile

This app offers flexible time tracking for employees, allowing them to punch in/out, review hours worked, check schedules, and manage benefit balances. It facilitates communication with supervisors for attendance-related matters and supports various time entry methods.

Highlights
  • Flexible time tracking
  • Review hours worked
  • Check schedules and benefit balances
  • Request time off
  • Enter tips and mileage
  • Communicate with supervisor
Features
Read full description

ESS Mobile is a smart, adaptive app that, when used with your employer's Attendance on Demand system, provides employees with flexible time tracking options. You have access to the information needed to track your hours worked and review schedules or benefit balances. Notifications can be sent when your time card needs action, such as the addition of a missing punch. Messages can be exchanged with your supervisor to record attendance-related activities like an absence or if you will be late for your shift. Using ESS Mobile hourly employees may be able to punch in and out, request time off, or enter tips. For employees that simply report total hours worked multiple time sheet views are available. Additional operations such as entering mileage, expenses, or tips are also available. Contact your payroll administrator or Attendance on Demand service provider for additional details. Note: ESS Mobile uses location services to obtain your location during app usage. Continued use of the app or background GPS tracking can dramatically decrease battery life.

About

Arial Caregiver

This app provides senior living caregivers with a tool to respond to resident alarms and communicate with coworkers. It offers real-time alarm information, status updates, and secure messaging for efficient care coordination. Features include offline documentation and direct calling to resident rooms.

Highlights
  • Receive and manage resident alarms
  • View critical alarm information with color-coding
  • Document alarm encounters with notes
  • Communicate with coworkers via app-to-app calls and secure texts
  • Offline mode for documenting responses
  • Direct voice calls to resident rooms
Features
Read full description

OVERVIEW Arial® Caregiver is designed to work seamlessly with Securitas Healthcare’s Arial Emergency and Nurse Call solution to provide senior living caregivers with a tool for responding to resident alarms and communicating with their coworkers. Clarity and collaboration in the palm of every caregiver means all have visibility to relevant alarms, their status and who is responding. HOW ARIAL CAREGIVER WORKS FOR YOU ALARM MESSAGE HANDLING - Receive Alarms – receive call station, pendant, door, Arial Resident, and other alarms from anywhere in the community, based on the caregiver's assigned zone - Alarm Information – critical alarm information is provided including date, time, alarm description, type and alarm location - Rich Alarm Messages – alarm messages are colored coded by priority level and sorted by duration of alarm. Resident images can optionally be included to help caregivers recognize the residents that have initiated the alarms so they can provide care - Alarm Accepted Status – provides notification to coworkers of who is responding to alarms - Pause Notifications - Alarm Notifications can be temporarily suspended once a caregiver accepts an alarm. This allows the accepting caregiver to respond to the room and other caregivers to focus on additional active alarms, helping to prevent duplicate responses to individual alarms - Alarm Response Calls – with Arial Resident, caregivers can respond to an alarm by calling into the resident room for context and to provide reassurance, then taking action to respond in the least needed trips to the room CAREGIVER/RESIDENT ENCOUNTERS - Alarm Notes – selectable, pre-configured or custom alarm notes allow caregivers to document what was done during their encounter - Respond through Arial Resident – use the two-way voice connection to auto-connect to the resident room, providing the caregiver with context and the resident with reassurance - Offline Mode –Arial Caregiver works to allow caregivers to document the response to an alarm from their mobile device, even if they are not in an area covered by Wi-Fi. Alarm Notes from the encounter are synced with Arial automatically once the caregiver carries their device back into range of the community’s Wi-Fi. CAREGIVER MESSAGING AND COLLABORATION - Live Directory –displays all caregivers and indicates those that are currently logged in and actively using Arial Caregiver - App-to-App Voice Calls – lets caregivers talk to other staff and caregivers to coordinate resident care and request assistance from wherever they are within the community - Text Messaging –send and receive secure text messages within the app between individuals or groups to help coordinate care - Text Messages are preserved for 24 hours ENHANCED ALARM INSIGHTS - Encounter Times – Arial Caregiver facilitates measuring encounter time which can be used to help understand how much time caregivers are spending with each of the residents - Alarm Response Activities – care and services provided by caregivers during encounters can be quickly captured using Arial caregiver from anywhere in the community. This information can later be referenced using the Resident Call System Usage report locally in Arial, the Arial Insights service, or optionally forwarded to PointClickCare® or ALIS electronic health record systems to aid with care planning. - Staff Response Time Report - this report is local in Arial and shows the average amount of time it takes each caregiver to respond to alarms and how much time is spent helping residents. A completion score is also provided to help show how often each caregiver completes the calls they respond to. - Non-Completed Alarm Report – this report is local in Arial and lists the alarms that were not completed by caregivers during a selected time frame. This report can help managers understand the conditions when calls are not being completed using Arial Caregiver and the reasons why.

Screenshots

ESS Mobile3 screens
Arial Caregiver4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Arial Caregiver at 2.8 against ESS Mobile's 1.7. Arial Caregiver also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). ESS Mobile's advantage is ratings volume (355 vs 4) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 6 months). 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

Arial Caregiver holds the better App Store score, 2.8 against 1.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ESS Mobile has 355 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ESS Mobile ships an update every 3 months, Arial Caregiver every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ESS Mobile versus Arial Caregiver: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterESS MobileArial Caregiver
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.7 (355 ratings)2.8 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews2.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings355 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB43 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAttendance on Demand, Inc.Securitas Healthcare LLC

Customer experience

ESS Mobile

All ratings324 ratings
Positive14.2%
Neutral3.7%
Negative82.1%
Written reviews104 reviews
Positive2.9%
Neutral1.0%
Negative96.2%

Arial Caregiver

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Bugs and requests

ESS Mobile

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • Connect button treats input as editable text field
  • App fails to load or shows blank white screen
  • Location services report incorrect location
  • Login credentials rejected despite correct information
  • Clock-in button disappears or becomes non-functional
Show 12 more
  • App freezes when entering information
  • Cannot proceed past login screen
  • App crashes on latest iOS versions
  • Automatic logout without user action
  • Cannot clock in to new job within one minute of clock out
  • Punch functionality only works on second attempt
  • Controls render off-screen on certain devices
  • App incompatible with iOS 15
  • Timesheet data fails to load
  • Notifications sent to wrong phone numbers
  • Pay stubs missing tip percentage and hourly information
  • Redundant navigation buttons on same page

Requested features

12 requests
  • Face ID or biometric authentication
  • Remember me/stay logged in functionality
  • Current time display on home screen
  • Manager approval system for early out/late in requests
  • Ability to view all punch times and historical data
Show 7 more
  • Support for multiple employers without app reinstallation
  • Landscape mode support
  • Easy password reset functionality
  • Loading indicators for better UX
  • Visible phone number management (primary/secondary)
  • Better accessibility and menu navigation
  • Improved pay stub formatting and clarity

Arial Caregiver

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

ESS Mobile

No in-app purchases

None

Arial Caregiver

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ESS Mobile free?
ESS Mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Arial Caregiver free?
Arial Caregiver is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ESS Mobile or Arial Caregiver?
Arial Caregiver is rated higher. ESS Mobile averages 1.7 out of 5 from 355 ratings, while Arial Caregiver averages 2.8 from 4 ratings.
Do ESS Mobile or Arial Caregiver have ads?
Neither ESS Mobile nor Arial Caregiver shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ESS Mobile or Arial Caregiver?
ESS Mobile ships an update every 3 months, and Arial Caregiver every 6 months. Most recently, ESS Mobile was updated on October 29, 2026 and Arial Caregiver on October 7, 2026.

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