Comparison

ESS Mobile vs Cue

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

Cue

Capture and manage important tasks and reminders with intelligent processing. It understands the urgency of your items, surfacing high-stakes tasks with a buffer. Offers guided actions for certain reminders, like drafting texts for birthdays.

Highlights
  • Intelligent task processing
  • Automatic date recognition
  • Context-aware prioritization
  • Guided actions for reminders
  • Voice input
  • Simple, calm interface
Features
Read full description

Cue won't let you get caught out. The trial that's about to charge. The quarterly taxes. The license renewal. The air filter. Your niece's birthday. Life hands you these in the worst moments driving, working, lying in bed and if there's any friction at all, the thought is gone. Cue is the place to set it down. Type the messy thought exactly as it arrives "cancel the free trial before the 12th" and Cue turns it into a clean reminder, on its own. It reads the date. It knows the stakes. That's the difference: Cue understands what it costs you if a thing slips. "Buy paper towels" and "file quarterly taxes" are not the same, and Cue never treats them the same. High-stakes items surface earlier, get held closer, and come back with room to breathe a buffer you didn't have to ask for. Some reminders end in a deed, not a checkmark. Birthdays come back with the text message already drafted. A call comes back with the number ready to dial. Cue walks you through the door, not just to it. No folders. No boards. No setup. No streaks, badges, or noise. Four calm views Today, Soon, All Items, and All Clear, the state that tells you nothing urgent is hiding. Because the point of holding everything is the moment you get to stop. Full app, free trial. No feature tiers everyone gets the whole Cue. If your trial ends, your data is frozen, never deleted. It's here when you're ready. Set it down. It's handled. Or say it. Hold the microphone and talk walking out of a meeting, hands full of mail and Cue writes it down for you.

Screenshots

ESS Mobile3 screens
Cue4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ESS Mobile at 1.7 against Cue's 1.0. ESS Mobile also leads on ratings volume (343 vs 1). Cue's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.6). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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

ESS Mobile holds the better App Store score, 1.7 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ESS Mobile has 343 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 3% of ESS Mobile's written reviews are positive against 0% of Cue's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ESS Mobile ships an update every 3 months, Cue every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ESS Mobile versus Cue: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterESS MobileCue
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.7 (343 ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews2.9% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings343 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.616.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB46 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAttendance on Demand, Inc.Kevin Robinson

Customer experience

ESS Mobile

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

Cue

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

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

Cue

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

ESS Mobile

No in-app purchases

None

Cue

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ESS Mobile free?
ESS Mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cue free?
Cue is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ESS Mobile or Cue?
ESS Mobile is rated higher. ESS Mobile averages 1.7 out of 5 from 343 ratings, while Cue averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.
Do ESS Mobile or Cue have ads?
Neither ESS Mobile nor Cue shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ESS Mobile or Cue?
ESS Mobile ships an update every 3 months, and Cue every 5 days. Most recently, ESS Mobile was updated on October 17, 2026 and Cue on September 25, 2026.

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