Top Hat vs Badger Connect
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Top Hat
Enhance your learning experience with interactive resources, in-class participation tools, and dynamic digital textbooks. Engage with professors and peers, and test your knowledge with quizzes and polls to improve comprehension and retention.
- Follow lecture slides on your device
- In-class response system
- In-app discussions with peers and professors
- Dynamic, interactive digital textbooks
- Take polls and quizzes
- Access graded and non-graded homework
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Top Hat is the perfect companion app to our comprehensive assessment platform that helps you learn better before, during and after class. Top Hat makes learning fun and engaging (seriously!) and sets you up for success, helping you connect with your professors, your peers and the content you’re learning in and out of the classroom. Here’s what Top Hat offers you: Compelling resources, delivered on your smartphone or laptop: • Follow your prof’s lecture slides on your own device • Contribute in class with an easy-to-use response system that’s always with you • Participate with your profs and peers using in-app discussions Content tailored to your course: • Experience dynamic, interactive textbooks loaded up with images, videos, audio clips and more • Read your digital materials from anywhere and keep them forever Quizzes, tests and polls that improve learning comprehension: • Challenge yourself by taking polls and quizzes on your own devices • Improve your knowledge retention with interactive assessment elements • Check for gaps in your understanding with graded and non-graded homework and short quizzes Thanks for using Top Hat. As you experience the app, we’d love to get your feedback: support@tophat.com or follow us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook @TopHat
Badger Connect
This exclusive community connects generations of student-athletes and letterwinners for personal development. Engage in live broadcasts, message alumni, access exclusive content, and RSVP for events to prepare for life beyond sports.
- Build relationships with athletes
- Participate in live broadcasts
- Access exclusive content
- RSVP for events
- Get recommended connections
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Badger Connect is an exclusive community where generations of University of Wisconsin-Madison student-athletes and letterwinners unite to learn, grow, and share for the purposes of personal development. Join live broadcasts, message alumni, access content and RSVP for events to broaden your perspective and prepare for success in life outside of sport. Use Badger Connect to: • Build relationships with existing and former student-athletes • Participate in live broadcasts and get your questions answered by experts across industry and function • Access exclusive content from UW’s Career & Leadership and W Club team • RSVP to in-person events throughout the year • Get recommended connections based on major, industry, and other career-related interests Badger Connect is a place where you can connect with your community forever.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Top Hat at 23K against Badger Connect's 13. Top Hat also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). Badger Connect's advantage is review sentiment (33% vs 15%) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Top Hat against 4.5 for Badger Connect. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Top Hat has 23K ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 15% of Top Hat's written reviews are positive against 33% of Badger Connect's.
Top Hat ships an update every 2 weeks, Badger Connect every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Top Hat | Badger Connect |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (23K ratings) — better | 4.5 (13 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 14.6% of reviews | 33.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 23K — better | 13 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 152 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Top Hat Monocle | University of Wisconsin-Madison Shared Apps |
Customer experience
Top Hat
Badger Connect
Bugs and requests
Top Hat
Reported bugs
3 issues- Answers not registering correctly
- Slides not loading properly on mobile devices
- Inconsistent performance across platforms
Requested features
3 requests- Add page numbers and search functionality to ebooks
- Improve syncing between mobile and web versions
- Allow more flexible location settings for attendance
Badger Connect
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Top Hat
No in-app purchases
Badger Connect
No in-app purchases









