Comparison

NextShift vs Shift Calendar Alarm

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

Head to head
About

NextShift

This app helps manage complex work schedules, automatically calculating hours, overtime, and pay. It allows for adding notes and to-dos to shifts, syncing data across devices, and sharing schedules with others. Plan and adjust work patterns with ease.

Highlights
  • Custom shift patterns and work cycles
  • Automatic calculation of hours and earnings
  • Overtime, bonuses, and expense tracking
  • Detailed statistics and insights
  • Notes and tasks in calendar
  • Cloud sync and secure backups
  • Shareable work schedules
Features
Read full description

NextShift is the shift calendar for job schedules. It’s your work schedule calendar for 2‑on/2‑off, 24/72, day/night, and any custom cycle. Automatically totals hours, overtime, bonuses, expenses, and pay. Add notes and to‑dos to each shift and see per‑day and overall stats. Set an alarm before your shift - it will reliably ring on the day of your shift. Sync across devices with secure backups. Share your work schedule with family and coworkers via a link. Use the work schedule planner to build and tweak patterns fast. Features: • Custom shift patterns and work cycles • Automatic calculation of shifts, hours and earnings • Overtime, bonuses, and expense tracking • Shift alarms that always ring on your shift day • Detailed statistics and insights • Notes and tasks in your calendar • Cloud sync and secure backups By using this app, you agree to Apple's Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Shift Calendar Alarm

Read full description

If your shifts move around from week to week, you probably spend more time than you'd like resetting alarms and double-checking them before an early start. Shift Calendar Alarm takes care of that. Put your shifts on the calendar, and the app sets your iPhone alarms for the next 60 days, then updates them on its own whenever your schedule changes. Start by saving the shifts you work most, like early, late, night, or on-call, as Shift Types. Each one can have up to three alarms, on the day itself or the evening before, which helps when a very early start means you want a heads-up the night before. Then tap dates on the calendar to schedule them, with more than one shift on the same day if that's how your week looks. Even if your schedule is never quite the same, there's often a stretch that repeats, and Patterns save you from tapping it in again and again. Line up those shifts in order, say two early days, two nights, and two days off, pick a start date, and the whole stretch lands on your calendar at once. Your first pattern is free. Tap any date to see that day's shifts, alarms, and notes together, and a small dot on the calendar tells you which days have notes. A note can stay with its Shift Type or be rewritten for a single day. If you don't need one particular alarm, say on a day you've swapped with a coworker, you can skip just that one without changing the shift itself. Scheduled Alarms shows everything that's about to ring, and Alarm Health checks permissions and sync status and points out anything that needs attention. You only need to rebuild alarms by hand if sync runs into a problem. The Home Screen widget keeps today's and tomorrow's shifts and alarms in view, and a 9:30 p.m. reminder tells you what tomorrow looks like before you go to bed. You'll also find Silent Alarm Mode, calendar images you can share with family or coworkers, iCloud sync, language settings, and Light and Dark Mode. The free version includes 3 Shift Types, 1 pattern, and 8 scheduled shifts. Premium removes those limits. Shift Calendar Alarm is made for keeping track of your own shifts and alarms. It isn't a team scheduling, payroll, or HR tool. Highlights: - Calendar-based shift planning - Multiple shifts on the same day - Date details and notes - One-time alarm skips - Up to three same-day or previous-day alarms per Shift Type - Automatic sync of native iPhone alarms for the next 60 days - Scheduled Alarms, manual rebuild, and Alarm Health - Home Screen widget for today’s and tomorrow’s shifts and alarms - 9:30 p.m. reminder with tomorrow’s schedule - Silent Alarm Mode, calendar image sharing, and iCloud sync - Multi-day Patterns, with your first pattern free - Free: 3 Shift Types, 1 pattern, and 8 scheduled shifts, with Premium unlimited Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

NextShift4 screens
Shift Calendar Alarm4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: NextShift at 15.1 against Shift Calendar Alarm's 26.0. On price, update cadence, 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. NextShift sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Shift Calendar Alarm sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
NextShift versus Shift Calendar Alarm: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNextShiftShift Calendar Alarm
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (13 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings13 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size74 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShift Workers LabPING CHANG YU

In-app purchases

4 purchases

NextShift

Subscriptions4
  • Premium7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Premium Plus7 Days trial$4.491 Month
  • Premium7 Days trial$23.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium Plus7 Days trial$35.991 Year
2 purchases

Shift Calendar Alarm

Subscriptions2
  • Shift Alarm Premium Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Shift Alarm Premium Yearly$8.991 Year

Questions

Is NextShift free?
NextShift is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shift Calendar Alarm free?
Shift Calendar Alarm is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do NextShift or Shift Calendar Alarm have ads?
Neither NextShift nor Shift Calendar Alarm shows ads.
Which is updated more often, NextShift or Shift Calendar Alarm?
NextShift ships an update every 2 weeks, and Shift Calendar Alarm every 2 weeks. Most recently, NextShift was updated on October 11, 2026 and Shift Calendar Alarm on October 12, 2026.

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