Comparison

Icarus vs Stablereef

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

Head to head
About

Icarus

Organize and discover your movies, TV shows, music, and books in a single native app. Access recommendations, manage your library, and play media from connected servers and services. Enjoy a private, ad-free experience with all features included.

Highlights
  • Unified media library browsing
  • Media discovery and recommendations
  • Library management and request tracking
  • In-app media playback
  • Push notifications for events
  • Direct service connection or Hades server pairing
Features
Read full description

Your media. Your rules. Free to use. Every feature included. Icarus brings your movies, TV shows, music, and books together in one native app for Apple devices. Find a familiar favorite, discover your next obsession, and keep your media organized without jumping between apps. Divine by name. Unreasonably useful by nature. • Your library, together Browse media, requests, and activity from your connected servers and services in one place. • Discover more Explore recommendations, browse collections, and search for movies, shows, and people. Meet the cast and get the details behind the poster. • A little divine order See what’s available, upcoming, or requested. Manage supported library details and requests, and keep track of what comes next. • Press play Enjoy movies, music, and audiobooks through compatible connected services. Check playback activity and use supported playback controls from your device. • Stay in the loop Get push notifications for supported events, including media availability, requests, and playback activity. • Your setup, your choice Connect Icarus directly to supported services, or pair it with Hades, our optional self-hosted server. Access your setup away from home when your services are configured for remote access. FREE TO USE No subscriptions. No paid feature tiers. No ads. Every Icarus feature is included. HADES Icarus for iOS includes optional support for 'Hades - Media Server' which includes more robust features and permissions. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your media and server data stay with the devices and systems you control. We do not sell your data or use it for advertising. Essential account, connection, and notification-routing data are handled as described in our Privacy Policy. BRING YOUR OWN MEDIA Icarus is a client for your existing media servers and services. It does not provide or host movies, TV shows, music, books, or other media. You need your own media library and compatible services. Some connected services may require their own accounts or subscriptions. Features vary by platform and integration. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://myicarus.app/privacypolicy.html

About

Stablereef

Features
Read full description

Stablereef is a fast reef tank tracker and water test log for saltwater aquariums. Log a full test in one quick session, catch a rapid Alk swing on the spot, and enter the units your test kit shows. Unlimited logging, CSV import and export — no account, no cloud, and no paywall in your core loop. LOG A FULL WATER TEST IN ONE SESSION Tap "Log a test session" and move through every parameter with a big number pad. Each step shows your last reading, only a rapid change stops you, and the rest lands in one summary where you can undo any single reading. Logging just one value? Tap its card and your last value is prefilled. Pin the parameters you test most and hide the ones you don't. No spreadsheet. THE ANTI-SWING WARNING Corals don't crash on a number; they crash on the swing. When you save a reading, Stablereef compares it to your last value — allowing for the time since that test — and flags a rapid change, like "Alk +1.3 dKH rapid change." Out-of-range readings are flagged too, using safe ranges re-checked against published reef guidance. You catch the risky move while you're still at the tank. (Reference only — bands are tunable and husbandry calls are yours.) ENTER THE NUMBER YOUR TEST KIT SHOWS Track Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Nitrate, Phosphate, Salinity, pH and Temperature — plus Ammonia, Nitrite and Silicate when you need them — in the units your kit actually reads: dKH, meq/L or ppm (as CaCO3) for alkalinity; ppm PO4 or ppb P for phosphate (ppb P is what a Hanna HI736 shows); °C or °F; ppt or specific gravity. No converting in your head. CYCLING A NEW SALTWATER TANK? Turn on "This tank is still cycling" and Ammonia and Nitrite move to the front. While the tank cycles, high ammonia and nitrite readings get a calm "this is expected" note instead of an alarm, and Stablereef tells you when your readings suggest the cycle looks done. SWITCHING APPS? BRING YOUR REEF LOG WITH YOU Moving from another aquarium app or a spreadsheet? Import your history from any CSV, right from the first screen: automatic column detection, unit conversion (dKH, meq/L or ppm alkalinity; ppm or ppb phosphate; °F/°C; SG/ppt), a prompt when a column's unit is unclear, a preview before anything is written, and a clear report of exactly what came in. Import is free. TRENDS, NOT JUST NUMBERS 7 / 30 / 90-day graphs with a shaded stability band let you separate real drift from noise and act before a small slip becomes a tank crash. YOUR DATA IS YOURS • CSV & JSON export, anytime — never behind a paywall • Automatic local backups • Works 100% offline — no account, no cloud, no sign-up Want your years of history out? One tap. We don't hold your data hostage. REMINDERS Local notifications for dosing and testing keep you on schedule on the days you'd otherwise forget. LOG AS OFTEN AS YOU TEST Unlimited logging, anti-swing warnings, trends, reminders, import and export are free. No subscription, no monthly cap on readings, and no paywall in the middle of your core loop — ever. THE "LESS" PHILOSOPHY No livestock encyclopedia. No marketplace. No social feed. Stablereef does one thing — protect your reef tank's stability — and aims to do it better than apps juggling ten. PRIVACY No account. No cloud. No ads, no cross-app tracking. Your reef data stays on your device — the only thing we collect is anonymous usage counts (on iPhone, also whether you came from an App Store search ad), with no account, no personal data and no IP address, and you can switch that off in Settings. WHO IT'S FOR Reef keepers who want a focused saltwater aquarium log instead of a do-everything app: an alkalinity tracker that flags swings, a water test log that matches your test kit, and a simple way to track ammonia and nitrite while a new tank cycles. If you keep a spreadsheet today, we built this for you. Reference tool only — not veterinary or husbandry advice. Stability bands are general references; care decisions are the keeper's responsibility. From Sloth Lab Inc.

Screenshots

Icarus4 screens
Stablereef4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Stablereef at 15.0 against Icarus's 17.0. 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Icarus ships an update weekly, Stablereef every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Icarus versus Stablereef: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterIcarusStablereef
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews77.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLantea LLCSloth Lab Inc.

In-app purchases

None

Icarus

No in-app purchases

None

Stablereef

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Icarus free?
Icarus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Stablereef free?
Stablereef is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Icarus or Stablereef have ads?
Neither Icarus nor Stablereef shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Icarus or Stablereef?
Icarus ships an update weekly, and Stablereef every 9 days. Most recently, Icarus was updated on November 4, 2026 and Stablereef on November 5, 2026.

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