Comparison

Waves vs Bump Pulse

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

Head to head
About

Waves

Effortlessly track labor contractions and other important birth events with elegant graphs and detailed logs. Designed for parents, birth teams, midwives, and doulas, this app provides precision and insight during your birthing journey. Supports PDF and CSV exports for sharing with your care team.

Highlights
  • One-tap contraction timing
  • Elegant graphing and smart averages
  • Track multiple birth events
  • Low light mode for labor environments
  • Editable event logs
  • PDF and CSV exports
  • Designed for birth teams
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

The most beautifully designed contraction timer app — made for parents, partners, birth teams, midwives, doulas, and caregivers. Track labor effortlessly with elegant graphs, intensity tracking, smart averages, and detailed event logs. Whether you're timing your own contractions, collaborating with a partner, supporting someone as a doula or midwife, or managing multiple clients — Waves empowers you with precision, calm, and insight. Key Features: • One-Tap Contraction Timing Start and stop waves with a single tap. Stay focused on the moment — your timeline builds automatically. • Real-Time Sharing with Your Birth Team Invite your partner, doula, midwife, or anyone on your support team. They see your contractions update live — no accounts or sign-ups required. Share via QR code or link. • Collaborative Timing With a collaboration connection, either person can start and stop contractions — perfect for partners taking turns during labor. • Live Activity & Dynamic Island See your active contraction timer on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island without opening the app. Always visible when it matters most. • Apple Watch Companion Track contractions from your wrist. Your Watch stays in sync with the app automatically. • Elegant Graphing & Smart Averages See your progress at a glance with real-time charts. View averages over the last hour, two hours, or set a custom window. • Contraction Intensity Tracking Rate each contraction as mild, moderate, strong, or very strong. Intensity is color-coded on your chart for instant visual insight. • Track More Than Contractions Water breaking? Nausea? Shaky feelings? Baby movements? Notes? Add and edit all events to build a comprehensive labor timeline. • Sessions Save your current recording and start a new session. Perfect for tracking multiple pregnancies, labor attempts, or managing different clients. • Location Sharing Share your real-time location with your birth team so they can navigate to you with one tap — especially useful when heading to the hospital. • Session Transfer Partners and caregivers can transfer recorded session data directly to mom's device — her data, her ownership. • Clinical & Professional Mode Midwives, doulas, and nurses can manage multiple clients from a dedicated dashboard with real-time monitoring, client notes, and connection management. • Beautiful Low-Light Mode Designed for labor environments with a calming dark interface — easy on the eyes, especially at night. • Editable Logs Every event and contraction is fully editable — because labor isn't always linear. • PDF & CSV Exports Generate professional PDF reports including your contraction graph, intensity data, and notes to share with your care team. CSV exports are perfect for doulas, midwives, and researchers. • Privacy First No accounts required for basic use. Names are stored only on your device — never on our servers. Contraction data shared with your team contains no personal health identifiers. • Responsive Design Works beautifully on iPhone, iPad, and desktop browsers. On wider screens, sessions and connections appear as persistent side panels alongside your main view. • Designed for Peace of Mind Built with love and careful consideration for every birthing journey. This app is not a medical device. Always consult your doctor or midwife during labor. Trust your instincts — this tool is here to support, not replace, medical advice. • Responsive Developer Support Have a suggestion or need help? Email us directly at dev@theorian.com. We're dedicated to continuously improving your experience. EULA https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Bump Pulse

This labor tracking app helps expecting parents monitor contractions with a simple one-tap timer. It provides real-time progress sharing and helpful summaries to identify active labor, all without ads or subscriptions.

Highlights
  • One-tap contraction timer
  • Smart labor trend tracking
  • Real-time progress sharing
  • Offline functionality
  • Siri and App Shortcut integration
  • Apple Watch support
  • Live Activity display
Features
Read full description

Track contractions with confidence. Simple, smart, and built for labor. Bump Pulse is a fast and accurate contraction timer made for expecting parents. Log each contraction with a single tap and instantly view duration, frequency, and patterns that help you recognize active labor. Stay connected and supported. Share your real-time progress with your partner, doula, or midwife, no matter where they are. Why choose Bump Pulse? • One-tap contraction timer with no setup • Clean, distraction-free design for focus during labor • Smart timeline to track duration, intervals, and labor trends • Real-time sharing with your birth partner or care team • Helpful summaries to know when it may be time to go • Works offline with no account required Made to be easy to reach when you need it most • Start or stop the timer with Siri • Use App Shortcuts for even faster access • Add widgets with quick buttons to open the app fast • Start or stop from the Lock Screen without unlocking your phone • Use Live Activity to keep the timer visible and quickly jump back into the app • Track contractions from Apple Watch, including start and stop controls, quick stats, and recent contractions No ads. No subscriptions. Just clarity, calm, and control. Bump Pulse was built to give you peace of mind, so you can focus on what truly matters: bringing your baby into the world. Bump Pulse is not a medical device and does not replace the advice of your midwife or doctor.

Screenshots

Waves4 screens
Bump Pulse4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Bump Pulse at free against Waves's paid. Bump Pulse also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). Waves's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and review sentiment (100% vs 80%). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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. Waves sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 6 months and Bump Pulse sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Waves holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bump Pulse has 69 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Waves's written reviews are positive against 80% of Bump Pulse's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Waves ships an update every 3 weeks, Bump Pulse weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Waves versus Bump Pulse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWavesBump Pulse
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better4.7 (69 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better80.0% of reviews
Number of ratings669 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#188 — better—
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size40 MB55 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperTheorianAURIMAS PRUSOVAS

Customer experience

Waves

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bump Pulse

All ratings69 ratings
Positive92.8%
Neutral1.4%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Waves

Subscriptions5
  • Waves Pro$1.996 Months
  • Clinical Starter$9.991 Month
  • Clinical Professional$19.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Clinical Starter (Annual)$95.001 Year
  • Clinical Professional (Annual)$189.991 Year
One-time5
  • +1 Client Slot$1.99
  • +1 Connection$1.99
  • Waves Pro Lifetime$4.99
Show 2 more
  • +5 Client Slots$7.99
  • +10 Client Slots$14.99
1 purchases

Bump Pulse

One-time1
  • Birth Certificate$5.99

Questions

Is Waves free?
Waves is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bump Pulse free?
Bump Pulse is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Waves or Bump Pulse?
Waves is rated higher. Waves averages 5.0 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Bump Pulse averages 4.7 from 69 ratings.
Do Waves or Bump Pulse have ads?
Waves shows ads; Bump Pulse does not.
Which is updated more often, Waves or Bump Pulse?
Waves ships an update every 3 weeks, and Bump Pulse weekly. Most recently, Waves was updated on October 6, 2026 and Bump Pulse on October 20, 2026.

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