Chicken Scratch vs Dead Man's Switch
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chicken Scratch
This app helps you manage your backyard chickens by tracking egg production, health, and daily tasks. It offers detailed statistics and reminders for feeding and cleaning, making flock management easy and fun.
- Add and manage individual chickens
- Log daily egg output
- Set reminders for care tasks
- Track flock health and medical history
- View charts and statistics
- Local data storage
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Congratulations, you own chickens now. You’re basically a farmer, a zookeeper, and an amateur egg economist. Naturally, you need an app for that. Chicken Scratch is your semi-professional, definitely-overbuilt tool for tracking your backyard flock like you’re managing a Fortune 500 company made of feathers. Features you probably didn’t think you needed: • Add all your chickens (even the one you swear isn’t a rooster) • Log daily egg output like it’s your retirement portfolio • Get reminders to feed, clean, or stop staring at them • Track medical stuff so you feel like a real vet (you’re not) • Charts and stats, because nothing says “fun” like analytics on poop machines Perfect for chicken newbies, casual bird collectors, or people who started with 3 hens and now need a second mortgage to fund feed costs. No logins, no cloud, no crypto, just local data and poultry accountability. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Dead Man's Switch
This app ensures your safety by automatically notifying chosen contacts if you miss a scheduled check-in. It offers flexible check-in intervals and customizable messages for emergencies.
- Scheduled check-ins
- Automated contact alerts
- Customizable emergency messages
- Multiple check-in methods (app, widget, Siri, Apple Watch)
- Grace period before alerts
- Away mode for travel
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Free to use: email alerts, reminders, widgets, Apple Watch, the daily deadline and up to 3 people. Dead Man's Switch checks that you're OK. Choose how often you'll check in, anywhere from once a day to once a year. Miss your deadline and your phone reminds you. Still no check-in after the grace window, and the people you chose get an email with the message you wrote. It's for anyone who lives alone, hikes or travels solo, has a health condition, or wants the people who care about them to know if something is wrong. CHECK IN WITH ONE TAP • From the app, a widget, a notification, Siri, Control Center or the Action Button • Or automatically: a Shortcuts automation can check you in when you stop your morning alarm • Or press and hold the app icon and tap Check in • On Apple Watch: see the time left on your watch face and check in from your wrist • On your Lock Screen: in the last 8 hours, the time left and a Check in button that works without unlocking • A live countdown shows exactly how long you have, down to the second • Every check-in is confirmed by our server, so what you see is what will happen • Every day by a set time: pick a time, say 9 PM, and that's your deadline every day. Checking in early doesn't move it KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, AND WHEN • See when your contacts would be emailed, and who • Reminders every day and before your deadline • Still no check-in an hour before anyone is told? Your phone can ring like an alarm clock, even on silent (iOS 26) • Settings > Reminders lists what your phone will do next: each reminder in order, then when your people are told • A grace window before anyone is emailed • Send a test email so your contacts know what to expect • If you check in after an alert went out, your contacts get an "all clear" email • Each alert email has a button your people tap to say they're checking on you, and the app shows who did YOUR MESSAGE, YOUR PEOPLE • Write one message for everyone, or a personal one for each person • One tap adds what they'd need: your address, where the spare key is, who relies on you, health notes, who to call • Your contacts don't need the app. They just get an email • When you add someone, they get one short heads-up email from us, so a real alert is never a surprise (you can switch it off) • A typo in someone's address (like gmial.com) is caught when you add them • The people you add are kept on our server only to send your alerts, never shared or sold, and deleted when you turn the switch off. The app asks before anything is sent TEXT ALERTS (US AND CANADA) • Your contacts can get a text as well as the email, once they say yes with one tap • Texts come in small packs. Emails are always free AWAY MODE • Going somewhere without signal? Pick the day you're back, and nobody is emailed before then PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account to create • No location tracking DEAD MAN'S SWITCH PRO (OPTIONAL) • Safety timer: a hike, a run, a first date? Set 1 to 23 hours and where you're going. Not back in time? Your people get your message with that note on top. Start it in the app, with Siri or from the app icon • Up to 10 people instead of 3 • App icons: Pulse, Green, Moon or Daylight on your Home Screen instead of the candle • Yearly $9.99 with the first week free, monthly $1.99, or lifetime $19.99 once • Bought the app before it was free? Pro is included • Subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel in your Apple ID settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Available in English, Spanish, German, Polish, French, Italian, Dutch, Japanese and Korean. Dead Man's Switch is not an emergency service and does not contact emergency services. If you are in danger, call 911 or your local emergency number.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Chicken Scratch at 75% against Dead Man's Switch's 0%. Dead Man's Switch's advantage is rating (4.5 vs 2.0) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ratings volume, 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. Chicken Scratch sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and Dead Man's Switch sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Dead Man's Switch holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 75% of Chicken Scratch's written reviews are positive against 0% of Dead Man's Switch's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Chicken Scratch ships an update every 3 weeks, Dead Man's Switch every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chicken Scratch | Dead Man's Switch |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.0 (1 ratings) | 4.5 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ctrl Alt Go Ltd | Aaron Jin |
Customer experience
Chicken Scratch
Dead Man's Switch
In-app purchases
Chicken Scratch
- Coop Club Weekly3 Days trial$1.997 Days
- Coop Club Yearly3 Days trial$19.991 Year
Dead Man's Switch
- Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
- Pro Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
- 5 Texts$0.99
- 15 Texts$1.99
- 40 Texts$3.99
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- Pro Lifetime$19.99
Questions
Is Chicken Scratch free?
Is Dead Man's Switch free?
Which has better reviews, Chicken Scratch or Dead Man's Switch?
Do Chicken Scratch or Dead Man's Switch have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chicken Scratch or Dead Man's Switch?
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