Comparison

Atomic Clock vs TrueOffset

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

Head to head
About

Atomic Clock

This app provides ultra-accurate time by synchronizing with global atomic clock servers. It offers a precise time display suitable for professionals, travelers, and anyone needing absolute accuracy. Features include real-time sync, customizable display options, and a minimalist interface.

Highlights
  • Real-time synchronization with atomic clock servers
  • 24-hour and 12-hour display
  • Minimalist clock face with dark mode
  • Offline functionality with last known time
  • Precise time down to the millisecond
Features
Read full description

Always know the exact time with Atomic Clock – Precise Time. Our app synchronizes with official atomic time servers to deliver ultra-accurate time down to the millisecond. Whether you’re coordinating across time zones, managing scientific experiments, or simply want the most reliable clock, this app provides unmatched precision. Features: - Real-time synchronization with global atomic clock servers - 24-hour and 12-hour display options - Beautiful, minimal clock face with dark mode - Works online and offline with last known atomic time - Perfect for professionals, travelers, pilots, scientists, and anyone who values absolute accuracy. An atomic clock is a timekeeping device that measures time based on the vibrations or transitions of atoms—usually cesium or rubidium. Unlike mechanical or quartz clocks, which rely on moving parts or crystals, atomic clocks use the natural oscillations of atoms as their frequency standard. This makes them the most accurate clocks ever developed, capable of maintaining time to within a few billionths of a second per day. Atomic clocks are essential for applications where extreme precision is required, such as GPS navigation, telecommunications, space exploration, scientific experiments, and synchronizing global networks.

About

TrueOffset

This app precisely measures your device's clock accuracy against global time servers. It offers multiple clock faces, time scales, and audible time signals, including radio time codes. Analyze time source quality with detailed charts and compare IPv4/IPv6 responses.

Highlights
  • NTP server comparison
  • Multiple clock faces (analog, digital, NTP offset)
  • UTC & TAI time scales
  • Audible time signals and radio time codes
  • Dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 comparison
  • Flexible time source selection
  • Quality analytics charts
Features
Read full description

TrueOffset measures how far your iPhone or iPad's clock is from the world's time servers, and which way. Compare Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers with one another, see how far apart they are, and set any of them as your reference. FIVE CLOCK FACES - 12-Hour Classic — Traditional analog display - 24-Hour Scientific — Full day on one dial - NTP Offset — Dual second hands show device vs. true time - Digital — Large display with millisecond precision - Time Code — A radio time code spelled out second by second UTC & TAI TIME SCALES Show Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and International Atomic Time (TAI), 37 seconds ahead of it, beside your local time, with deadbeat second hands that step on each second. TIME SIGNALS Hear the true second. Optional pips are timed against your NTP reference, so the start of each one marks the real second, not your device's idea of it. Choose from the classic broadcast signals, synthesized to their published pitch and timing: Six Pips (Greenwich Time Signal), WWV, WWVH, CHU, Jihō, Moscow Six Pips, and Australia's VNG. Sound them on the hour, every 15 minutes, or every minute. Bluetooth or AirPlay speaker running late? Measure its delay with the microphone and TrueOffset compensates. RADIO TIME CODES A clock sold as "atomic" is a radio listening to a distant station that spells out the time one second at a time. TrueOffset plays the codes of WWVB, DCF77, MSF, JJY (40 and 60 kHz), and BPC and shows each second being decoded as it is sent. Try setting a radio-controlled watch with it (beta), or switch on the DCF77 weather seconds to hear how Germany's station once sent a forecast. TRUEOFFSET MASTER CLOCK Our tribute to the U.S. Naval Observatory's telephone time service. A tick sounds every second while a voice announces your local time and then Universal Time, each ahead of a beep that lands on the true second. Prefer it quiet? Switch the voice off and keep the ticks. TrueOffset is not affiliated with the U.S. Naval Observatory. DUAL-STACK COMPARISON Ask one server over IPv4 and IPv6 side by side, to catch two different machines behind one name or a network that answers for both. FLEXIBLE TIME SOURCES Compare against Apple, Google, Cloudflare, NIST, US Naval Observatory, global NTP pools, or add your own servers. The default reference, ntp.trueoffset.app, is a Safran SecureSync 1200 with its own rubidium atomic clock. Set any source as your reference. QUALITY ANALYTICS Eight chart pages show the character of your time sources: - Overview — Every server at a glance - Offset History — Track drift over time - Offset Histogram — How the offsets are spread - Offset Range — Compare consistency across servers - Round Trip and Offset — See whether network delay moves the offset - Clock Sources — Decode reference clocks (GPS, PPS, Rubidium, Cesium) - IPv4 and IPv6 — Compare one server's two addresses - Rankings — Servers scored by jitter and round-trip time, with the steadiest named HELP IN THE APP What an offset is, why your clock drifts, what UTC and atomic time are, and what each screen shows, explained in the app. For anyone who cares how accurate their time really is, and wants to see the difference, not just trust it. Also on Apple TV. FOR TIMEKEEPERS: TRUEOFFSET FOR MAC Run your own time servers? The Mac app, free in this same listing, reads what they record about themselves and charts it, from six hours to a year: - NTPsec, ntpd, chrony, linuxptp, gpsd, Safran SecureSync, and Timebeat - Logs from a folder, or collected over SSH every hour, read-only - Offset, frequency, Allan deviation, temperature, peers, PTP, GNSS sky plots, and each machine's real-time clocks - Restarts, steps, and holdover found and marked, not averaged in - Your servers compared side by side as a fleet More at trueoffset.app/timekeepers --- In appreciation of Emerald Sequoia's Emerald Time.

Screenshots

Atomic Clock3 screens
TrueOffset4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: TrueOffset at 4.9 against Atomic Clock's 3.0. TrueOffset also leads on ratings volume (8 vs 2). Atomic Clock's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

TrueOffset holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 8 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Atomic Clock versus TrueOffset: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAtomic ClockTrueOffset
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (2 ratings)4.9 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings28 — better
Update frequency—Fortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSTAN I. C. ALEXANDRU PERSOANA FIZICA AUTORIZATARichard Bollar

In-app purchases

None

Atomic Clock

No in-app purchases

None

TrueOffset

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Atomic Clock free?
Atomic Clock is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is TrueOffset free?
TrueOffset is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Atomic Clock or TrueOffset?
TrueOffset is rated higher. Atomic Clock averages 3.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while TrueOffset averages 4.9 from 8 ratings.
Do Atomic Clock or TrueOffset have ads?
Neither Atomic Clock nor TrueOffset shows ads.

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