Comparison

Original vs Thanks Bud

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

Head to head
About

Original

Features
Read full description

the podcast app for power listeners. react. comment. highlight. see what others have said.

About

Thanks Bud

Easily remember names and key details about people you know. Quickly search for individuals using partial information and access their details before social events. The app prioritizes privacy and stores data locally on your device.

Highlights
  • Save names and one key detail
  • Search with partial names and details
  • Organize people for events
  • View relationships between people
  • Optional phone number and email
  • Share people or groups
  • Local data storage
Read full description

Think back to the last wedding, school event, or neighborhood dinner. You knew their face and plenty about them. But when you needed a name, you had to wing it. Thanks Bud keeps names, relationships, and useful details together. Add a person with a name and one useful line. When you are about to see them, search a few letters, a typo, a saved headline, a connection, or a city. Open Thanks Bud before you say hello. Glance at the name, the people around them, and the line you wrote to bring the person back into focus. HOW IT HELPS - A name and one headline are enough to save someone. - Add or edit a person in one consistent form. Update their notes as you learn more about them. - Search works with partial names, typos, saved headlines, connection names and relationships, and saved cities. - Search Contacts, choose one person, then review before saving. Apple gives Thanks Bud only the contact you choose. - See local times for people’s saved cities together on Home or inside a group. Open a part of the day to see who is there. - See the people around someone, so names and relationships make sense together. - Switch Everyone or a group to Network to explore the connections you saved. A group’s network shows only its members and the saved connections between them. - Sort Everyone or a group by most viewed, recently added, city, or name. - Save an optional phone number and email address, then call, message, or email from the person’s card. Thanks Bud keeps no communication history. - Share one person or several people as a file. For one card, you choose the details and direct connections. When you share several cards, their connection rows stay private. QUIET UNTIL YOU NEED IT Thanks Bud sends no reminders, keeps no score, and never tells you that a relationship is overdue. Open it when you need a name, then carry on. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Thanks Bud stores your data on your iPhone. The app has no account, advertising, analytics, or tracking. The developer collects no data. Apple shows the contact picker and gives Thanks Bud only the person you choose. Thanks Bud does not request ongoing access to your contact list or change Apple Contacts. For Home’s weather and daylight, Thanks Bud sends Apple Weather the published coordinates of the city on Your Card. The request does not include a person’s name or your physical location. Thanks Bud never asks for location permission. When Thanks Bud prepares a recognition photo, it makes a smaller copy and removes private metadata. It does not change the original item in Photos. If you share a file or save a backup, you choose the action and the content. A new iPhone set up from a backup of your old one should bring your people across. You can also save a backup file yourself. FREE TO USE Cards, search, built-in groups, sharing, and backups are free. A one-time $7.99 US purchase unlocks custom groups you can name. There is no subscription. Thanks Bud is made for the people just outside your inner circle: relatives, neighbors, school parents, colleagues, and the familiar faces you want to greet by name.

Screenshots

Original4 screens
Thanks Bud4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Thanks Bud at every 10 days against Original's monthly. Original's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Original sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Thanks Bud sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Original ships an update monthly, Thanks Bud every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Original versus Thanks Bud: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOriginalThanks Bud
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSystem Operator LLCNikhil Daftary

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Original

One-time1
  • Original Pro$24.99
1 purchases

Thanks Bud

One-time1
  • Custom groups$7.99

Questions

Is Original free?
Original is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Thanks Bud free?
Thanks Bud is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Original or Thanks Bud have ads?
Neither Original nor Thanks Bud shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Original or Thanks Bud?
Original ships an update monthly, and Thanks Bud every 10 days. Most recently, Original was updated on October 15, 2026 and Thanks Bud on September 30, 2026.

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