Comparison

ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar vs Shift Calendar Alarm

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

Head to head
About

ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar

Features
Read full description

Take control of your schedule — even with changing shifts. Forget messy spreadsheets, confusing paper rosters, or constantly rebuilding your calendar. ShiftCal is the smart calendar built for people with rotating schedules, irregular work hours, or busy lives. More than just a shift planner, ShiftCal helps you organize work, social life, and wellbeing — all in one place. WHY PEOPLE LOVE SHIFTCAL: ADD YOUR SHIFTS IN SECONDS Our visual interface lets you build your schedule just by tapping or “painting” over the calendar. Create complex rotating patterns once and repeat them automatically for weeks, months, or the whole year. SHARE YOUR SCHEDULE INSTANTLY Stay in sync with colleagues, friends, and family. Create private sharing groups so everyone knows when you're working, free, or on night shifts. Perfect for planning events, childcare, or time off. UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR SCHEDULE AFFECTS YOU Shift work impacts sleep, energy, and recovery. ShiftCal gives you smart insights into your routine — track sleep debt, night shifts, and workload balance to help improve your rest and wellbeing. SYNC WORK AND LIFE TOGETHER Bring everything into one calendar. Sync your shifts with Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, and more — so work events and personal plans live in one clear view. EXPORT AND SHARE ANYWHERE Send your schedule however you need. Export as PDF, image, Excel (CSV), or iCal, ready to share with your partner, team, or manager in seconds. MAKE IT YOURS Your schedule doesn’t have to look boring. Choose from 10+ themes, including dark mode and colorful styles to match your taste. WIDGETS THAT KEEP YOU UPDATED See your next shift or weekly overview directly from your home screen — no need to open the app. Perfect for anyone with a changing schedule, including healthcare workers, emergency services, retail staff, hospitality teams, factory workers, freelancers, students, and anyone who wants better control of their time. Download ShiftCal today and make your schedule finally work for your life. Privacy Policy: https://shiftcal.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ SHIFTCAL ENTERPRISE When enabled by your company, access assigned shifts, clock in and out, manage requests and availability, swap shifts, and read updates in one dedicated space.

About

Shift Calendar Alarm

Read full description

If your shifts move around from week to week, you probably spend more time than you'd like resetting alarms and double-checking them before an early start. Shift Calendar Alarm takes care of that. Put your shifts on the calendar, and the app sets your iPhone alarms for the next 60 days, then updates them on its own whenever your schedule changes. Start by saving the shifts you work most, like early, late, night, or on-call, as Shift Types. Each one can have up to three alarms, on the day itself or the evening before, which helps when a very early start means you want a heads-up the night before. Then tap dates on the calendar to schedule them, with more than one shift on the same day if that's how your week looks. The calendar and shared images show the month’s scheduled day count, counting each date once, and dim days outside the month. Even if your schedule is never quite the same, there's often a stretch that repeats, and Patterns save you from tapping it in again and again. Line up those shifts in order, say two early days, two nights, and two days off, pick a start date, and the whole stretch lands on your calendar at once. Your first pattern is free. Tap any date to see that day's shifts, alarms, and notes together, and a small dot on the calendar tells you which days have notes. A note can stay with its Shift Type or be rewritten for a single day. If you don't need one particular alarm, say on a day you've swapped with a coworker, you can skip just that one without changing the shift itself. Scheduled Alarms shows everything that's about to ring, and Alarm Health checks permissions and sync status and points out anything that needs attention. You only need to rebuild alarms by hand if sync runs into a problem. The Home Screen widget keeps today's and tomorrow's shifts and alarms in view, and a 9:30 p.m. reminder tells you what tomorrow looks like before you go to bed. You'll also find Silent Alarm Mode, calendar images you can share with family or coworkers, iCloud sync, language settings, and Light and Dark Mode. The free version includes 3 Shift Types, 1 pattern, and 8 scheduled shifts. Premium removes those limits. Shift Calendar Alarm is made for keeping track of your own shifts and alarms. It isn't a team scheduling, payroll, or HR tool. Highlights: - Calendar-based shift planning - Multiple shifts on the same day - Date details and notes - One-time alarm skips - Up to three same-day or previous-day alarms per Shift Type - Automatic sync of native iPhone alarms for the next 60 days - Scheduled Alarms, manual rebuild, and Alarm Health - Home Screen widget for today’s and tomorrow’s shifts and alarms - 9:30 p.m. reminder with tomorrow’s schedule - Silent Alarm Mode, calendar image sharing, and iCloud sync - Multi-day Patterns, with your first pattern free - Free: 3 Shift Types, 1 pattern, and 8 scheduled shifts, with Premium unlimited Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar4 screens
Shift Calendar Alarm4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Shift Calendar Alarm at none against ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar's shown. ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs fortnightly) and device support (3 vs 1). On price 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. ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Shift Calendar Alarm sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar ships an update every 5 days, Shift Calendar Alarm fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 2 level
ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar versus Shift Calendar Alarm: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShiftCal Shift Work CalendarShift Calendar Alarm
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterFortnightly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.4 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size112 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPablo AlmancioPING CHANG YU

In-app purchases

3 purchases

ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar

Subscriptions2
  • ShiftCal PRO Monthly$2.991 Month
  • ShiftCal PRO Annual7 Days trial$11.991 Year
One-time1
  • ShiftCal PRO Lifetime$39.99
2 purchases

Shift Calendar Alarm

Subscriptions2
  • Shift Alarm Premium Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Shift Alarm Premium Yearly$8.991 Year

Questions

Is ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar free?
ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shift Calendar Alarm free?
Shift Calendar Alarm is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar or Shift Calendar Alarm have ads?
ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar shows ads; Shift Calendar Alarm does not.
Which is updated more often, ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar or Shift Calendar Alarm?
ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar ships an update every 5 days, and Shift Calendar Alarm fortnightly. Most recently, ShiftCal Shift Work Calendar was updated on October 12, 2026 and Shift Calendar Alarm on October 24, 2026.

Other comparisons