GameShard vs Pocket Backlog
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
GameShard
This app helps you manage your game backlog by tracking playtime, predicting completion times, and suggesting what to play next based on your mood and available time. It offers detailed stats and a personalized year-end review of your gaming habits.
- Backlog management with custom shelves
- Automatic Steam playtime sync
- Play Next game suggestions by mood
- Backlog completion time forecasting
- One-tap session timer
- Free home screen widget
- Annual gaming year-in-review
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GameShard is the backlog tracker that knows how you actually play. It times your sessions, keeps your Steam playtime in sync, and tells you when you'll clear your backlog at your real pace. Can't decide what to play tonight? Pick a mood and how much time you've got, and Play Next picks a game from your backlog. WHAT TO PLAY NEXT · Pick a mood (chill, challenge, story, mindless fun) and how long you've got · Play Next suggests a game from your backlog, not a random store page · Average completion times for every game KNOWS HOW YOU PLAY · One-tap session timer, or log past play time by hand · Steam playtime syncs by itself, no button to press · Backlog forecast: "At your pace, you'll clear your backlog in 2 years 4 months." Share it if you dare · Free home screen widget with a live timer and your progress toward finishing the game · Achievements for streaks, finishing games and clearing your backlog YOUR 2026 WRAPPED, FREE · Every December: your hours, top games, busiest month, longest streak and your player type · Swipe through it like a story, then share the card IMPORT IN SECONDS · Connect Steam and import your library with real playtime · Or tap the popular games you've played, and search millions of titles from IGDB YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR WAY · Shelves: Playing, Backlog, Wishlist, Finished, Dropped · Rate games, rate a whole Steam import in one go, and add notes · Sort by playtime, rating or name, and filter by platform or genre · Get a reminder the day a game on your Wishlist comes out · Share cards with your rating and hours, free for everyone PRIVATE BY DESIGN · No account. Your library stays on your phone · Back up to Files and restore on a new phone, free. Export to CSV too · No ads. No tracking GAMESHARD PREMIUM · Full play history: total hours, sessions and a per-game time ranking · Deep stats: hours by week, month and year, streaks, activity heatmap, completion speed, drop rate · Year in Review · Premium achievements tied to your play habits · Medium and large widgets with your week, streak and shelf counts · Make it yours: Midnight theme, compact and grid layouts, rename shelves Monthly or yearly subscription. Cancel anytime in Settings. Game data provided by IGDB. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://dv1sual.github.io/GameShelf/privacy-policy.html
Pocket Backlog
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Every game you own, in one place, and a good answer to what to play next. Sign in with Steam, Xbox, or PlayStation and Pocket Backlog brings your whole collection across in one go. NEW IN 1.5: READY FOR IPHONE DUO - Open your iPhone Duo and the Library spreads across both screens: Now Playing as a Cover Flow, a countdown to your next must-play, and your Gamedex beside it - The Gamedex becomes the Dex: one finished game on show on the left, every finish in a numbered grid on the right - Your Wishlist and the Releases calendar use both screens too - On every iPhone and iPad, the Library now opens on a stage that takes its color from the game you're playing - Counting down to a must-play? While you wait suggests a game from your backlog you can finish before it lands START WITH WHAT YOU ALREADY OWN - Import from Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation: choose what comes across, and import again later to pick up only what's new - Achievements and trophies come along, so you can see how far along you are in each game - Not on those? Pick a platform and check off the games you own, or search the IGDB catalog and add one with a tap SORTED FOR YOU, NOT SHOUTED AT - Organize reads your trophies and playtime and suggests what looks finished or never really started. Nothing changes until you say so - Your backlog sorts itself onto shelves: nearly done, barely touched, the genres you collect. Build your own and pin your favorites - Pick for Me finds something that fits the time you have tonight FINISH THINGS, AND SEE THEM - Every game you finish becomes a card in your Gamedex - Rate games your way, from Uninstalled to Masterpiece, and share a review slip with your verdict - Check-ins ask how the game you're on is going: stay on it, finish it, or set it aside - A Recap every month, and your Year in Gaming each December ALWAYS KNOW WHAT'S COMING - The Releases calendar shows the next twelve months, and your wishlist gets a nudge on release day - Discover is a Cover Flow of popular games: skip, wishlist, or add each one, with Undo if you change your mind FREE AND PRO Import, Organize, shelves, ratings, Recaps, Releases, and the Gamedex are free. Pro adds iCloud sync across your devices, the deeper readings on the Activity tab (the player you are, where you play, your rarest trophy), full achievement and trophy lists, more library styles, widgets, app icons, themes, and rating colors, the animated foil card, and Calendar sync. Monthly, annual, or lifetime. No ads. No feeds. Just your games. Terms of Use: https://pocketlab.studio/pocket-backlog/terms Privacy Policy: https://pocketlab.studio/pocket-backlog/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Pocket Backlog at every 6 days against GameShard's every 2 weeks. GameShard's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.4). 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
Both are free to download. GameShard sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Pocket Backlog sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
GameShard ships an update every 2 weeks, Pocket Backlog every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | GameShard | Pocket Backlog |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 26.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LUCA MANZONI | David Norris |
In-app purchases
GameShard
- Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
- Premium Yearly$14.991 Year
Pocket Backlog
- Pocket Backlog Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
- Pocket Backlog Pro Annual7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Pocket Backlog Lifetime Pro$49.99









