Comparison

Substrata vs Alison

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

Head to head
About

Substrata

This app analyzes environmental factors like weather and noise alongside your personal health data, such as sleep and heart rate, to identify potential triggers for headaches and other symptoms. It uses on-device intelligence to provide plain-English explanations and predictive alerts, helping you understand what affects your well-being.

Highlights
  • Sleep condition scoring
  • Headache and symptom logging
  • Personal trigger profile building
  • Predictive alert system
  • On-device AI correlation
  • HealthKit and Apple Watch integration
  • PDF and CSV export
Features
Read full description

Wake up tired without knowing why? Headaches that hit out of nowhere? Substrata watches the noise, weather, and air around you, then pairs it with your sleep, heart rate, and HRV — so you can see exactly what's affecting how you feel. It runs entirely on your iPhone using Apple Intelligence. After about two weeks, the on-device correlation engine starts surfacing connections — barometric pressure drops that match your migraine days, bedroom noise that quietly steals your deep sleep, weather patterns that drag down your HRV. Plain-English explanations you could share with your doctor. YOUR SLEEP, EXPLAINED - Sleep Condition Score: how well your bedroom actually treated you (noise, temperature, humidity, pressure stability) - Pairs with HealthKit sleep data + Apple Watch wrist temperature - Hourly, daily, weekly charts with WHO/EPA threshold zones color-coded HEADACHE & SYMPTOM TRIGGERS - Tap to log a headache (migraine, tension, cluster) with severity and notes - After 20-30 logged events, your personal trigger profile starts building - Predictive alerts when conditions match your past headache patterns - Also tracks allergies, mood, joint pain, energy ON-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE - All correlation analysis runs on your iPhone - No servers. No accounts. No third-party analytics SDKs. - Microphone is not used in production; noise data comes from Apple Watch - Privacy nutrition label: no data collected WHAT YOU GET WITH PREMIUM - Every correlation the engine finds (free tier shows your top one) - Personal headache trigger profile + predictive alerts - AI-generated insight narratives - PDF and CSV export — bring a real report to your doctor - History beyond 30 days Requires iPhone with iOS 26 or later and an Apple Intelligence-capable device for AI insights. Apple Watch strongly recommended for environmental noise, HRV, and sleep-stage data; works without a Watch using weather, sleep duration, and headphone audio. Substrata is not a medical device and does not provide medical advice. It explores potential connections between environmental and health data for personal review. Consult a healthcare provider for diagnosis or treatment. Privacy Policy: https://sknauss7.github.io/KynossStudiosSupport/substrata-privacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Alison

Track headaches, meals, water, and sleep with this personal journal. It offers observational insights into potential patterns without diagnosing or forecasting. Data remains on your device for privacy.

Highlights
  • Start and stop headache logging
  • Log meals with ingredients
  • Track water and sleep intake
  • Optional Apple Watch integration
  • Read-only Apple Health integration
  • Optional weather data
  • Generate clinic letters
Features
Read full description

Alison is a personal headache journal. Headache on? Tap Start. Headache over? Tap Stop. Log meals, water, and sleep as they happen. The journal is what you wrote. Nothing more. Alison is not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent migraine or any condition. It does not forecast. Talk to a clinician about symptoms. No account. No ads. No tracking. Your journal stays on your device. Pairs are observational. When the same thing has shown up with three of your migraine days, Alison shows a note. That is what has shown up together. It is not a cause. It is not a forecast. It is not a trigger test. Free download. Keep is a monthly subscription through Apple: 1-month free trial for new subscribers, then $0.99/month (local price varies). For the first 24 hours after you first open Alison, nothing waits on Keep. The journal stays readable without Keep. After the first 24 hours, new Start, Food, and Health pull need Keep. When the trial or Keep ends, those services end. Restore on the Keep screen. Cancel in Apple Subscriptions. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Start and Stop a headache • Log meals with ingredients. Search, scan a barcode, or type. Open Food Facts supplies the ingredients. Not a trigger test. • Log water and sleep. Water in ml or oz: you choose under Units. • Optional Apple Watch: Start and intensity • Optional Apple Health: read-only. Alison reads food, water, sleep, menstrual flow, caffeine, and alcohol, only what you allow on Apple's sheet. Deny and the journal still works. • Optional weather: tap Resample for a pressure and humidity forecast from MET Norway (the Norwegian Meteorological Institute). It is a forecast estimate, not a measurement, and it does not diagnose anything. If the weather feed is unavailable, the journal still works. Deny location and the journal still works. Based on data from MET Norway. Values are grouped and simplified by Alison. • Clinic letter: after 5 episodes, 8 meals, and 7 days, share, copy, or save a PDF of what you logged to hand to your clinician. It restates your log. It is not a diagnosis. WHAT ALISON DOES NOT DO • Diagnose • Forecast a migraine • Give medical advice • Replace a clinician • Show ads • Upload your journal to Night Orders ON YOUR PHONE • Alison has no account and no Alison server. Your journal, food log, symptom entries and photos stay on your device, and we do not collect them. Alison 1.2 does not sync through iCloud. • We do not sell your data, use it for ads, or track you across apps or sites. • Weather is optional and only runs when you tap Resample, never in the background. Your phone rounds your location to about 11 km (7 miles) and sends it directly to MET Norway in Oslo, Norway. MET Norway receives your IP address with the request, as any web server does. Night Orders Studio LLC does not receive or store your location. • Food lookups send your search text or barcode to Open Food Facts, which sees your network address when called. No journal rows are sent. Details: nightorders.app/privacy-alison.html • Deleting the app deletes the journal on the phone. Support: support@nightorders.app Site: https://nightorders.app Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://nightorders.app/privacy-alison.html

Screenshots

Substrata4 screens
Alison4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Alison at none against Substrata's 4. Alison also leads on device support (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.2). Substrata's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 9 days) and ratings volume (4 vs 1). On price, rating, ads 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. Substrata sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Alison asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Substrata against 5.0 for Alison. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Substrata ships an update every 3 days, Alison every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 4 level
Substrata versus Alison: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSubstrataAlison
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings4 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS26.215.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB16 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperSteven KnaussPaturious Grey

Customer experience

Substrata

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Alison

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Substrata

Subscriptions2
  • Substrata Premium Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Substrata Premium Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Substrata Premium$3.99
  • Substrata Premium Lifetime$89.99
None

Alison

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Substrata free?
Substrata is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Alison free?
Alison is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Substrata or Alison?
Substrata and Alison are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Substrata or Alison have ads?
Neither Substrata nor Alison shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Substrata or Alison?
Substrata ships an update every 3 days, and Alison every 9 days. Most recently, Substrata was updated on October 13, 2026 and Alison on October 14, 2026.

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