Comparison

Span vs BudGuard

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

Head to head
About

Span

Track upcoming events with live countdowns or elapsed time since past moments. Log daily habits, discover patterns, and explore historical events with rich media. Organize and share your time-related data seamlessly.

Highlights
  • Live second-by-second countdowns
  • Elapsed time tracking
  • Habit and routine logging
  • Historical 'On This Day' events
  • Customizable widgets
  • Shareable event cards
  • iCloud backup and sync
Features
Read full description

Your relationship with time, all in one place. Count down to birthdays, trips, and deadlines, or see how long it’s been since a milestone. Log recurring events with Trackers and explore history with On This Day. No accounts. No ads. No tracking. SPANS - Live Countdowns — See years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds until or since a date. Date-only spans count calendar days. - Apple Calendar — Choose events to import, review their details, and keep selected events updated or make one-time copies. Span never adds new Calendar events automatically or writes changes back to Calendar. - Smart Emoji Suggestions — Get up to three matching emoji as you type, using on-device Apple Intelligence when available. - Yearly Recurrence — Repeat birthdays and anniversaries, with smart holiday dates that adjust each year. - Holiday Templates — Start with 22 US holidays and cultural events, including Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Chinese New Year. - Weather — Add a US ZIP code for historical weather or a forecast within the next 16 days. - Tags — Give spans and trackers custom tags with optional colors. Read tag names on cards and filter by one or several tags. - Organize — Filter by upcoming, elapsed, or archived; sort by date, name, or custom order. Choose Reorganize to drag rows into place. - Share — Send a styled countdown image or a link that opens in Span. TRACKERS - Log Anything — Tap once to record an event and see the time since your last entry. - Patterns — Frequency statistics show how often you typically do something. - Full History — Add dated entries, edit timestamps, or delete mistakes. - 14 Templates — Workout, Run, Coffee, Meditation, Shower, and more. ON THIS DAY Browse notable historical events for any date, powered by Wikipedia. Open an event to read its description and a related Wikipedia article. Images appear when available. Optional daily notifications bring you a historical event to explore. WIDGETS - Span Widget — Small, medium, or large, plus extra-large portrait on iOS 27. Auto mode follows your Spans tab’s filters, tags, and sort order, or you can choose spans manually. Tap a row to open that span. - Tracker Widget — Choose one tracker for a small Home Screen widget. See time since your last event and its date and time, tap Log now to record an entry, or tap elsewhere to open that tracker’s details. - On This Day Widget — Daily history on your Home Screen, with an extra-large portrait option on iOS 27. Tap to open the matching event. SIRI & SHORTCUTS Create spans, get countdowns, and log tracker entries with Siri and Shortcuts on iOS 26 and later. NOTIFICATIONS Get notified at a span’s event time or choose an advance reminder in minutes, hours, or days. Enable daily history alerts separately. BACKUP Manually back up and restore your spans and trackers with iCloud Drive. Your backup stays in your own iCloud account. FREE & PRO Track up to 2 spans and 1 tracker for free. Unlock unlimited spans and trackers with a one-time Span Pro purchase. PRIVACY No account, advertising, or analytics. Your spans and trackers stay on your device, with optional backup to your own iCloud Drive.

About

BudGuard

This app helps you locate lost earbuds by turning them into a sonic beacon. It generates specialized audio pulses to cut through environmental noise, guiding you to your lost device with an on-screen indicator. It operates entirely offline for privacy and ease of use.

Highlights
  • Sonic beacon for lost earbuds
  • High-frequency audio pulses
  • Works in noisy environments
  • Smart on-screen indicator
  • 100% offline and private
  • No registration or GPS required
Features
Read full description

I created BudGuard after losing an earbud on a black diamond trail. If you’ve ever dropped an earbud outdoors, you know tracking it down is nearly impossible. Even when standing right next to it with a perfect cellular signal, a pin on a map is just not enough. Outdoors, an earbud always finds a way to hide in the dirt, mud or tall grass. As an MTB rider and a developer, I realized I could turn the lost earbud into a sonic beacon. That first version already saved my earbud a few times, and the search became surprisingly fast and easy. Since then, I’ve refined the engine to generate the optimal beacon sound for the situation. Whether it's loud winds, rain or crickets, BudGuard will find the right beacon to be heard. *Made to Shred* Designed for earbuds: Your earbud acts as a sonic beacon with a specialized, high-frequency audio pulse engineered to be heard in any conditions. Shine bright: Whether it's loud winds, rain, or crickets, BudGuard finds the right sonic beacon to be heard. It works: If your earbud is connected and within range, you will find it. No registration, no tracking and no GPS or cell service required. Smart indicator: Listen for the sonic beacon. The smart on-screen indicator will help you sync with the beacon pulse and also show you when you're getting closer. 100% Offline, Local and Private: Does not require cell service, GPS signal or internet connection. No registrations. No sign-ins. No ads. *BudGuard is a solo-ride passion project* The app includes a free 24-hour search pass to help you find your earbud right now. If you find this app to be helpful, you can choose to unlock lifetime access permanently or make a voluntary single tip contribution to support the project.

Screenshots

Span4 screens
BudGuard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Span at free against BudGuard's free with in-app purchases. Span also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks) and ratings volume (8 vs 1). BudGuard's advantage is iOS requirement (15.4 vs 26.0). On price, rating, ads 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. Span sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and BudGuard sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Span against 5.0 for BudGuard. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Span has 8 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Span ships an update every 2 weeks, BudGuard every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Span versus BudGuard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpanBudGuard
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (8 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings8 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShamir WehbeGil Gur Arie

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Span

One-time1
  • Span Pro$1.99
2 purchases

BudGuard

One-time2
  • Developer Tip$1.99
  • Lifetime Trail Pass$4.99

Questions

Is Span free?
Span is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BudGuard free?
BudGuard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Span or BudGuard?
Span and BudGuard are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 8 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Span or BudGuard have ads?
Neither Span nor BudGuard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Span or BudGuard?
Span ships an update every 2 weeks, and BudGuard every 6 weeks. Most recently, Span was updated on October 15, 2026 and BudGuard on October 28, 2026.

Other comparisons