SocRef vs RefMate
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SocRef
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**The digital match companion built for soccer referees. Track every goal, card, and substitution in real time—on your iPhone or Apple Watch.** ## MATCH MANAGEMENT Create games in seconds. Set team names, jersey colors, half durations (15–45 min), halftime break, extra time, and penalty shootout options. Import assignments directly from Assignr by pasting from the clipboard—SocRef reads the format automatically and fills in the details, including age-appropriate half durations (7v7, 9v9, 11v11). Browse your upcoming and past games in one list, sorted by closest kickoff. Tap any game to jump back into a live match or review the final record. --- ## LIVE MATCH TRACKING Start the timer and let SocRef handle the rest. The match clock runs through 1st Half → Halftime → 2nd Half → Extra Time → Penalties. Add stoppage time on the fly. Pause, resume, and manually advance periods whenever you need to. Log events as they happen: - Goals — with optional player name - Yellow cards — with reason and player - Red cards — with reason and player - Substitutions — player on, player off Every event is timestamped to the minute and saved instantly. Your data survives app backgrounding and device restarts. **1-Minute Alert** — SocRef sends a haptic notification 1 minute before each period ends, whether the Watch screen is on or off. Never lose track of time during a match. --- ## APPLE WATCH COMPANION Control the match from your wrist. The Watch app stays in sync with your iPhone in real time—score, period, timer, card counts. Record goals, cards, and substitutions without taking your phone out. Perfect for when you're on the pitch and your hands are full. **Two-way sync** — Changes made on the Watch (score, cards, team names, match config) are automatically pushed back to the iPhone. The watch is always the source of truth for an active match. Edit a game on the watch, and the iPhone game list updates the moment they reconnect. --- ## EVENT LOG & EXPORT Review the full event timeline after the whistle. Export the complete match record as JSON—ready for your records, your organization, or your own analysis. --- ## SUPPORTER FEATURES — GPS & MOTION TRACKING Support development and unlock advanced referee fitness tools: - **Motion Tracking** — Steps, distance, cadence, and heart rate via Apple Watch. Runs as a live workout in Apple Health (soccer activity type). - **GPS Tracking** — Records your movement across the pitch at configurable intervals (every 10, 30, or 60 seconds). - **Movement Heatmap** — Calibrate the field corners with GPS, and SocRef generates a color-coded heatmap showing where you spent the most time. Identify positioning patterns and improve your coverage. - **Per-Period Breakdown** — Distance, steps, and heart rate stats for each match period, exportable in full. Supporter purchases are voluntary. Any tier—Tip, Coffee, Latte, or Lunch—unlocks all of the above. HealthKit and Core Motion usage is disclosed in the GPS & Motion Tracking section footer on the Game Setup screen. --- BUILT FOR THE PITCH - Dark theme throughout—readable in any light - Works fully offline - Automatic two-way sync between iPhone and Watch - Large, high-contrast controls for fast input mid-match - Haptic alerts at key moments (1-minute warning, period transitions) --- *SocRef is made by referees, for referees.*
RefMate
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The whole match on one screen: a clock that never stops, buttons big enough to hit without looking, and undo always where you left it. Built for referees who work real pitches — no signal, rain, gloves, and a report to hand in at the end. WHAT YOU GET • A clock that survives anything. It runs off timestamps, not a counter, so backgrounding the app, locking the screen or even a crash mid-half changes nothing. The time on your wrist is the time on the pitch. • One-tap registration. Goals, cautions, send-offs, substitutions, penalties — all one tap from the match screen. Nothing buried in a menu. • Second caution caught for you. Book a player who is already on a yellow and the app tells you before you show the card, not after. • Added time you can defend. Every stoppage is measured, and the suggestion at the end of the half is based on what actually happened. • A match report that looks official. A clean PDF with the timeline, the disciplinary record, the crew and your own signature, drawn once in Settings — shareable before you reach the dressing room. • Apple Watch that works on its own. Start the match, run the clock and register events from your wrist with the phone switched off in a locker. It reconciles with the phone later, and never drops an event. • Laws of the Game practice. Questions grounded in the official IFAB text, each one showing the Law, the section and the passage it comes from. Practice by Law, timed mock exams, and spaced repetition of what you got wrong. • Season statistics. Matches, cards per match, when in the game things happen, which clubs give you the most trouble. NO ACCOUNT, NO SERVER, NO SIGNAL NEEDED Everything lives on your device. There is no sign-up, no login and no analytics. Optional sync uses your own private iCloud — we have no server and never see your matches. Export everything to a single file whenever you want. FREE AND PRO Free: three matches, with the full clock, goals, cards and the live screen — plus 20 questions. Your matches stay yours; nothing is deleted. PRO: unlimited matches, unlimited history, PDF reports signed with your own signature, statistics, the Apple Watch app, the full question bank and iCloud sync. The paywall never appears during a match. Not once, under any circumstances. Laws content covers the 2026/27 edition. The IFAB updates the Laws each season, normally with effect from 1 July, and the app tells you which edition it covers. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: RefMate at every 9 days against SocRef's every 3 weeks. 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. SocRef sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and RefMate sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
SocRef ships an update every 3 weeks, RefMate every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SocRef | RefMate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +4 |
| Developer | Xiangdong Zhang | LUIS ORLANDO LAZO GONZALEZ |
In-app purchases
SocRef
- Tip$0.99
- Buy a Coffe$2.99
- Buy a Latte$4.99
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- Buy a Lunch$12.99
RefMate
- PRO Monthly$2.991 Month
- PRO Yearly3 Days trial$22.991 Year









