Comparison

Mainplate vs Reference

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

Head to head
About

Mainplate

Features
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Worn, or just owned? Mainplate is the private catalogue for your watch box: log every wear and see what each watch really costs you, keep box, papers, service history and value together, and let a shake pick today's watch. Flips and accuracy too. Synced with iCloud, no account needed. WEAR TRACKING & COST-PER-WEAR Log the days you actually wear each watch and Mainplate turns price into perspective: wear counts, cost-per-wear, and a Rotation card on the dashboard that shows what you really reach for, and what has been sitting in the box too long. YOUR COLLECTION, CATALOGUED Every watch you own on one clean page: brand, model, reference, year, box and papers, purchase price and current value. Keep the full service history and your notes with each piece, flag the watches you are still hunting on your wishlist, and mark what you have sold without losing its story. Built-in background removal cuts each watch photo out automatically, so your collection reads like a catalogue, not a camera roll. DAILY PICKER & WIDGET Can't decide? Shake your phone to reveal today's pick from your collection, mark it as worn, and keep it on your home screen with the Daily Pick widget. The pick syncs to every device you own. FLIPS: PROFIT & LOSS Follow each flip through its complete lifecycle: acquired, in progress, for sale, sold. Log every cost along the way (parts, service work, shipping, your own labour hours) and read net profit and ROI at a glance, for a single flip or across the whole register. Record full timegrapher sessions too: six-position rates, amplitude, beat error and delta, kept right beside the numbers they explain. ACCURACY, MEASURED How does your watch really run? The deviation tracker takes two readings days apart and computes the rate in seconds per day, plotted on a precision gauge against the COSC and METAS chronometer standards, with the complete measurement history of every watch. TIME SYNC A full-screen atomic-time reference clock for setting your watches to the second, with a locale-formatted date and a live moonphase display, including guidance for setting a moonphase complication correctly. DOCUMENT VAULT Keep warranty cards, receipts and service papers attached to the watch they belong to, preview them in place, and export everything together as a single, well-set PDF. SHARE YOUR COLLECTION Export your collection, or a single watch, as a clean, gallery-style image sized exactly for Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, Reddit or Pinterest, and post it through the system share sheet. EVERYWHERE YOU ARE Open Mainplate on iPhone, iPad or Mac and find the same collection, the same flips, the same history. iCloud keeps every device in step automatically. Nothing to configure, nothing to back up. ALSO IN MAINPLATE โ€ข Spare-parts inventory, generated automatically from your flip service logs โ€ข Per-watch PDF summary export, vault documents included โ€ข Service reminders, so no movement runs past its interval PRIVATE BY DESIGN Mainplate is standalone and single-user. There is no account, no sign-up, no tracking and no third-party servers: your data lives in your own iCloud and nowhere else. PLANS Free: up to 5 watches and 1 flip. Collector: unlimited collection and up to 5 flips. Pro: everything, unlimited. Lifetime: all Pro features, forever, with a single purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. DISCLAIMER Mainplate is an independent app not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with any watch brand, manufacturer, or marketplace. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. User-uploaded photos remain under the user's own responsibility. By downloading Mainplate, you agree to Apple's Standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://mainplate.jacopocaggiano.com/privacy.html

About

Reference

Features
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Identify watches from a photo and keep the ones you spot in your own collection. The app interface is currently available in English. SPOT A WATCH Take a photo or choose one from your library. Reference helps identify the brand, model and, when the details support it, the reference number. Successful identifications are saved to your private collection. You can review the result and correct it afterward. BUILD YOUR COLLECTION Keep watches you have spotted alongside the ones you own. Return to the photographs, references and background that made each watch interesting. Your collection is private. MAKE EVERY DISCOVERY COUNT Work toward achievements for your discoveries, favorite watchmakers and collecting habits. Choose the badges you want to show on your profile. Eligible camera captures count toward spotting achievements. KEEP A WEAR HISTORY Log the watches you own and see what you actually wear. Your private wear history stays separate from the wrist checks you choose to share. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Post a wrist check, follow collectors, appreciate a watch and leave a comment. Public posts are moderated. Report and block controls are available in the app. REFERENCE PRO Get the monthly identification and watch-image allowances shown in the app, monthly wear summaries, and private purchase, service and value records. Five introductory identifications, manual collection entries, basic wear history and community participation are available without Pro. Reference helps with identification; it does not authenticate watches. Similar models may need another photograph or more information. Generated watch portraits can differ from the original. Private values are records you enter, not appraisals. Optional subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled through your Apple account. The store shows the current price and billing period before purchase. Deleting your Reference account does not cancel a subscription. Privacy: https://getreference.app/en/privacy Terms: https://getreference.app/en/terms Apple standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Mainplate4 screens
Reference4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Reference at every 2 days against Mainplate's every 6 days. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Mainplate sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Reference sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mainplate ships an update every 6 days, Reference every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
Mainplate versus Reference: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMainplateReference
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 6 daysEvery 2 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.616.4 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size19 MB77 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJacopo CaggianoH1TCH AI LLC

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Mainplate

Subscriptions4
  • Collector ยท Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Pro ยท Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Collector ยท Annual7 Days trial$17.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro ยท Annual7 Days trial$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Access$89.99
2 purchases

Reference

Subscriptions2
  • Reference Pro$5.991 Month
  • Reference Pro$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Mainplate free?
Mainplate is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Reference free?
Reference is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Mainplate or Reference have ads?
Neither Mainplate nor Reference shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mainplate or Reference?
Mainplate ships an update every 6 days, and Reference every 2 days. Most recently, Mainplate was updated on October 28, 2026 and Reference on October 29, 2026.

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