Comparison

Rota vs ShiftAlarm

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

Head to head
About

Rota

Features
Read full description

Rota is a private, offline-first shift scheduling app for people who work shifts. Keep your roster on your own device, whether you work in healthcare, hospitality, security, manufacturing, or another rotating schedule. IMPORT AND VIEW YOUR ROSTER • Import PDF, Excel, CSV, PNG, JPEG, and WebP roster files with a guided mapping flow. Text PDFs are read on device; scanned PDFs and images can use on-device OCR. • See colour-coded shifts in month, week, list, and roster-overview views. • Set your own shift names, colours, and times, then focus the calendar on your own shifts or view the whole team. • Add optional pre-shift reminders and sync shifts to a calendar you choose. • Add Home Screen widgets for Today & Tomorrow, This Week, Two Weeks, Weekly Timeline, or List, with optional event details. FREE MANUAL SCHEDULING • Create any number of blank rosters and edit assignments day by day. • Maintain separate member libraries, reuse members across rosters, and choose when changes are synchronized. • Keep every roster, member, and shift editable on your device. SHIFT ALARMS • On iOS 26 and later, create system alarms from a roster and shift that can alert through Silent Mode and Focus. • Follow the shift start or end time, then choose a before, on-time, or after offset and an optional snooze duration. • The first persistent alarm rule is free; the one-minute test alarm uses no slot. HANDLE REAL-WORLD CHANGES • Record covers, same-day or cross-day swaps, repayments, and overtime locally. • Keep a local swap history and compare suggested swaps. • Review your shift mix and hours trend. ROTA PRO — ONE-TIME PURCHASE Rota Pro permanently unlocks rotation scheduling, rule-based generation, auto-extension to a chosen date, roster merge and comparison tools, PDF/Excel/CSV export, and unlimited persistent shift-alarm rules. Every generated roster remains editable. PRIVACY No account is required. Rota has no business backend and no ads. Rota does not upload or collect rosters, names, imported files, settings, alarm rules, or local .rota backups. User-directed exports go only to the selected destination, and calendar events follow the provider of the system calendar you select. The core app works offline; the optional one-time Rota Pro purchase needs a network connection to process and restore your purchase.

About

ShiftAlarm

Features
Read full description

Import an Excel/CSV roster or build a repeating work/off pattern, then keep shifts, reminders, and hours organized in one place. ShiftAlarm is a shift calendar and alarm app for rotating schedules, night work, duty shifts, and overtime. See what you work today, know when to leave, and keep your whole month organized in one place. KEY FEATURES Today's shift and countdown See today's shift, start and end times, time until work or clock-out, and your next reminder. Shift calendar View morning, evening, night, off, and duty shifts directly on a monthly calendar. Cycle scheduling Create repeating patterns such as two days on and two days off. Preview and generate up to 365 days while choosing whether to replace or keep existing shifts. Excel and CSV import Preview and validate your existing roster before saving it. Matching shift times can be synchronized, while duplicate dates can be replaced or kept. Shift library Create, edit, and duplicate reusable shift templates for different work patterns. Overtime and work-hour statistics Record overtime or temporary duty and review regular hours, overtime, total hours, workdays, and shift distribution. Shift reminders Set wake-up, departure, and work reminders for each shift and choose a reminder sound. Home Screen widgets Check today's shift, countdown, next reminder, and weekly roster without opening the app. Holidays and languages Choose built-in holidays for Mainland China or Hong Kong, or turn them off. ShiftAlarm supports Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and English. Built for healthcare, security, manufacturing, rail, aviation, emergency services, and anyone working rotating schedules. No account is required. Your schedules and reminders stay on your device, and imported roster files are not uploaded to a server.

Screenshots

Rota4 screens
ShiftAlarm4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ShiftAlarm at none against Rota's 1. Rota's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Rota sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ShiftAlarm asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Rota ships an update every 2 weeks, ShiftAlarm weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
Rota versus ShiftAlarm: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRotaShiftAlarm
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer礼源 ęØę˜Ž 刘

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Rota

One-time1
  • Rota Pro$2.99
None

ShiftAlarm

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Rota free?
Rota is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ShiftAlarm free?
ShiftAlarm is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Rota or ShiftAlarm have ads?
Neither Rota nor ShiftAlarm shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Rota or ShiftAlarm?
Rota ships an update every 2 weeks, and ShiftAlarm weekly. Most recently, Rota was updated on October 9, 2026 and ShiftAlarm on September 29, 2026.

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