Comparison

Sessions vs Shift Calendar

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

Head to head
About

Sessions

This discreet timer helps professionals manage session times without disrupting client flow. It syncs with your calendar and provides subtle notifications on your watch and phone, with a visual timer display for your desk.

Highlights
  • Calendar sync for automatic session setup
  • Discreet Apple Watch notifications
  • Visual timer display with color cues
  • Lock screen and Dynamic Island integration
  • Manual session entry option
  • Session count tracking
Features
Read full description

You're in the middle of a session and you can't check the clock without breaking rapport. Or perhaps you're between clients, and suddenly realize you've fallen behind schedule. Sessions is a simple timer app built around this problem. Your appointments sync from your calendar and turn into automatic timers to help keep you on schedule, discreetly. ON YOUR DESK Your iPhone displays a calm, full-screen timer, shifting color as the session winds down. It's big enough to read from across the room and subtle enough to leave sitting out. Don't want a number in front of you? Hide the countdown and keep only the full-screen color shift. ON YOUR WRIST • A tap when the session begins • One tap at the halfway point • Two taps at five minutes left • Three taps when time is up FROM YOUR CALENDAR Point the app at your calendar and the day fills itself in. It reads start times and nothing else. Titles, notes, and the people on the invite are never stored. Anything marked as supervision can be left out, and you can set the session length your practice actually runs. Prefer to add them by hand? That works too. YOUR CASELOAD, OVER TIME The app keeps a count of every session you finish. Your lifetime total, today, and this week are free. SESSIONS PRO A one-time purchase, not a subscription, and Family Sharing is included. • Home screen and lock screen widgets • Set goals, like the sessions you need toward licensure • How today compares to your usual Tuesday, and the hours you actually work • A heatmap of every day you've worked • Milestones and personal records • A rolling weekly average, and which way it's heading PRIVACY No account, no ads, no tracking, no server. Client names never enter the app, because there's nowhere to type one. Sessions stores times and nothing else. Your history stays on your iPhone, and in your own iCloud if you want it there. Built by a marriage and family therapist in training, in the evenings and between clients.

About

Shift Calendar

Features
Read full description

The shift calendar for people on a rotation. Pick your pattern once and ShiftCheck fills in every shift, from last month to a year ahead. Built for hospital nurses on 3×12s first, then fire and EMS crews on 24/48s, 48/96s and Kelly schedules, and plant and warehouse crews on DuPont, Pitman and 2-2-3. No account. No ads. Works offline. YOUR ROTATION, MONTHS AHEAD • 12 presets named the way crews say them: 2-2-3 (Panama), Pitman, DuPont, 4 on 4 off, 48/96, 24/48, Kelly, 14 on 14 off, 3×12, Continental, 5-5-4, and 4 on 3 off (4×10s) • Or build your own repeat • Picked up an extra shift? The pattern never overwrites a day you changed by hand, and a rotation day you erase stays erased • Unlimited shift types, each with its own color EVERY DAY, AS IT REALLY WENT • Mark a shift as a pickup, charge, or cancelled, and add a note • Stayed late or left early? Record your actual hours and the estimate counts the real minutes • Vacation and sick days on the calendar AT A GLANCE • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets: your next shift and your week • Apple Watch app with complications for your next shift • A reminder 12 or 2 hours before each shift, off until you turn it on • On shift, a Live Activity shows your earnings on the Lock Screen • Works on iPhone and iPad ON ALL YOUR DEVICES iCloud sync keeps your iPhone and iPad in step through your own iCloud. There is no ShiftCheck account. Sync is on by default for new installs when you're signed in to iCloud; turn it off any time in Settings. SHIFTCHECK PRO: THE PAYCHECK, AND YOUR PARTNER'S CALENDAR The calendar is free, including a basic pay estimate for the month. Pro is a one-time unlock that adds: • Partner calendar sharing: your shifts go into a "ShiftCheck" calendar in Apple Calendar that you share with your partner, family, or coworkers. It updates when your schedule changes, and they don't need the app • This paycheck, for your pay period: weekly, every 2 weeks, twice a month, or monthly • Overtime the way your employer counts it: weekly, daily, or the 8/80 hospital rule, with limits you set, and off-day pickups paid as overtime if that's your rule • Night, weekend, and holiday premiums, split correctly across midnight • Paid time off in the forecast, a take-home estimate, and your next payday • More than one job, each with its own overtime rules and paycheck • A different rate on any single shift • Paycheck reports with CSV export One-time unlock. No subscription. No ads. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your schedule stays on your devices and in your own iCloud. No account, no ads, and nothing is sold. ShiftCheck sends anonymous usage counts (which screens and features get used, with a random ID that isn't tied to you) so we can see what to fix and improve. It never sends your schedule, pay, names, or notes, and you can turn it off in Settings › Privacy. Free calculators and schedule guides: stackcurious.com/shiftcalendar

Screenshots

Sessions4 screens
Shift Calendar4 screens

Verdict

The call

Sessions and Shift Calendar are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Sessions sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Shift Calendar sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sessions ships an update fortnightly, Shift Calendar every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Sessions versus Shift Calendar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSessionsShift Calendar
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS18.517.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPresently Reading LLCDave Oakley

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Sessions

One-time1
  • Sessions Pro$9.99
1 purchases

Shift Calendar

One-time1
  • ShiftCheck Pro — Lifetime$14.99

Questions

Is Sessions free?
Sessions is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shift Calendar free?
Shift Calendar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Sessions or Shift Calendar have ads?
Neither Sessions nor Shift Calendar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sessions or Shift Calendar?
Sessions ships an update fortnightly, and Shift Calendar every 2 weeks. Most recently, Sessions was updated on October 11, 2026 and Shift Calendar on October 3, 2026.

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