Comparison

ShiftAlarm vs CrossShift

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

Head to head
About

ShiftAlarm

Features
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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 Schedule assistant (Pro) Check your schedule, log overtime or change shifts in one sentence, typed or spoken. Every change waits for your confirmation and can be undone. You can also ask Siri what you work tomorrow. Alarm check See how every reminder in the next 48 hours will sound, and turn ordinary notifications into alarms with one tap. Schedule analysis Spot where your roster cuts into sleep, such as short breaks between shifts, runs of night shifts or too many days in a row, with suggestions. 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.

About

CrossShift

Read full description

Make room for life around your shifts. CrossShift brings schedules, alarms and work records together for shift workers and irregular routines. SCHEDULES & ALARMS Create early, day, evening or night shift templates with work times and alarms. Use repeating rosters, adjust individual dates, assign multiple shifts per day, edit in bulk and apply regional holiday and makeup workday rules. Name each shift alarm separately. STATISTICS & WORK RECORDS View completed shift counts and distribution for free by month, year or custom dates. Set monthly or annual closing dates, or use fixed-day periods. Pro adds planned and counted hours, differences, overtime, notes and pay multipliers, leave types, annual allowances and time off in lieu. Enter overtime duration or calculate it from planned and actual clock-out times, minus breaks. PAY ESTIMATES Set pay rules in Settings โ†’ Pay Management. Estimate pay by pay period, record amounts received and compare differences. Requires Pro; estimates are for personal reference and do not replace employer payroll records. FREE SCHEDULE IMPORT Import from system calendars, ICS files or schedule images for free. On-device image recognition has no usage limit. Review shifts in groups, match or create templates, and edit dates, shifts and times day by day before confirming import. Pro offers optional cloud recognition for unclear text and complex rosters. With consent each time, images are sent to CrossShift servers and the recognition service. Visible names, employee IDs and shift details are also processed. Review and confirm the results. PRO EXPORTS Export PDF, CSV or long-image reports to save, share and check records. Exports require Pro and use the same date range as the statistics page. SHARING & LIFE Create or join a group to view each other's schedules; each person manages their own. Add member notes stored only on your device. Track birthdays, anniversaries, exams and other dates with optional reminders. Home Screen widgets show alarms, calendars, shared schedules, hours and anniversaries; some content requires Pro. Pro also lets you create photo themes, adjust wallpaper position and colors, and save and switch designs. Wallpapers stay on your device. MAKE IT YOURS Avatars, alarm sounds, time formats, Dark Mode, Dynamic Type, VoiceOver and 18 interface languages. Personal schedules and alarms need no account; sharing requires a CrossShift account. Sign in with Apple during setup and choose whether to sync account data. When signed in with personal sync enabled, templates, schedules, leave allowances and overtime records sync. Personal alarms, pay rules and settlements, anniversaries, wallpapers and member notes are excluded from account sync. Weather location access is optional and does not affect schedules or alarms. Send issues and suggestions through Settings. BACKUP & RESTORE Free automatic iCloud Drive backups: enable the feature and select a folder to save backups, browse history and restore. Manual local JSON backup and restore remain available. EARN UP TO 3 MONTHS OF PRO Complete your first work schedule to earn 1 month. Each successful friend referral earns another month, up to 2 referral months and 3 months total. Friends must complete a work schedule, enter your code in Settings and confirm the referral. Sign in to claim; eligibility and redemption terms are in the app. Redeeming an Apple offer code starts an auto-renewing monthly Pro subscription. After the free period, the local App Store price applies. Cancel in Apple subscription settings. Annual subscribers can keep referral extensions to use after their subscription expires; Apple annual renewal terms remain unchanged. See the in-app Pro center for prices and benefits. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://crossshiftalarm.com/privacy/

Screenshots

ShiftAlarm4 screens
CrossShift4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: CrossShift at every 3 days against ShiftAlarm's weekly. ShiftAlarm's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). 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. ShiftAlarm sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and CrossShift sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ShiftAlarm ships an update weekly, CrossShift every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
ShiftAlarm versus CrossShift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShiftAlarmCrossShift
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 3 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.0 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size33 MB113 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerๆ˜Ž ๅˆ˜ๅŸนๅŸน ๆŽ

In-app purchases

1 purchases

ShiftAlarm

One-time1
  • ShiftAlarm Pro Lifetime$2.99
2 purchases

CrossShift

Subscriptions2
  • CrossShift Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • CrossShift Pro Yearly$9.991 Year

Questions

Is ShiftAlarm free?
ShiftAlarm is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is CrossShift free?
CrossShift is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ShiftAlarm or CrossShift have ads?
Neither ShiftAlarm nor CrossShift shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ShiftAlarm or CrossShift?
ShiftAlarm ships an update weekly, and CrossShift every 3 days. Most recently, ShiftAlarm was updated on October 24, 2026 and CrossShift on October 24, 2026.

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