Comparison

SkillMates vs Urbanly

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

Head to head
About

SkillMates

Features
Read full description

SkillMates โ€“ Learn, Teach, Connect Turn your skills into learning opportunities. SkillMates is a skill-sharing and skill-exchange community where you teach what you know, learn what you want, and connect with the right people to make it happen โ€” no classroom required. WHY SKILLMATES โ€ข Show what you can teach and what you want to learn, right on your profile. โ€ข Get matched with complementary partners โ€” someone who wants to learn what you teach, and can teach what you want to learn. โ€ข Chat one-on-one with text, photos, videos, and voice messages. โ€ข Build a public profile with your portfolio, credentials, and student reviews. โ€ข Stay safe with built-in reporting and blocking tools. DISCOVER Browse and search for skill partners, mentors, curated lessons, and new members. Explore a growing library of skills across creative, technical, language, and lifestyle categories. EXCHANGE Set your "I Can Teach" and "I Want to Learn" preferences, and let SkillMates surface learning partners whose skills complement yours. Send an exchange request, get accepted, and start learning together. MESSAGES Once you're connected, keep the conversation going with real-time one-on-one messaging โ€” share text, images, videos, and voice notes to coordinate lessons and share resources. PROFILE Showcase your teaching skills, learning goals, portfolio, and credentials. Let others know what you bring to the table and what you're hoping to learn next. MEMBERSHIP & COINS Upgrade to SkillMates Plus or Pro for more daily exchange requests and a higher number of Discover recommendations. Pro members can also publish paid teaching listings. Use Coins to refresh your exchange match batch whenever you want fresh recommendations. โ€ข SkillMates Plus / Pro โ€” auto-renewing weekly or monthly subscriptions with tiered benefits. โ€ข Coins โ€” a consumable in-app currency for refreshing your matches. Subscription and Coins prices are shown in the app before purchase and are charged to your Apple ID account. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in Settings > [your name] > Subscriptions on your device. SAFETY FIRST SkillMates is built around real people helping each other grow. Report or block any user or content that violates our community guidelines, right from their profile or a chat. We review every report and take action to keep the community safe. PRIVACY BY DESIGN We only collect what's needed to run the app โ€” no GPS location tracking, no contacts access. You choose what to share on your profile, and you can delete your account at any time in Settings. Whether you want to trade your coding skills for guitar lessons, practice a new language with a native speaker, or find a mentor for your next creative project โ€” SkillMates helps you find the right person to learn with. Terms of Use: https://sites.google.com/view/skillmatesuseragreement/user-agreement Privacy Policy: https://sites.google.com/view/skillmatesprivacypolicy/SkillMates-Privacy-Policy Support: https://sites.google.com/view/skillmates-technical-suppor/SkillMates-Technical-Support

About

Urbanly

Features
Read full description

Urbanly is a local-first sketch journal and offline fictional city community โ€” built for people who love urban observation, street scenes, and keeping a personal archive on iPhone. Browse a simulated feed of city sketch stories, save favorites, write your own notes, and build a private library of your real sketches with photos. Everything runs on your device. No account is required, and Urbanly is not a live social network. WHAT YOU CAN DO โ€ข Create a local profile with an optional photo and bio โ€ข Publish your own sketch records with photos, captions, and tags โ€ข Save favorites and add personal notes to any sketch โ€ข Organize your work in My Sketches with filters and photo browsing โ€ข Export Gallery Posters from your sketches GALLERY POSTER EXPORTS Turn your sketch records into shareable poster images. Your first Gallery Poster export is free. Additional exports use Points. Urbanly is designed for personal creative use. Download it to explore city sketch stories, keep your own archive, and export beautiful posters โ€” all on your iPhone.

Screenshots

SkillMates4 screens
Urbanly3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Urbanly at 15 against SkillMates's 17.6. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. SkillMates sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Urbanly sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SkillMates ships an update fortnightly, Urbanly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
SkillMates versus Urbanly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSkillMatesUrbanly
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightly โ€” betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod โ€” better
Requires iOS17.615 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size16 MB17 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperThanh Nam NguyenMICHAEL W MCCARTHY

In-app purchases

10 purchases

SkillMates

Subscriptions4
  • SkillMates Plus Weekly$2.997 Days
  • SkillMates Plus Monthly$4.991 Month
  • SkillMates Pro Weekly$4.997 Days
Show 1 more
  • SkillMates Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
One-time6
  • SkillMates 845 Coins$18.99
  • SkillMates 1124 Coins$27.99
  • SkillMates 1794 Coins$38.99
Show 3 more
  • SkillMates 2842 Coins$57.99
  • SkillMates 4949 Coins$89.99
  • SkillMates 6042 Coins$105.99
6 purchases

Urbanly

One-time6
  • Spark$0.99
  • Glow$2.99
  • Pulse$9.99
Show 3 more
  • Orbit$19.99
  • Nova$49.99
  • Galaxy$99.99

Questions

Is SkillMates free?
SkillMates is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Urbanly free?
Urbanly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do SkillMates or Urbanly have ads?
Neither SkillMates nor Urbanly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SkillMates or Urbanly?
SkillMates ships an update fortnightly, and Urbanly every 3 weeks. Most recently, SkillMates was updated on October 31, 2026 and Urbanly on October 29, 2026.

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