Fresco Mobile vs Planning Center
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Fresco Mobile
Control your lighting system remotely from your iPad. Activate scenes and manage individual channels with an interface mirroring the physical control station. Includes a demonstration mode for a simulated experience.
- Remote scene activation
- Direct channel control
- Mimics station interface
- Automatic station configuration retrieval
- Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity
- Wi-Fi connectivity
- Demonstration mode
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Fresco Mobile is a remote control for the Fresco FCS 7TSN lighting control station by Acuity Controls, giving you the ability to activate scenes and directly control lighting channels from your iPad or iPad mini. The app features the same intuitive interface as the station itself, and will automatically retrieve and mimic the station configuration and room status once connected. To use the app with a Fresco station, you’ll need to either connect to it using Bluetooth Low Energy or connect using Wi-Fi, which will require a Fresco station (FCS 7TSN) with an Ethernet port (-E or -XE option) which has been connected to a Wi-Fi access point. The app also includes a demonstration mode, which allows for a simulated Fresco Mobile experience. No Fresco station required.
Planning Center
Manage ministry activities from check-ins to follow-ups with a unified dashboard. Receive notifications, create tasks, and collaborate with your team seamlessly. Access all ministry products from one central hub.
- Ministry-wide notifications
- Access all ministry products
- Home dashboard with action items
- Task creation and assignment
- Team collaboration
- Mobile gestures for quick actions
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Ministry work doesn’t just happen at your desk. With the Planning Center app, church admins get mobile access to every product they use, their task lists, and notifications all in one place. The Planning Center you know and love, now easily accessible from the church lobby, the youth building, or wherever your ministry work takes you. Key Features Access any product — Use People, Giving, Services, Check-Ins, or any other product, all from within the app All admin notifications — Facilities requests, workflow updates, form submissions, and more Your Home dashboard — A clear overview of stats, information, and items that need your attention Tasks — Keep collaborating with your team whether you're in a coffee shop or hustling on a Sunday morning Requirements Login requires an existing Planning Center account. Any action you take on web or mobile will be synced. Support Questions, issues, or want to request new features? Go to your profile page by tapping your avatar and use the "Contact Support" link to let us know. Typical reply time is ~1 business hour.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Planning Center at every 11 days against Fresco Mobile's every 3 months. Planning Center also leads on ratings volume (37 vs 2). Fresco Mobile's advantage is iOS requirement (9.3 vs 16.4). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Fresco Mobile against 4.6 for Planning Center. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Planning Center has 37 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Fresco Mobile ships an update every 3 months, Planning Center every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Fresco Mobile | Planning Center |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (2 ratings) | 4.6 (37 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 45.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 37 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 9.3 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 58 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc | Ministry Centered Technologies |
Customer experience
Fresco Mobile
Planning Center
In-app purchases
Fresco Mobile
No in-app purchases
Planning Center
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Fresco Mobile free?
Is Planning Center free?
Which has better reviews, Fresco Mobile or Planning Center?
Do Fresco Mobile or Planning Center have ads?
Which is updated more often, Fresco Mobile or Planning Center?
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