Arccos Golf vs Side Game Golf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Arccos Golf
This AI-powered golf app automatically tracks your shots and provides smart rangefinding. It analyzes your game to offer personalized strategies and detailed green maps, helping you improve your performance and lower your scores.
- AI-powered automatic shot tracking
- Smart laser rangefinder with weather data
- AI strategy for club and target recommendations
- LiDAR-mapped green maps
- Strokes Gained Analytics
- Real club distance tracking
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PLAY SMARTER GOLF Arccos is the Official Game Tracker of the PGA TOUR. AI-powered game tracking and Smart Laser Rangefinder trusted by pros including Matt Fitzpatrick, and golfers at every level. Now improved with greater depth, personalization, focus, and actionable recommendations. THE NEW ARCCOS APP — NOW ROLLING OUT ON iOS The biggest update we've ever made. Every tab rebuilt. New AI features throughout. The app now tells you exactly what to do — not just what happened. WHERE TO FOCUS — YOUR PERSONAL PRACTICE PLAN Your Player tab pinpoints exactly where your next stroke is hiding across all four facets — Driving, Approach, Short Game, and Putting — using Strokes Gained analysis. Lock in a focus area and get personalized drill recommendations built from your own data. A real plan, for your game. SHOT DISPERSION — SEE WHERE YOUR SHOTS ACTUALLY GO Visual dispersion charts for every club. See where your shots land relative to target — consistency, miss tendencies, weapons vs. liabilities. The clearest scope of your ball-striking you've ever had. AI ROUND SUMMARIES — YOUR ROUND, TOLD LIKE A STORY After every round: an AI-generated summary of what actually happened. Skill Score, Club MVP, PGA Tour Quality Shots, Round Arc, and a Practice Focus with specific drills to work on before your next tee time. COURSES — YOUR GOLF PASSPORT A global map of every course you've ever played. Tap any course for hole-by-hole Strokes Gained, AI Course Insights, and Hole Highlights showing exactly which holes have been costing you strokes. PRE-ROUND WARMUP — SHOW UP READY A personalized 15, 30, or 60-minute range routine, generated based on your recent data and current focus. Specific clubs, specific drills. Practice with purpose. ARCCOS AIR — FIRST YEAR FREE No sensors required. Slip the Air AI wearable into your pocket and play. AI trained on 1.5 billion shots automatically detects every shot with Tour-level accuracy. Or add Smart Sensors for definitive club-by-club analysis. Your choice, every round. Link Pro users upgrade automatically — no purchase required. SMART LASER RANGEFINDER — FIRST YEAR FREE Know it's 176 yards to carry the bunker. Slope-only rangefinders capture just 19% of distance adjustments. Smart Laser factors in slope, wind, temperature, humidity, and altitude to capture it all, often making a club’s difference. Auto pin-setting syncs the flag to your app automatically. AI STRATEGY & GREEN MAPS — ALL iOS SUBSCRIBERS Recommended club and optimal target every shot, based on your tendencies, course layout, hazards, and conditions. The same strategy Matt Fitzpatrick used to win his major. Green Maps: LiDAR-mapped to 1mm precision across 9,000+ courses in the US, 3,000+ worldwide. See slopes, breaks, and exact pin position. AUTOMATIC GAME TRACKING Every shot tracked across 18 holes on 40,000+ courses worldwide. Strokes Gained Analytics. Smart Club Distances — your real numbers, not your best guesses. RESULTS New Arccos members lower their handicaps by 25% on average in the first year. Hit approach shots 14.9 feet closer and sink more birdies. With lower scores, you’ll have more to celebrate and share at the 19th hole. - Official Game Tracker of the PGA TOUR - 1.5 billion shots, 4 trillion data points - Works with Arccos Air, Smart Sensors, Smart Laser, Link/Link Pro, Apple Watch - Fast Company World's Most Innovative Companies — #3 in Sports - Partners: PGA TOUR, PING, Cobra Golf, Club Champion, Golf Digest Stop guessing. Start knowing. Play better golf.
Side Game Golf
This app manages golf group competitions, tracking scores, handicaps, and leaderboards in real-time for various formats. It supports multi-day trips, weekly clubs, and single rounds, offering detailed match summaries and course data.
- Hole-by-hole score entry
- Automatic handicap calculation
- Live leaderboards with push notifications
- Multiple game formats (Stroke Play, Skins, Best Ball, Ryder Cup)
- Support for over 30,000 golf courses
- Offline-tolerant scoring
- Spectator TV mode
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Side Game runs your golf group's competition so nobody has to run a spreadsheet. Enter scores hole by hole. Handicaps, net scores, and every leaderboard update the moment a putt drops — across every format you're playing at once. THREE WAYS TO PLAY Trips — multi-day golf getaways. Tee times, groups, team matches, and a leaderboard for every format, all the way to the last putt on the last day. Clubs — a permanent home for the group that plays every week. Rounds, handicaps, rankings and history that carry over instead of resetting. Rounds — a single round with the guys. Set it up in under a minute. FORMATS Stroke Play (gross and net), Skins with automatic carry-overs, Best Ball, Ryder Cup team match play with Singles, Best Ball and High-Low, and Stableford. Run as many at once as the group wants. HANDICAPS DONE RIGHT Use each player's official index, or custom handicaps assigned by the admin. Set a different allowance percentage per format — 100% in Best Ball, 90% in Stroke Play, whatever the group agrees on. Strokes apply automatically per course and tee. 30,000+ COURSES Pick the course and the tees; the scorecard fills itself in — pars, yardages and stroke indexes, every time. ALSO INCLUDED - Live leaderboards with push notifications on lead changes - PGA-style hole-by-hole match summaries - Spectator TV mode for the clubhouse - Offline-tolerant scoring that syncs when you're back in service - Shareable round previews for the group chat PRICING Free for trips of up to two rounds, with every feature and every format included. For longer trips, the trip admin pays one group fee that covers everyone — no per-player charge, and no subscription required for a trip. Side Game Clubs is an optional monthly subscription for groups that play year-round. One subscription covers every club you join. Title: Clubs Length: 1 month Price: $1.99 USD per month, with the first month free Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://playsidegamegolf.com/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Side Game Golf at 5.0 against Arccos Golf's 4.6. Side Game Golf also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). Arccos Golf's advantage is ratings volume (33K vs 1) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Arccos Golf sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $199.99 per year and Side Game Golf sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Side Game Golf holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Arccos Golf has 33K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Arccos Golf ships an update every 2 weeks, Side Game Golf every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Arccos Golf | Side Game Golf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (33K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 40.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 33K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 378 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Arccos Golf LLC | Camilo Aleman |
Customer experience
Arccos Golf
Side Game Golf
Bugs and requests
Arccos Golf
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes and freezes during rounds
- Incorrect hole and shot tracking
- Unreliable sensor connectivity
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to view round stats on mobile app
- Better course mapping and layout visualization
- Improved handling of penalties and missed shots
- Integration with other golf apps and platforms
Side Game Golf
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Arccos Golf
- AI Strategy1 Year trial$199.991 Year
- Arccos 1-year Subscription14 Days trial$199.991 Year
Side Game Golf
- Side Game Trip Unlock$139.99
- Side Game Trip Unlock$140.99
- Side Game Trip Unlock$142.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Side Game Trip Unlock$144.99
- Side Game Trip Unlock$145.99
- Side Game Trip Unlock$146.99
- Side Game Trip Unlock$147.99
- Side Game Trip Unlock$148.99
- Side Game Trip Unlock$149.99
- Side Game Trip Unlock$150.00









