Comparison

Name Shark vs FaceRecall

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

Head to head
About

Name Shark

This app helps you memorize names and faces through engaging quizzes and exercises. Improve your memory, boost social skills, and easily recall details about people you meet. Create custom groups, play various quiz modes, and share your progress.

Highlights
  • Create custom people groups with photos
  • Four built-in quiz modes
  • Share groups publicly or privately
  • Search and download user-created groups
  • Cloud storage for shared groups
Features
Read full description

Never forget a name again! Play fun quizzes to remember names and faces of distant family members, acquaintances, classmates, clients and coworkers. Download Name Shark now and start improving your memory and boosting your social skills! Wouldn't it be impressive if you knew the names of everyone at work, personally greeted every guest at your party and recognized every distant family member at an event? Well, now you can do it absolutely for free AND have fun in the process! With Name Shark, you can train your brain to memorize the faces and names of everyone important (or un-important, if you want). Not only will you dazzle people with your amazing facial recall ability, but you will also actually be improving your memory in the process. Through fun exercises and quizzes, you will be enhancing your cognitive function, acquiring better facial recognition abilities, training your memory and improving people's response to you when you meet. Everyone needs to remember names and faces, so why not have fun doing it? With Name Shark you can: => Easily create a group and add photos. => Play in four built-in quiz modes that make name memorization fun. => Share your groups with others, publicly or privately*. => Quickly search and download groups made by other users. Matching pictures to names through fun quizzes is an easy way to help you connect faces and names to people. Yes, a pic can serve as an amazing reminder – just try it! And the more you play, the better you get. YOU SHOULD GET THIS APP IF YOU ARE: • An event planner or staff member who needs to memorize VIPs or important attendees at a networking event. • A sales or service representative who wants to remember every client and manager. • A CEO, executive or manager who needs to know employees' names. • A teacher or counselor who likes to remember students' names at the beginning of a term/semester. • A sports fan, who wants to remember the names, faces and details about players and coaches. • A little league coach who want to remember names of players and parents. • A member of a church, club, or organization that needs to remember names and faces of other members. • A member of a large family with lots of distant relatives. • Just someone who hates not being able to connect a face to a name or vice versa. FEATURES: • Create groups of people whose names you don't want to forget. • Quiz yourself with 4 built in quiz modes: 1. Self Practice 2. Faces Quiz 3. Names Quiz 4. Details Quiz • Easily share your groups* - with everyone - privately with a code - with password protection • Search and download groups shared by other users. • Shared groups are safely stored in the cloud and can be downloaded in case of phone loss or damage. • Available iPhone 6 Plus, 6, 5s, 5, 4s, and 4 and optimized for iOS 8. * Sharing of groups and password protection is available as an in-app-purchase. Downloading of all groups, public and private, is always free to all users.

About

FaceRecall

Features
Read full description

FaceRecall helps you instantly learn and remember the names of the people around you by turning face-matching into a fast, fun, and effective experience. Create custom groups for teams, clubs, units, classmates, or friends, then train with smart flashcards and game modes like Speed Round, Scrambled Cards, and others. Add or edit faces anytime, study the ones you miss more often, and build real confidence in knowing who’s who without the awkward “Hey… you!” moments. FaceRecall makes remembering names feel easy, natural, and actually enjoyable.

Screenshots

Name Shark4 screens
FaceRecall4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: FaceRecall at none against Name Shark's 2. Name Shark's advantage is update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 7 months) and device support (3 vs 1). On price and ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Name Shark sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. FaceRecall asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Name Shark ships an update every 5 weeks, FaceRecall every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Name Shark versus FaceRecall: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterName SharkFaceRecall
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.5 (160 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews44.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings160 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS7.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size37 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAwesome Geekness LLCSandcastle Software LLC

Bugs and requests

Name Shark

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • App crashes when adding photos from phone's photo album
  • Sharing feature crashes or fails to work despite payment
  • Freezing when entering new names
  • OK and Cancel buttons positioned under status bar, unreachable
  • Photo framing changes unexpectedly
Show 12 more
  • App crashes when accessing photo library
  • Crashes when opening app or adding new contacts
  • Crashes when trying to sync groups
  • Cannot renew paid subscriptions
  • Data deleted after logging out and back in
  • Password reset links invalid
  • Account lockouts with no recovery option
  • Poor scaling on newer iOS versions and iPhone models (XR, X, notch devices)
  • Buttons not properly calibrated for touch input
  • Crashes when exercises completed without WiFi
  • Camera opening unexpectedly when viewing contact info
  • Import contacts feature crashes

Requested features

14 requests
  • Ability to import contacts from address book, LinkedIn, or Facebook
  • Move groups between devices or sync across devices
  • Ability to move people between groups
  • Built-in memory tests and multiple quiz variations
  • Pre-populated groups (Congress members, governors, state capitals, etc.)
Show 9 more
  • Search functionality across all groups
  • Larger photo display on iPad
  • Drill feature for frequently missed names
  • Location-based reminders for where names were added
  • Additional personal information fields (distinguishing characteristics, context)
  • Flash disabled by default for camera
  • Dropbox upload with folder selection
  • Group hierarchy/nesting functionality
  • LinkedIn integration for easier data import

FaceRecall

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Name Shark

One-time2
  • Remove Ads$0.99
  • Group Sharing - 1 Year Subscription$3.99
None

FaceRecall

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Name Shark free?
Name Shark is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is FaceRecall free?
FaceRecall is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Name Shark or FaceRecall have ads?
Neither Name Shark nor FaceRecall shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Name Shark or FaceRecall?
Name Shark ships an update every 5 weeks, and FaceRecall every 7 months. Most recently, Name Shark was updated on October 21, 2026 and FaceRecall on October 18, 2026.

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