ASAM vs VARE
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ASAM
Access and search detailed reports on hostile maritime activities like piracy and kidnapping. This app provides critical safety information for mariners, enabling them to recognize, prevent, and avoid potential threats at sea, even without an internet connection.
- Download anti-shipping activity messages
- Search and view incident reports
- Query maritime activity data
- Offline access to reports
- Increase maritime safety awareness
- View geographic locations of incidents
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Anti-shipping Activity Messages (ASAM) include the geographic location and the reported descriptive accounts of specific hostile acts against ships, crews and passengers which include incidents of piracy, robbery, hi-jacking and kidnapping. Such reports may be useful for mariners traveling to or through active areas for recognition, prevention and avoidance of potential hostile activity. The ASAM Mobile app allows users to download all ASAMs to their mobile device and search, view, and query them independent of a data connection to increase maritime safety awareness. This app was developed by NGA in collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton and contributors at GitHub (https://github.com/ngageoint/anti-piracy-iOS-app).
VARE
This app connects voters with their elected officials by comparing user views to representative policies. It helps users understand how their elected officials align with their interests and informs voting decisions. Users can quickly assess representation and identify suitable candidates.
- Match voter views with representative policies
- Understand policy alignment
- Identify voting interests
- Influence representative actions
- Discover candidates
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VARE is a matching tool between voters and their representatives. It allows voters to see how their views align with the people who represent them, based on policies that directly affects the voters. As a voter, you will know within seconds if the representative truly stands for your interest. Voters can use the VARE App and services to influence the actions of those representing them as well as help identify who to vote for in elections.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: VARE at every 3 days against ASAM's every 30 months. VARE also leads on iOS requirement (12.4 vs 14.0). ASAM's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 75%). On price, rating, ratings volume 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
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 ASAM against 4.7 for VARE. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 15 and 12 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of ASAM's written reviews are positive against 75% of VARE's.
ASAM ships an update every 30 months, VARE every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ASAM | VARE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (15 ratings) | 4.7 (12 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 75.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 15 — better | 12 |
| Update frequency | Every 30 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 12.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 96 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency | VareTech Ltd |
Customer experience
ASAM
VARE
In-app purchases
ASAM
No in-app purchases
VARE
No in-app purchases
