Comparison

RNotes® vs Nursing Essentials

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

Head to head
About

RNotes®

This clinical reference app provides nurses and students with quick access to essential medical information, including guidelines, procedures, and exam preparation tools. It features full-color images, charts, and customizable notes to enhance patient care and learning.

Highlights
  • Quick-reference clinical nursing information
  • Updated AHA guidelines
  • Full-color images and charts
  • NCLEX exam topic indicators
  • Step-by-step procedures and assessment guidance
  • Customizable notes and highlights
  • Nursing alerts for critical safety information
Features
Read full description

** The essential clinical companion for nurses and students ** ABOUT RNOTES® RNotes is a quick-reference application that puts the latest clinically-focused nursing information at your fingertips, helping you improve patient care. Find answers fast by browsing or searching, then review clinical findings, collaborative management, and quick-read information along with full-color images and charts. The latest edition also helps students prepare for the NCLEX examinations by noting topics that are covered on the exam. FEATURES • Answers to the questions faced in clinical rotations • Updated AHA guidelines • Full-color images and figures • NCLEX icons indicating topics found on licensure exam • Step-by-step procedures and enhanced physical assessment guidance • Details for interpreting ECG, lab values, priority interventions, and more • Convenient tables and charts for finding information quickly • Ability to make custom notes and highlights within entries • Nursing alerts highlighting critical safety information • “Favorites” for bookmarking important topics Author: Ehren Myers Publisher: F.A. Davis Powered by: Unbound Medicine Unbound Privacy Policy: www.unboundmedicine.com/privacy Unbound Terms of Use: https://www.unboundmedicine.com/end_user_license_agreement

About

Nursing Essentials

This app provides a comprehensive collection of medical information and tools for nurses, including drug and disease monographs, lab test values, and clinical calculators. It offers quick access to essential data for both students and practicing nurses, with offline functionality and smart search capabilities.

Highlights
  • Drug and disease monographs
  • Lab test values
  • Clinical calculators
  • Nursing skills guides
  • SmartSearch technology
  • Offline access
Features
Read full description

"Try before you buy" - Download the FREE App, which includes sample content. An in-App purchase is required to unlock all content. Nursing Essentials is a useful collection of medical information and tools for nurses in education and practice, including Drug and Disease monographs, Lab Tests with values, Clinical Calculators and much more - an essential pocket companion for nurses. Are you struggling with information overload? Want to quickly calculate an Infusion Does, just plug in the values into IV Calculator for Infusion Dose. Need to brush up on your Urine collection skills, get step by step information for catheter, midstream or 24 hour collection. Need to know renal dosing adjustments for Loratadine, look it up in the drug information. Nursing Essentials packages the information you need as a student or in practice in an easy to use app, saving you time and providing reliable content. Key Features * Disease index * Lab tests - creatinine, A1C, PSA, TSH * Medical Calculators - calculate BMI, drip rates, pediatric considerations, glucose to HgbA1C conversions and more * Trauma grading * Nursing skills * Synonym index of common tests and drug information No internet connection is required to access the content after the initial download. Find information quickly using powerful SmartSearch technology. Search part of term for those hard to spell medical terms. Content licensed from printed ISBN 10: Content licensed from printed ISBN 13: SUBSCRIPTION : Please choose an auto renewable subscription plan to receive content access & continuous updates. Your subscription automatically renews as per your plan, so you always have the latest content. Yearly auto-renewing payments - $0 Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Subscription may be managed by the user & auto-renewal can be disabled at any time by going to your device “Settings” and tapping “iTunes & App Store”. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription, where applicable. If you have any questions or comments, email us any time: customersupport@skyscape.com or call 508-299-30000 Privacy Policy-https://www.skyscape.com/terms-of-service/privacypolicy.aspx Terms and Conditions-https://www.skyscape.com/terms-of-service/licenseagreement.aspx Editor(s): Skyscape Publisher: Skyscape

Screenshots

RNotes®4 screens
Nursing Essentials4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Nursing Essentials at 100% against RNotes®'s 0%. Nursing Essentials also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 7 months). RNotes®'s advantage is rating (4.5 vs 4.0) and ads (none vs shown). On price, monetization model and device support 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. RNotes® sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Nursing Essentials asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

RNotes® holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RNotes® has 41 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 0% of RNotes®'s written reviews are positive against 100% of Nursing Essentials's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

RNotes® ships an update every 7 months, Nursing Essentials every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
RNotes® versus Nursing Essentials: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRNotes®Nursing Essentials
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (41 ratings) — better4.0 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings41 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB149 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperUnbound Medicine, Inc.Skyscape Medpresso Inc

Customer experience

RNotes®

All ratings41 ratings
Positive85.4%
Neutral4.9%
Negative9.8%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Nursing Essentials

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

RNotes®

One-time3
  • RNotes® 4th Edition$29.99
  • RNotes® 5th Edition$29.99
  • RNotes$29.99
None

Nursing Essentials

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is RNotes® free?
RNotes® is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Nursing Essentials free?
Nursing Essentials is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, RNotes® or Nursing Essentials?
RNotes® is rated higher. RNotes® averages 4.5 out of 5 from 41 ratings, while Nursing Essentials averages 4.0 from 5 ratings.
Do RNotes® or Nursing Essentials have ads?
Nursing Essentials shows ads; RNotes® does not.
Which is updated more often, RNotes® or Nursing Essentials?
RNotes® ships an update every 7 months, and Nursing Essentials every 3 months. Most recently, RNotes® was updated on October 11, 2026 and Nursing Essentials on September 24, 2026.

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