Comparison

MGH Access vs Pocket ICU

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

Head to head
About

MGH Access

Connect with Massachusetts General Hospital services and clinicians on the go. Easily find, favorite, and contact specialty provider practices for referrals and transfers. Share contact information with colleagues or friends.

Highlights
  • Connect to MGH services and clinicians
  • Find and favorite specialty practices
  • Facilitate referrals and inpatient transfers
  • Share provider contacts
  • Provide feedback to the development team
Features
Read full description

MGH Access provides a streamlined way for patients and providers to connect to Massachusetts General Hospital services and clinicians while on the go. This mobile app allows you to easily find, favorite and contact specialty provider practices within the MGH to facilitate referrals and inpatient transfers from the convenience of your mobile phone. Know someone else who could use the information? Share a contact with a colleague or friend using the share feature. This app is a resource made available to you by the Massachusetts General Hospital (“MGH”) through the Healthcare Transformation Lab, Referral Management Office and the Lab of Computer Science, all divisions of the Partners HealthCare System, Inc. (“Partners”). For questions, comments or issues, use the feedback button to communicate with us. We are available to assist.

About

Pocket ICU

This app offers concise critical care guidance written by attending physicians. It covers diagnosis, treatment, and management across various subspecialties, including detailed images and decision algorithms. Quickly find information, bookmark entries, and take notes for efficient ICU rounds and consultations.

Highlights
  • Concise guidance by attending physicians
  • Diagnosis, treatment, and management details
  • Subspecialty coverage
  • Detailed images and algorithms
  • Statistics and EBM overview
  • Pharmacological data and formulas
  • Full text search and bookmarking
Features
Read full description

New topics address bioweapons, disaster preparedness and critical care challenges of an air-transmissible, pandemic-causing pathogens like COVID-19. POCKET ICU FEATURES • Concise guidance written by attending physicians for everyone in critical care • Entries with diagnosis, treatment, and management details • Coverage of subspecialty areas including pediatric, neuro, cardiac, transplant, burn, and more • Detailed images, figures, and decision support algorithms • Overview of Statistics and Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) • Helpful appendices provide pharmacological data, respiratory formulas, and cardiopulmonary relationships • Advanced Full Text Search helps find topics quickly • “Favorites” for bookmarking important entries • Highlighting and note-taking MORE ABOUT POCKET ICU With content from the highly regarded Pocket Notebook series, Pocket ICU provides users with an essential tool for quickly locating information from every subspecialty area of critical care. Entries have been written by attending physicians and are presented in brief but broad format so anyone in an ICU setting can quickly find answers and save time. This powerful resource can be downloaded to your smartphone and tablet and is great for preparing for rounds or consulting expert recommendations while on the ICU floor. Editors: Gyorgy Frendl, MD, PhD; Avery Tung, MD Publisher: Wolters Kluwer Powered by: Unbound Medicine

Screenshots

MGH Access4 screens
Pocket ICU4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MGH Access at none against Pocket ICU's 3. MGH Access also leads on iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). Pocket ICU's advantage is ratings volume (317 vs 5). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Pocket ICU sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. MGH Access asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MGH Access holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pocket ICU has 317 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MGH Access ships an update every 8 months, Pocket ICU every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
MGH Access versus Pocket ICU: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMGH AccessPocket ICU
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (5 ratings) — better4.6 (317 ratings)
Positive reviews—64.3% of reviews
Number of ratings5317 — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 months — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS10.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size70 MB9 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperMassachusetts General HospitalUnbound Medicine, Inc.

Customer experience

MGH Access

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Pocket ICU

All ratings317 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral2.5%
Negative7.3%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive64.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative35.7%

Bugs and requests

MGH Access

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Pocket ICU

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • No information loads after purchase
  • Issues with download/access

In-app purchases

None

MGH Access

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Pocket ICU

One-time2
  • Pocket ICU2 variants$69.99
  • Pocket ICU 2023$69.99

Questions

Is MGH Access free?
MGH Access is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pocket ICU free?
Pocket ICU is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MGH Access or Pocket ICU?
MGH Access is rated higher. MGH Access averages 4.8 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Pocket ICU averages 4.6 from 317 ratings.
Do MGH Access or Pocket ICU have ads?
Neither MGH Access nor Pocket ICU shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MGH Access or Pocket ICU?
MGH Access ships an update every 8 months, and Pocket ICU every 9 months. Most recently, MGH Access was updated on October 14, 2026 and Pocket ICU on October 24, 2026.

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