MGH Access vs Pocket ICU
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
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.
- 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
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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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. Pocket ICU sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. MGH Access asks for nothing beyond the download.
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.
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.
| Parameter | MGH Access | Pocket ICU |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (5 ratings) — better | 4.6 (317 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 64.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 317 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 70 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Massachusetts General Hospital | Unbound Medicine, Inc. |
Customer experience
MGH Access
Pocket ICU
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
MGH Access
No in-app purchases
Pocket ICU
- Pocket ICU2 variants$69.99
- Pocket ICU 2023$69.99
Questions
Is MGH Access free?
Is Pocket ICU free?
Which has better reviews, MGH Access or Pocket ICU?
Do MGH Access or Pocket ICU have ads?
Which is updated more often, MGH Access or Pocket ICU?
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