Penn Mobile vs Interstride
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Penn Mobile
Streamline your campus experience with essential tools for student life. Access study room bookings, dining hall menus and hours, course schedules, and laundry machine availability. Quickly find fitness facility hours and emergency services.
- Study room booking
- Dining hall hours and menus
- Course schedule access
- Laundry machine availability
- Fitness facility hours
- Emergency services access
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Study room booking, dining hall hours, course schedule, daily menus, laundry machine accessibility, fitness facility hours, and quick access to emergency services! Penn Mobile was designed by students in Penn Labs with the intention of making your school life simpler. What does this mean? No more carrying your laundry four floors up trying to find a laundry machine. No more hunting for dining hall hours on the web. And no more struggles trying to book a study room. You can now do it all at the press of a button. Enjoy!
Interstride
This app helps international students find career opportunities with employers who welcome their unique backgrounds. It facilitates job and internship searches, community building, and guidance through immigration processes.
- Find jobs and internships
- Connect with international-student friendly employers
- Build community
- Navigate immigration landscape
- Career success resources
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The #1 place where international students find career success. Interstride makes it easy for you to find jobs and internships from international-student friendly employers, build community, and navigate the complex immigration landscape.
Screenshots
Verdict
Penn Mobile and Interstride both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 83% of Interstride's written reviews are positive against 53% of Penn Mobile's. Penn Mobile's advantage is ratings volume (410 vs 39). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Penn Mobile holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Penn Mobile has 410 ratings behind it against 39, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 53% of Penn Mobile's written reviews are positive against 83% of Interstride's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Penn Mobile ships an update monthly, Interstride every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Penn Mobile | Interstride |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (410 ratings) — better | 4.4 (39 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 52.6% of reviews | 82.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 410 — better | 39 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 68 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | University of Pennsylvania | Interstride LLC |
Customer experience
Penn Mobile
Interstride
Bugs and requests
Penn Mobile
Reported bugs
9 issues- Unable to log in after Duo pop-up
- Cannot load dining halls or retail dining
- Unable to log in with PennKey
- App does not open after recent update
- App prompts to log in every time
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- App does not save login after exiting
- Pop-up message: "Couldn't connect to API"
- App crashes frequently
- Dining hall information is incorrect or not shown
Requested features
6 requests- Include fitness center hours
- Include building directory of campus
- Fix API connection issues
- Update app for better stability
- Fix login bugs
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Improve login persistence
Interstride
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Penn Mobile
No in-app purchases
Interstride
No in-app purchases
