USThing vs HKUST Staff
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
USThing
This campus app consolidates various Hong Kong University of Science and Technology IT services into a single platform. It offers features like facility booking, grade viewing, timetable access, and event information, all accessible with encrypted local storage of credentials.
- Facility booking (Library, FBS)
- View grades and timetables
- Course waitlist positions
- Next lesson notifications
- TimeMatch for finding free time
- Campus info and directory
- News and events
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USThing is a student-developed campus app for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. With USThing, you can access multiple HKUST IT services in one single app. Features include: - Facility Booking (supports both Library rooms and FBS facilities) - View Grades, Time Tables and Course Waitlist positions - Next Lesson Notification - TimeMatch (Find common free time among friends) - Campus Info and Directory - News and Events around campus and more are on their way... USThing requires your ITSO username and password in order to help you access services conveniently. Your credentials are only saved locally with encryption and never stored on remote servers. If you have any enquiry regarding privacy, feel free to contact us. USThing is not affiliated with student societies and contains no paid ads or promotions. All contents are freely uploaded by our users.
HKUST Staff
This app provides mobile access to administrative functions for back office staff, streamlining tasks like expense receipt uploads. It also offers quick links to other essential applications for university personnel.
- Mobile administrative functions
- Expense receipt upload
- Quick links to useful apps
- Improved efficiency for back office staff
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HKUST Staff is an Apps to help Back Office Staff to improve the administration work more efficiently. It gives you mobile access to some administrative functions (e.g. Expense receipt upload etc.) and easy link reference to other useful Apps for UST staff members.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: USThing at 44% against HKUST Staff's 0%. USThing also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 weeks). HKUST Staff's advantage is iOS requirement (13.4 vs 16.4). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
USThing ships an update fortnightly, HKUST Staff every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | USThing | HKUST Staff |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (4 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 44.4% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 13.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 63 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Zachary Lo | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
Customer experience
USThing
HKUST Staff
In-app purchases
USThing
No in-app purchases
HKUST Staff
No in-app purchases
