Comparison

Pocket ICU vs IDSA Practice Guidelines

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

Head to head
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

About

IDSA Practice Guidelines

Access and stay updated with the latest clinical guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America. This app offers interactive tools, search functionality, and the ability to bookmark key information and take notes for healthcare professionals.

Highlights
  • Access clinical guidelines
  • Interactive tools
  • Search guidelines
  • Bookmark pages
  • Take notes
Features
Read full description

Access the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) guidelines app anytime, anywhere! Download the app today and stay up-to-date on IDSA clinical guidelines, interactive tools, and new resources. The app contains features to search through guidelines, bookmark important pages and take notes on key information. Visit the IDSA app for new guidelines that are released throughout the year and new updates to existing guidelines. Disclaimer: The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) provides this app (“App)” for health care professionals only, and not the general public. The App is provided for informational purposes only, and it is not intended to provide medical or treatment advice and may not be treated as such by the user. As such, this App may not be relied upon for the purposes of medical diagnosis or as a recommendation for medical care or treatment. The information on this App is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this App is for general information purposes only.

Screenshots

Pocket ICU4 screens
IDSA Practice Guidelines4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Pocket ICU at 64% against IDSA Practice Guidelines's 0%. IDSA Practice Guidelines's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On price, ratings volume, 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. IDSA Practice Guidelines asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

IDSA Practice Guidelines holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 316 and 559 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 64% of Pocket ICU's written reviews are positive against 0% of IDSA Practice Guidelines's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pocket ICU ships an update every 9 months, IDSA Practice Guidelines every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pocket ICU versus IDSA Practice Guidelines: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket ICUIDSA Practice Guidelines
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (316 ratings)4.8 (559 ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.3% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings316559 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 7 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB105 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperUnbound Medicine, Inc.Infectious Diseases Society of America

Customer experience

Pocket ICU

All ratings316 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral2.5%
Negative7.3%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive64.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative35.7%

IDSA Practice Guidelines

All ratings557 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral0.7%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral33.3%
Negative66.7%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Pocket ICU

One-time2
  • Pocket ICU2 variants$69.99
  • Pocket ICU 2023$69.99
None

IDSA Practice Guidelines

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pocket ICU free?
Pocket ICU is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is IDSA Practice Guidelines free?
IDSA Practice Guidelines is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pocket ICU or IDSA Practice Guidelines?
IDSA Practice Guidelines is rated higher. Pocket ICU averages 4.6 out of 5 from 316 ratings, while IDSA Practice Guidelines averages 4.8 from 559 ratings.
Do Pocket ICU or IDSA Practice Guidelines have ads?
Neither Pocket ICU nor IDSA Practice Guidelines shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pocket ICU or IDSA Practice Guidelines?
Pocket ICU ships an update every 9 months, and IDSA Practice Guidelines every 7 months. Most recently, Pocket ICU was updated on September 24, 2026 and IDSA Practice Guidelines on September 23, 2026.

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