Comparison

Pocket ICU vs POCUS 101

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, with detailed images and decision support algorithms. Advanced search and bookmarking features allow for quick information retrieval.

Highlights
  • Concise guidance from attending physicians
  • Diagnosis, treatment, and management details
  • Subspecialty coverage
  • Detailed images and algorithms
  • Pharmacological data and formulas
  • Advanced full-text search
  • Bookmarking and note-taking
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

POCUS 101

Access all Point of Care Ultrasound courses and download completed certificates. Facilitates direct messaging between learners and group leaders, with progress tracking for group management.

Highlights
  • Access Point of Care Ultrasound courses
  • Download completed certificates
  • Direct messaging for groups
  • Manage learner progress
  • Group subscription features
Features
Read full description

Easily access all Point of Care Ultrasound Courses from POCUS 101. Download all completed certificates from the App. For group subscriptions, learners and group leaders can message each other directly from this App. Group leaders can also see and manage their learners progress with this App.

Screenshots

Pocket ICU4 screens
POCUS 1014 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: POCUS 101 at 100% against Pocket ICU's 64%. POCUS 101 also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Pocket ICU's advantage is ratings volume (317 vs 11). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. POCUS 101 asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

POCUS 101 holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pocket ICU has 317 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Pocket ICU's written reviews are positive against 100% of POCUS 101's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pocket ICU ships an update every 5 months, POCUS 101 every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Pocket ICU versus POCUS 101: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket ICUPOCUS 101
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (317 ratings)5.0 (11 ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings317 — better11
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB57 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperUnbound Medicine, Inc.POCUS 101

Customer experience

Pocket ICU

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

POCUS 101

All ratings11 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Pocket ICU

Reported bugs

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

POCUS 101

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Pocket ICU

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

POCUS 101

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pocket ICU free?
Pocket ICU is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is POCUS 101 free?
POCUS 101 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pocket ICU or POCUS 101?
POCUS 101 is rated higher. Pocket ICU averages 4.6 out of 5 from 317 ratings, while POCUS 101 averages 5.0 from 11 ratings.
Do Pocket ICU or POCUS 101 have ads?
Neither Pocket ICU nor POCUS 101 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pocket ICU or POCUS 101?
Pocket ICU ships an update every 5 months, and POCUS 101 every 4 months. Most recently, Pocket ICU was updated on November 5, 2026 and POCUS 101 on November 3, 2026.

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