Charles Proxy vs API
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Charles Proxy
Capture and inspect network requests and responses directly on your iOS device. Debug networking issues without needing a computer. View detailed metadata, headers, and bodies, and even transfer sessions to a desktop for further analysis.
- Capture network requests and responses
- Inspect metadata, headers, and bodies
- SSL Proxying for plain text viewing
- Measure network performance
- Block requests to specific hosts
- DNS spoofing
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Charles Proxy for iOS lets you capture, inspect and modify network requests and responses on your iOS device. You can view metadata, headers and bodies in the app, so you can finally debug your app’s networking issues without a computer. Charles Proxy for iOS is an app from the creator of Charles Proxy for desktop. HOW IT WORKS Turn Charles on when you want to start capturing. Charles captures your network requests and responses in the background while you test your app or website. Return to Charles to inspect the requests and responses. If you also have Charles on your desktop, you can transfer recorded sessions to your desktop to explore them on the big screen. Charles creates a local VPN on your device. All of your network traffic passes through Charles on your device, and then out to the internet as usual over either WiFi or Mobile / Cellular data. There is no remote server involved, and your data always remains private to you. FEATURES * SSL Proxying to view SSL requests in plain text * View and share request and responses bodies * Syntax highlighting for text request and response bodies * Measure network performance over WiFi or Mobile / Cellular networks * Block requests to nominated hosts * DNS spoofing
API
Send and analyze HTTP/HTTPS requests directly from your mobile device. Save requests to collections for easy reuse and view detailed response information, including headers and round trip time. Customize connection timeout settings for efficient testing.
- Send HTTP/HTTPS requests
- Analyze REST API responses
- Request history
- Save requests to collections
- Display response headers and code
- Customize connection timeout
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• Test and analyze REST Api responses On-the-Go by sending HTTP/HTTPS requests with minimal customization. App Features : • Whole Requests history to view and load requests from it. • Save your Requests to Collections and load requests directly without writing it attributes again. • Parses and displays the complete raw response from server including Headers, Response Code, Round Time etc. • Supports both body types for POST requests i.e. Raw, KeyValue. • Quickly let you customize Connection Timeout Settings in Rest client.
Screenshots
Verdict
Charles Proxy and API both sit at 4.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of API's written reviews are positive against 52% of Charles Proxy's. API also leads on price (Free vs $8.99) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 4 months). Charles Proxy's advantage is ratings volume (185 vs 1) and chart position (#46 vs unranked). On rating, ads, in-app purchases 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
API is free to download; Charles Proxy costs $8.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.0 for Charles Proxy against 4.0 for API. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Charles Proxy has 185 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 52% of Charles Proxy's written reviews are positive against 100% of API's.
Charles Proxy ships an update every 4 months, API every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and June 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Charles Proxy | API |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $8.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.0 (185 ratings) — better | 4.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 51.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 185 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #46 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 20 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | XK72 Limited | Hoang Son Dinh |
Customer experience
Charles Proxy
API
Bugs and requests
Charles Proxy
Reported bugs
4 issues- Doesn't work with latest iOS versions
- Fails to export sessions frequently
- Incompatible with apps using VPN
- Large JSON bodies not displayed properly
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to edit and replay requests
- Improve JSON viewer and formatting
- Add support for WebSockets
- Provide option to map to local
- Add scripting and breakpoint features
API
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Charles Proxy
No in-app purchases
API
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Charles Proxy free?
Is API free?
Which has better reviews, Charles Proxy or API?
Do Charles Proxy or API have ads?
Which is updated more often, Charles Proxy or API?
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