RETRO FORTH vs Web Inspector
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RETRO FORTH
A compact and adaptable concatenative programming language designed for ease of learning and customization. It features a code editor, interactive listener, and support for Gopher servers, allowing for flexible development.
- Concatenative programming language
- Code editor with Markdown subset
- Literate programming style
- Interactive listener interface
- Gopher server data fetching
- File manager
- Documentation browser
Read full descriptionHide full description
RETRO FORTH is a concatenative programming language with roots in Forth. Designed to be compact, learnable, and easy to adapt to specific needs, it has been developed and refined through continual use by a small community over more than a decade. Forth is a stack based programming language created in the late 1960's by Chuck Moore. Over the intervening decades it has evolved through use, with many dialects along the way. The Retro dialect was created in the late 1990's, and has been continually developed and supported for over 15 years. It is a structured, imperative stack-based language with modern facilities including quotations and reflection. It features: - latest version of the RETRO language - a code editor using Markdown subset - literate programming style - code is extracted from fenced blocks in Markdown source allowing easy mixing of code and commentary - allows use of unicode & emoji in source & commentary - interactive listener interface for quick interactions - simple console output and text input - editor provides quick access to numbers and symbols - support for fetching textual data from Gopher servers - file manager - documentation browser It also includes documentation and several optional examples.
Web Inspector
This app provides a suite of web development tools for Safari on mobile devices. Inspect and edit the DOM, view element styles, execute JavaScript commands, monitor network requests, and examine stored resources like cookies.
- DOM inspection and editing
- Element style viewer
- JavaScript console
- Network request monitoring
- Resource storage details
Read full descriptionHide full description
Web Inspector expands Safari on iPhone and iPad with a set of web development tools: Elements: Browse the DOM tree and tap elements on the page to inspect them. View node details, styles, and computed values. Search the DOM, edit an element's HTML, and copy or delete nodes. Console: Type JavaScript commands to debug, modify, and get information about your webpage. Sources: Read the webpage's source with syntax highlighting. Network: See a list of network requests made by the webpage, with headers and responses. Filter requests, or copy one as a cURL command. Resources: Find details about the data stored by a webpage, such as cookies, local storage, and session storage. Tip: If you tap the Web Inspector button and nothing happens, reload the page once..
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: RETRO FORTH at 4.4 against Web Inspector's 3.9. RETRO FORTH also leads on iOS requirement (12.4 vs 15.0). Web Inspector's advantage is review sentiment (65% vs 33%) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). 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.
RETRO FORTH holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Web Inspector has 152 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 33% of RETRO FORTH's written reviews are positive against 65% of Web Inspector's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
RETRO FORTH ships an update monthly, Web Inspector weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 6, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RETRO FORTH | Web Inspector |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (5 ratings) — better | 3.9 (152 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 33.3% of reviews | 65.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 152 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | #53 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.4 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Charles Childers | And a Dinosaur |
Customer experience
RETRO FORTH
Web Inspector
Bugs and requests
RETRO FORTH
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Web Inspector
Reported bugs
4 issues- Disappears when reloading webpage
- Doesn't work on newer iOS versions
- Doesn't load on crashed tabs
- Permissions issues
Requested features
4 requests- CSS editing capabilities
- Resizable panel
- Improved console functionality
- Better integration with Safari
In-app purchases
RETRO FORTH
No in-app purchases
Web Inspector
No in-app purchases









