Comparison

Rooster vs Any Text · Widgets

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

Head to head
About

Rooster

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Wake up your file servers right from the couch without needing to keep them online 24x7 With Rooster you can now send Wake-on-LAN signals from your Apple TV. Now you can easily access your media servers directly from the TV remote without keeping those servers powered all the time, saving money from your electricity bills and prolonging the life of those devices. Some features of Rooster are: - Wake up file servers, network drives, or any other devices confirming to the Wake-on-LAN protocol. - Easy configuration by discovering devices in your home network via Bonjour. - Quick access from the top shelf and get an overview of all devices in your network from the Apple TV home screen. Where Rooster stands from the competition: - Waking up devices are two clicks away from the home screen – right in the Apple TV top shelf. - No typing — you don’t need to tediously enter MAC addresses or host names on your Apple TV since Rooster finds devices in your network automatically.

About

Any Text · Widgets

Display any text on your Lock or Home Screen to keep important notes, goals, or tasks visible. Customize text with Markdown and utilize 20 different widgets. Integrates with Shortcuts for powerful automations and syncs across devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Customizable text widgets
  • Lock Screen and Home Screen support
  • Markdown styling (bold, italic, strikethrough)
  • Live Activity and StandBy support
  • iCloud device syncing
  • Shortcuts app integration
Features
Currently charting
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Put any kind of text on your Lock Screen or Home Screen so you won't miss it. It could be an important note, your goal, a list of tasks, etc. It also supports Live Activity and StandBy. The app includes 20 widgets that lets you put different text on different Lock Screen configurations or Home Screen. You can style parts of the text bold, italic, or strikethrough using Markdown. Syncs seamlessly across your devices with iCloud. Simply tap the widget to open the app to edit the text. ■ Shortcuts The app is scriptable through the Shortcuts app, enabling a lot of powerful use-cases. For example, you could use an automation to change the text at a certain point in the day or at certain places. The only limit is your creativity. ■ Support You can contact me through the feedback button in the app.

Screenshots

Any Text · Widgets3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Any Text · Widgets at every 6 weeks against Rooster's every 6 months. Any Text · Widgets also leads on chart position (#68 vs unranked) and device support (3 vs 1). Rooster's advantage is iOS requirement (10.2 vs 26.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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

Rooster costs $4.99 and Any Text · Widgets $4.00 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Rooster ships an update every 6 months, Any Text · Widgets every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Rooster versus Any Text · Widgets: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRoosterAny Text · Widgets
Price$4.99$4.00 — better
Rating—4.6 (602 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—81.9% of reviews
Number of ratings—602 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
Best chart rank—#68 — better
DevicesApple TViPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS10.2 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size53 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSasmito AdibowoSindre Sorhus

Bugs and requests

Rooster

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Any Text · Widgets

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Widget not showing on Lock Screen
  • Text not updating in a timely manner
  • Force show when locked doesn't work

Requested features

6 requests
  • Allow alternating/rotating text
  • Add custom font support
  • Provide full-width widget options
  • Add custom widget background colors
  • Enable editing widgets directly
Show 1 more
  • Add Apple Watch widget support

In-app purchases

None

Rooster

No in-app purchases

None

Any Text · Widgets

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Rooster free?
Rooster costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Any Text · Widgets free?
Any Text · Widgets costs $4.00, with no in-app purchases.
Do Rooster or Any Text · Widgets have ads?
Neither Rooster nor Any Text · Widgets shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Rooster or Any Text · Widgets?
Rooster ships an update every 6 months, and Any Text · Widgets every 6 weeks. Most recently, Rooster was updated on November 2, 2026 and Any Text · Widgets on November 7, 2026.

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