Comparison

Scriptable vs a

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

Head to head
About

Scriptable

Automate tasks on your device by writing custom scripts in JavaScript. Integrate with native iOS features like files, calendars, and reminders. Create personalized widgets for your Home Screen and interact with Siri.

Highlights
  • Write and run JavaScript
  • Create custom widgets
  • Siri Shortcuts integration
  • Access native iOS features
  • Schedule notifications
  • File management
  • Script gallery
Features
Read full description

Scriptable is an automation tool that enables you to write scripts that integrates with native features of iOS such as files, calendars, reminders, documents and much more. An extensive support for widgets enables you to write your own widgets using JavaScript and run the scripts on your Home Screen. Your widgets can show any data and be customised to look just the way you want. With Siri Shortcuts you can present images, tables and more in Siri as well as making Siri read out loud a text when you run a script from a Siri Shortcut. There's a growing gallery of scripts to get you started with Scriptable. Here’s a few examples of scripts you can create: - Ask Siri whether a web service is down. - Create a widget that shows data from your weather station. - Postpone the next event in your calendar half an hour. - Check what is currently on TV. - Manage a list of movies you would like to watch. - Upload files to an image optimizer and store a URL to the optimized image. - Receive a notification with the weather report every morning. - Create todos with prefilled data in your favorite todo app using URL schemes. Features include: - Write and run JavaScript. - Auto complete of variable names, functions, keywords and properties as you type. - Access lots of native iOS features from your JavaScript code, including managing files, calendars, reminders, contacts, photos, location, pasteboard, web views and more. - Create your own widgets. Your scripts run on the Home Screen without needing to open the app. - Siri Shortcuts enabling you to present images, tables, websites, HTML and more in Siri as well as making Siri read out loud a text. - Support for input and output parameters in Siri Shortcuts. - Easily schedule rich notifications to run your scripts periodically. - Work with files and directories from third party apps using File Bookmarks. - Synchronise scripts to all of your devices using iCloud Drive. - Scripts are stored as plain JavaScript files and can be browsed using the Files app. - Assign one of over 800 glyphs and a color to a script to easily identify it in your directory of scripts. - Run scripts directly on your Lock Screen and Home Screen using widgets. - Run a script by 3D touching the app icon. - Run a script from a share sheet and process the inputs. - Schedule notifications and run a script directly from a notification. - URL schemes enabling you to run scripts from other apps. - Support for x-callback-url enabling advanced integration with other apps that support x-callback-url. - Export and share scripts. - Example scripts helping you get started creating your own scripts. - Extensive documentation for all the native APIs you can use in your scripts. Available offline in the app and online on docs.scriptable.app. - View the documentation in a separate window on iPad. - Support for dark mode. - Customise the editor to your liking.

About

a

Run Unix commands locally on your iOS device with a powerful terminal emulator. Supports file transfer, editing, scripting with Python and Lua, and network utilities. Integrates with Shortcuts and supports multiple windows for multitasking.

Highlights
  • Local Unix terminal emulator
  • SSH client
  • File transfer (scp, curl)
  • Text editing (vim, ed)
  • Scripting (Python, Lua, JavaScript)
  • Network utilities (nslookup, ping)
  • Shortcuts integration
  • Multi-window support
Features
Read full description

a-Shell mini is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on you iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. Work with git repositories using lg2. Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with iOS underlying BSD Unix. a-Shell mini includes Python, Lua, JavaScript and webAssembly for programming and scripting. It also includes native ffmpeg and convert for fast image and video conversion. There are also multiple network utilities: nslookup, ping, whois, ifconfig... Type help for help, help -l to get the full list of commands. a-Shell mini can be controlled from Shortcuts: run commands in order, process files in a-Shell, get the results as text or files, transfer files to other apps... a-Shell mini uses iPadOS 13+ “multiple windows” ability, so you can run multiple shells at the same time, with different commands, in different directories. You can edit a file in one window with vim and process it in the other with python. a-Shell mini is a minimalist terminal, designed to have a very small footprint (less than 250 MB). If you need more commands, please consider a-Shell, which has more Python packages, more JavaScript modules, Perl, make, a C and C++ compiler and TeX.

Screenshots

Scriptable4 screens
a4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: a at none against Scriptable's 3. a also leads on review sentiment (78% vs 69%). Scriptable's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks) and ratings volume (3.8K vs 120). On price, rating, 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. Scriptable sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. a asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Scriptable against 4.6 for a. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Scriptable has 3.8K ratings behind it against 120, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Scriptable's written reviews are positive against 78% of a's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Scriptable ships an update every 4 days, a every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Scriptable versus a: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScriptablea
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3.8K ratings) — better4.6 (120 ratings)
Positive reviews69.2% of reviews77.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3.8K — better120
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#16 — better#52
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.514.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB373 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperSimon B. StøvringNicolas Holzschuch

Customer experience

Scriptable

All ratings3,819 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral2.4%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews529 reviews
Positive69.2%
Neutral8.9%
Negative21.9%

a

All ratings120 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral2.5%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews90 reviews
Positive77.8%
Neutral5.6%
Negative16.7%

User reviews

Scriptable

From 3.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Amazing usage of Application Programming Interface (API)
  • 🚀 Scriptable + AI lets create micro apps
  • 👍 Whoah, Wow, Nice
  • 👍 Awesome app, Helpful app
  • 🚀 Unrivaled Functionality

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Force closes, Crashes immediately, Cannot Use - Always Crashes
  • 🐛 Scripts don't work, Stopped working, Self Deleting
  • 🐛 Incompatible with iOS 18, Widgets become white, Doesn't work on iOS 17.4
  • 🐛 Bugs, So many bugs, Kept freezing
  • 🐛 Default access to iCloud, Misspelled word, Selecting text is difficult

a

From 120 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great app for shortcuts
  • 🚀 Efficient and functional
  • 💡 Useful for IT tasks
  • ✨ Free and awesome
  • 💻 Good for remote server connection

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Font size not adjustable
  • 🐛 Keyboard icons too large
  • 🐛 App deletes itself
  • 🐛 Rotating screen scrambles display
  • 🐛 Pasting text shows strange characters

Bugs and requests

Scriptable

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Scripts say need '(' at end when already there
  • Reminders scheduling crashes when changing date/time
  • Reminders Due Today has variable scope issues
  • setInterval is not set
  • Accessing Contacts and ContactsContainer causes blank widget

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add HTML support
  • Add Apple Watch support
  • Improve documentation with examples
  • Add ability to access files from other apps
  • Add ability to require other scripts
Show 1 more
  • Integrate with GitHub/repository managers

a

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • Keyboard icons comically large
  • App deletes itself
  • Rotating iPhone/iPad scrambles display
  • Pasting text results in strange characters
  • App only uses half of the screen when editing files
Show 7 more
  • Command not found errors for all commands
  • App crashes on launch after update
  • Cannot get own absolute path
  • Cannot execute own programs
  • App messes up .txt file association
  • Trouble selecting characters to copy and paste
  • No module named requests in shortcuts

Requested features

8 requests
  • Option to use old keyboard buttons
  • Add openssl support
  • Add libx265 codec for ffmpeg
  • Support telnet command
  • Add possibility to compile from source
Show 3 more
  • Make Ubuntu default
  • Add expansion of keys (e.g., echo {a..z})
  • Adjustable font size

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Scriptable

One-time3
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
None

a

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Scriptable free?
Scriptable is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is a free?
a is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Scriptable or a?
Scriptable is rated higher. Scriptable averages 4.7 out of 5 from 3.8K ratings, while a averages 4.6 from 120 ratings.
Do Scriptable or a have ads?
Neither Scriptable nor a shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Scriptable or a?
Scriptable ships an update every 4 days, and a every 2 weeks. Most recently, Scriptable was updated on October 1, 2026 and a on September 29, 2026.
Which is more popular, Scriptable or a?
Scriptable currently peaks at #16 in the App Store charts, and a at #52. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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