Comparison

piDisplay vs PiFi

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

Head to head
About

piDisplay

Features
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Control your official Raspberry Pi Foundation 7" touchscreen display backlight and brightness from any iOS device. Toggle power and activity LEDs if you want. Shell command utility to run commands on your pi from iOS. Optional SwiftServer (Swift on Linux) for blazing fast response - you can still use SSH if you want though. The server-side software (on the raspberry pi) has only been tested on Raspbian Stretch and pi 3B+ The installer for the pi server software will install Swift on your pi then build and install the server for you but you can modify and/or run it manually. The Apple Watch app will still work when the iPhone app is not in the foreground but only ssh communication works in background mode.

About

PiFi

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No need for terminal, SSH or even LuCI. PiFi has all of pro features you love from OpenWrt, reimagined to be more capable, more simple and even more fun. So things like blocking trackers and ads, connecting or switching VPN profiles and accessing your network-stored documents, photos or videos are now just a tap away on iPhone and iPad. NETWORK SETTINGS - Customize network settings, setup a travel router, and more with just a few taps WIREGUARD & OPENVPN CLIENT - Easily upload and manage multiple VPN profiles directly from your iPhone or iPad. Create a VPN network for ALL your devices in seconds ADGUARD HOME - Access AdGuard Home software for network-wide ad and tracking blocking NETWORK STORAGE - Easily expand your network storage capacity (USB storage, SSD, or SD Card) and access your files from anywhere on the network ** COMPATIBILITY NOTICE This app WILL ONLY work if your Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 has been flashed with PiFi firmware, either downloaded from the PiFi website or through a pre-configured SD Card. Standard OpenWrt builds that are not optimised for PiFi are not compatible with this app. For full compatibility details, see pifi.org TRADEMARK NOTICE Raspberry Pi is a trademark of Raspberry Pi Ltd, AdGuard and AdGuard Home are trademarks of Adguard Software Ltd, WireGuard is a registered trademark of Jason A. Donenfeld, OpenWrt is a trademark owned by Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC). All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. PiFi firmware, software, and accessories are developed by PiFi Ltd, an independent project.

Screenshots

piDisplay2 screens
PiFi4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: PiFi at every 6 weeks against piDisplay's every 3 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

piDisplay ships an update every 3 months, PiFi every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
piDisplay versus PiFi: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterpiDisplayPiFi
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 6 weeks โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch โ€” betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.112.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size10 MB93 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIan JonesPiFi Ltd

In-app purchases

None

piDisplay

No in-app purchases

None

PiFi

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is piDisplay free?
piDisplay is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PiFi free?
PiFi is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do piDisplay or PiFi have ads?
Neither piDisplay nor PiFi shows ads.
Which is updated more often, piDisplay or PiFi?
piDisplay ships an update every 3 months, and PiFi every 6 weeks. Most recently, piDisplay was updated on September 28, 2026 and PiFi on October 5, 2026.

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