Comparison

a vs StyleGuide

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

Head to head
About

a

Run a full Unix-like terminal environment on your iOS device. Execute a wide range of commands, edit files, and even program using included interpreters and compilers. Supports multitasking and integration with Shortcuts.

Highlights
  • Local Unix terminal emulator
  • SSH client
  • File transfer (scp, curl)
  • Text editing (vim, ed)
  • Scripting languages (Python, Lua, Perl, JS)
  • C/C++ compiler
  • TeX distribution
Features
Read full description

a-Shell is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on your iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. You can work with git repositories using lg2.  Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with the BSD Unix that powers iOS/iPadOS. a-Shell includes Python, Lua, Perl, JavaScript, C, C++ for programming and TeX (texlive 2025, with Tikz and LuaTeX) for text processing. 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 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 uses iOS 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. Compile your C or C++ programs to webAssembly using clang or clang++, and execute the resulting binary. A complete webAssembly SDK is included (WASI-libc). a-Shell is the complete version. If you need a smaller app, and you don't need a C compiler, a TeX engine, or numpy and matplotlib, there is a-Shell mini.

About

StyleGuide

Features
Read full description

StyleGuide makes it easy for iOS & other Apple platform developers to quickly preview HIG typography, colors and sizes. Instead of having to guess which font style to use or going through multiple color variations, StyleGuide allows you to preview design choices before you apply them to your app. StyleGuide contains these great features: FONT STYLES Quickly preview all of the different font styles (e.g. Large Title, Headline etc.) at multiple Dynamic Type sizes so you can choose the correct font style in your app. There's support for previewing styles on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS and visionOS. Select a font style to view more details such as font, weight, size and how to use it in SwiftUI. COLORS View a selection of all the available colors for each Apple platform. Semantic colors that support both light & dark modes can be previewed using the toggle and selecting a color will provide more details such as RGBA values and how to use it in SwiftUI. Both SwiftUI and UIKit/AppKit colors are included so you'll be able to preview them all. SF SYMBOLS View a collection of all available SF Symbols with the option to quickly copy them to your project. SCREENSHOT SIZES Before creating your App Store screenshots, get an idea of what sizes you'll need to use to have them accepted. There's support for all Apple platforms. APP PREVIEW SIZES Use the App Preview Sizes tool to view the required resolutions for uploading videos to App Store Connect. There's support for all applicable Apple platforms. FONT DESIGNS Preview how different font styles will appear. You can view Default, Serif, Rounded and Monospaced. FONT WEIGHTS See how each font weight looks on the scale from Ultralight all the way up to Black. FONT WIDTHS View all the different font widths - Compressed, Condensed, Standard and Expanded. If you like this app, I’d really appreciate it if you could take the time to leave a positive review! Having issues? Please get in touch: Email: support@adamfoot.dev Website: https://adamfoot.dev Please note some features may require an StyleGuide Pro subscription which can be purchased in the app. You can cancel at anytime. Terms: https://adamfoot.dev/terms-of-use

Screenshots

a4 screens
StyleGuide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: StyleGuide at every 9 days against a's monthly. a's advantage is chart position (#18 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 26.0). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

a ships an update monthly, StyleGuide every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
a versus StyleGuide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteraStyleGuide
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (553 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings553 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
Best chart rank#18 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS14.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size1.9 GB16 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperNicolas HolzschuchAdam Foot

Bugs and requests

a

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Toolbar buttons not accessible in portrait mode on some devices
  • Pasting from clipboard can insert unexpected characters
  • Sourcing certain script files causes crashes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for package managers like Homebrew or APT
  • Implement more advanced shell features like job control and better tab completion
  • Integrate Git for version control
  • Allow installing additional packages and libraries
  • Improve clipboard and file management integration

StyleGuide

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

a

No in-app purchases

None

StyleGuide

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is a free?
a is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is StyleGuide free?
StyleGuide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do a or StyleGuide have ads?
Neither a nor StyleGuide shows ads.
Which is updated more often, a or StyleGuide?
a ships an update monthly, and StyleGuide every 9 days. Most recently, a was updated on October 17, 2026 and StyleGuide on October 9, 2026.

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