a vs DevBox
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
DevBox
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Run a React or Svelte dev server on your iPhone. Write Node, Python and PHP, and run it on the device. npm install and npm run dev work. React, Angular, Svelte and Vue build and run. Editor with syntax highlighting for JavaScript, TypeScript, Python and PHP, find and replace, and a key row for brackets and quotes. Terminal with command history and scrollback. Node, Python and PHP dev servers on a local port, with stdout and request logs. WebKit preview pointed at localhost. MariaDB on device, MySQL-compatible, phpMyAdmin included. npm, pip and composer. Git over HTTPS or SSH. GitHub, GitLab, self-hosted. Files app, iCloud Drive, FTP and SSH providers. Optional AI assistant. Works offline. Package installs, git remotes and the AI assistant need a connection. Runs on iPhone, iPad and Apple silicon Macs. Free to download. --- Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://devbox.porizm.com/privacy?lang=en
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: DevBox at every 5 days against a's monthly. a's advantage is chart position (#19 vs unranked). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
a ships an update monthly, DevBox every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | a | DevBox |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (553 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 78.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 553 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Best chart rank | #19 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.9 GB | 413 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Nicolas Holzschuch | Firas Moussa |
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
DevBox
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
a
No in-app purchases
DevBox
No in-app purchases
