a vs Nerd Font Installer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
a
This app provides a local Unix terminal emulator for iOS devices, enabling users to run various Unix commands, edit files, and process data. It includes support for multiple programming languages and network utilities, with integration for iOS Shortcuts and multi-window functionality.
- Local Unix terminal emulator
- Run Unix commands
- File transfer (scp, curl)
- Text editing (vim, ed)
- Programming languages (Python, Lua, C)
- Network utilities (ping, nslookup)
- iOS Shortcuts integration
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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.
Nerd Font Installer
Install custom coding fonts with extensive glyphs on your Apple devices. Browse a catalog of popular families, preview ligatures and icons, and install directly through the system. Enjoy a private experience with no accounts or analytics.
- Install custom coding fonts
- Browse extensive font catalog
- Preview glyphs, ligatures, and icons
- System-wide font installation
- No accounts or analytics
- One-time purchase for full access
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Nerd Font Installer puts your terminal and coding fonts on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro. Browse the catalog, preview the real glyphs, and install through the system's own consent sheet. No account. No analytics. Your data never leaves your device. THE CATALOG JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, Hack, Cascadia Code, Iosevka, Monaspace, Zed Mono, OpenDyslexic, and the rest of the canon. The app ships the complete catalog, and each family is patched with the full Nerd Fonts glyph set, so Powerline arrows, Font Awesome, Material Design, Devicons, Octicons, and Weather icons render instead of showing tofu. The grid reads like a periodic table: every family gets a tile with its own designation, drawn in the font itself. PREVIEWS THAT TELL THE TRUTH Previews are rendered live in the real font: programming ligatures, Powerline segments, and syntax-highlighted code samples, alongside every icon set. What you see is what your prompt gets. THE INSTALL Installation goes through the font support Apple builds into iOS. iOS draws its own consent sheet, you approve it, and the font is available system-wide: in your terminal, your editor, wherever fonts are picked. Nothing installs behind your back, and removing a font is just as direct. AFTER THE INSTALL A quickstart shows where your new font turns up in the terminal and editor apps you already run, including the ones that keep their own font lists, and it coaches the exact family name to pick. FREE FOR MOST PEOPLE One font is free, and one is what most setups need. Installing more is a single one-time purchase. No subscription. Buy it once, keep it for good, and share it with your family. PRIVACY Nerd Font Installer has no user accounts and ships no analytics, telemetry, or advertising SDKs. There is no tracking SDK in it because there is no tracking. The privacy policy is short enough to actually read. CREDITS The fonts belong to their designers and to the Nerd Fonts project. Every family ships under its own open-source license, readable in the app. I built the installer; they built the fonts. Built by Rimrock Systems in Payson, Arizona.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: a at none against Nerd Font Installer's 1. a also leads on ratings volume (570 vs 1) and chart position (#21 vs unranked). Nerd Font Installer's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.6). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Nerd Font Installer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. a asks for nothing beyond the download.
Nerd Font Installer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: a has 570 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
a ships an update monthly, Nerd Font Installer every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | a | Nerd Font Installer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (570 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 570 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #21 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2.1 GB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nicolas Holzschuch | Joseph Jones |
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
Nerd Font Installer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
a
No in-app purchases
Nerd Font Installer
- Unlock All Fonts$3.99









