Comparison

a vs Nerd Fonts Installer

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

Nerd Fonts Installer

Easily install and manage a comprehensive collection of 18 Nerd Font families and 118 bundled faces directly on your device. Browse, preview, and install fonts system-wide for use in compatible applications. Inspect detailed font information, including Unicode characters and licensing.

Highlights
  • Install 18 Nerd Font families
  • Preview fonts with editable text
  • Install fonts system-wide
  • Browse Unicode characters and glyphs
  • Inspect font details and licenses
  • Remove installed fonts
Features
Read full description

READ BEFORE PURCHASE: Installed fonts are available in apps that support Apple’s user-installed font system. Apps that provide only their own built-in font list may not display them. Ligatures depend on each app’s text-rendering settings and cannot be forced if the app does not support or enable them. Nerd Fonts Installer includes 18 Nerd Font families and 118 bundled faces. All font files, catalog data, metadata, and licenses are included with the app; no font downloads or account are required. AVAILABLE FONTS • 0xProto Nerd Font • AnnotationM Nerd Font • AtkynsonMono Nerd Font (based on Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono) • ComicShannsMono Nerd Font • DroidSansM Nerd Font • FiraCode Nerd Font • GoMono Nerd Font • Hack Nerd Font • Inconsolata LGC Nerd Font • Inconsolata Nerd Font • InconsolataGo Nerd Font • JetBrains Mono Nerd Font • MesloLGM Nerd Font • OpenDyslexic Nerd Font • Terminess Nerd Font • Ubuntu Nerd Font • UbuntuSansMono Nerd Font • VictorMono Nerd Font AtkynsonMono and OpenDyslexic provide accessibility- and readability-oriented options alongside coding and monospace designs. FEATURES • Search the complete bundled font catalog • Preview each actual bundled font with editable specimen text • Switch among every supplied face and preview sizes from 5–42 pt • Install every supplied face in a family together through the iOS Fonts system • See installation status and remove one family or all fonts installed by the app • Browse Unicode characters, Private Use Area icons, encoded and unencoded glyphs, alternates, and ligatures • Search character and glyph maps by character, code point, Unicode name, glyph ID, name, or kind • Inspect Unicode details, glyph mappings, icon sources, categories, and metrics • Copy characters and mapped glyph text • Inspect embedded names, traits, language coverage, OpenType features, variation axes, font tables, file details, counts, and checksums • Read copyright, attribution, incorporated-work notices, and complete bundled license text • Open a prefilled support email containing the app version, device model, and OS version • Native iPhone and iPad interface designed for iOS 26. Core browsing, previews, metadata, licenses, installation, and removal work from bundled resources without a network connection. Here is a non-exhaustive list of apps that user-installed fonts should work with: Code App, a-Shell, Pyto, Blink Shell, Prompt 3, Drafts, Adobe Apps, Tot, Goodnotes, Notability, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Procreate, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, OmniGraffle, Noteful, IceCubes, Aidoku, Moblin, Provenance, Typography Insight, Accordance, iDesign, Clip Studio Paint, Ulysses, Noto, HashPhotos. If an app works with your Adobe Creative Cloud user-installed fonts on iOS, it should work with these (same underlying mechanism) I can verify Textastic and Obsidian do not support user-installed fonts. Textastic documentation clarifies that it's only fonts installed through a profile. Obsidian change log says it does, but no user-installed fonts were in the list of available fonts.

Screenshots

a4 screens
Nerd Fonts Installer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: a at Free against Nerd Fonts Installer's $1.99. a also leads on ratings volume (553 vs 1) and chart position (#19 vs unranked). Nerd Fonts Installer's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and review sentiment (100% vs 78%). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

a is free to download; Nerd Fonts Installer costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Nerd Fonts Installer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: a has 553 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 78% of a's written reviews are positive against 100% of Nerd Fonts Installer's.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
a versus Nerd Fonts Installer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteraNerd Fonts Installer
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.6 (553 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings553 — better1
Update frequencyMonthly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#19 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size1.9 GB289 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperNicolas HolzschuchGraham Colehour

Customer experience

a

All ratings553 ratings
Positive88.1%
Neutral4.5%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews387 reviews
Positive78.3%
Neutral9.6%
Negative12.1%

Nerd Fonts Installer

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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 Fonts Installer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

a

No in-app purchases

None

Nerd Fonts Installer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is a free?
a is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Nerd Fonts Installer free?
Nerd Fonts Installer costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, a or Nerd Fonts Installer?
Nerd Fonts Installer is rated higher. a averages 4.6 out of 5 from 553 ratings, while Nerd Fonts Installer averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do a or Nerd Fonts Installer have ads?
Neither a nor Nerd Fonts Installer shows ads.

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