Comparison

a vs App Chart

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
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

App Chart

Features
Read full description

App Chart helps you explore app rankings by country and compare changes for the apps you care about. Key features - Browse rankings by country, store, category, and free or paid chart - Compare overall and category positions side by side - View the latest seven days that were actually observed - Save apps and countries in one place - Open the exact chart directly from a ranking - Set rank change alerts for saved apps, including rises, falls, chart entries and exits - Use light or dark mode in Korean, English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, or Vietnamese Public rankings are available without signing in. Signing in is required to save and sync apps and use rank change alerts. Allow device notifications to receive push alerts. Rankings may vary by country, store, category, chart, and collection time. App Chart is an independent service and is not operated by Apple or Google.

Screenshots

a4 screens
App Chart4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: App Chart at every 2 days against a's monthly. a's advantage is chart position (#22 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (15.0 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, App Chart every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
a versus App Chart: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteraApp Chart
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (570 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings570 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
Best chart rank#22 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size2.1 GB20 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperNicolas HolzschuchSangcheol Jeon

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

App Chart

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

a

No in-app purchases

None

App Chart

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is a free?
a is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is App Chart free?
App Chart is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do a or App Chart have ads?
Neither a nor App Chart shows ads.
Which is updated more often, a or App Chart?
a ships an update monthly, and App Chart every 2 days. Most recently, a was updated on November 7, 2026 and App Chart on November 6, 2026.

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