Spectre VPN vs a
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Spectre VPN
This app provides secure internet access using Shadowsocks and Trojan protocols. It offers strong encryption to protect your privacy from third parties and features an intuitive design for ease of use. It is available for free.
- Shadowsocks and Trojan protocol support
- Strong encryption for privacy
- Lightweight and efficient proxy
- Intuitive and simple design
- Free to use
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A multi-protocol VPN and proxy client for your own servers. Import subscriptions, control traffic with routing rules, and connect from your Home Screen. IMPORT ONCE, KEEP SERVERS TOGETHER Add a server by scanning its QR code, pasting a link, or entering the details yourself. Import subscriptions to manage multiple nodes in one place. Check server latency before choosing a connection. CHOOSE WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR PROXY Use Global mode for proxy routing, or Rule mode to choose which traffic connects directly and which uses your proxy. Edit your own rules or import a rule list from a URL. CONNECT FROM YOUR HOME SCREEN See the active server and connection status in the widget, then use its switch to connect or disconnect. On iOS 18 and later, add Spectre VPN to Control Center for another quick way to control your connection. USE THE PROTOCOL YOUR SERVER NEEDS - Shadowsocks and Trojan - VMess and VLESS - Hysteria2 and TUIC - SOCKS and HTTP For advanced setups, use a complete custom sing-box JSON configuration. The app interface supports 14 languages. BRING YOUR OWN SERVER Spectre does not include VPN servers or sell VPN service subscriptions. A compatible server configuration or subscription link is required.
a
Run Unix commands locally on your iOS device with a powerful terminal emulator. Supports file transfer, editing, scripting with Python and Lua, and network utilities. Integrates with Shortcuts and supports multiple windows for multitasking.
- Local Unix terminal emulator
- SSH client
- File transfer (scp, curl)
- Text editing (vim, ed)
- Scripting (Python, Lua, JavaScript)
- Network utilities (nslookup, ping)
- Shortcuts integration
- Multi-window support
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a-Shell mini is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on you iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. Work with git repositories using lg2. Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with iOS underlying BSD Unix. a-Shell mini includes Python, Lua, JavaScript and webAssembly for programming and scripting. It also includes native ffmpeg and convert for fast image and video conversion. 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 mini 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 mini uses iPadOS 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. a-Shell mini is a minimalist terminal, designed to have a very small footprint (less than 250 MB). If you need more commands, please consider a-Shell, which has more Python packages, more JavaScript modules, Perl, make, a C and C++ compiler and TeX.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: a at 4.6 against Spectre VPN's 3.9. a also leads on review sentiment (78% vs 68%) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). Spectre VPN's advantage is monetization model (free vs paid). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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 holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 248 and 120 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of Spectre VPN's written reviews are positive against 78% of a's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.
| Parameter | Spectre VPN | a |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (248 ratings) | 4.6 (120 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.1% of reviews | 77.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 248 — better | 120 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #99 | #50 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 136 MB | 373 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Passion Only | Nicolas Holzschuch |
Customer experience
Spectre VPN
a
User reviews
Spectre VPN
From 248 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Reliable and efficient app
- 🚀 Smooth and fast performance
- 🔒 Secure and trustworthy
- 💡 Lightweight and easy to use
Room to improve
- 🐛 Video loading issues
- 🐛 Connectivity problems after updates
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and timeouts
- 🔋 High battery consumption
a
From 120 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great app for shortcuts
- 🚀 Efficient and functional
- 💡 Useful for IT tasks
- ✨ Free and awesome
- 💻 Good for remote server connection
Room to improve
- 🐛 Font size not adjustable
- 🐛 Keyboard icons too large
- 🐛 App deletes itself
- 🐛 Rotating screen scrambles display
- 🐛 Pasting text shows strange characters
Bugs and requests
Spectre VPN
Reported bugs
2 issues- Crashes on iOS 12.5.5 and older
- Incompatibility with certain devices and OS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Support for more protocols (e.g., VMess, VLESS, SSTP)
- Server sorting by ping/latency
- Websocket connection support
- Manual server configuration
- Multiple server import from clipboard
a
Reported bugs
12 issues- Keyboard icons comically large
- App deletes itself
- Rotating iPhone/iPad scrambles display
- Pasting text results in strange characters
- App only uses half of the screen when editing files
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Command not found errors for all commands
- App crashes on launch after update
- Cannot get own absolute path
- Cannot execute own programs
- App messes up .txt file association
- Trouble selecting characters to copy and paste
- No module named requests in shortcuts
Requested features
8 requests- Option to use old keyboard buttons
- Add openssl support
- Add libx265 codec for ffmpeg
- Support telnet command
- Add possibility to compile from source
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Make Ubuntu default
- Add expansion of keys (e.g., echo {a..z})
- Adjustable font size
In-app purchases
Spectre VPN
No in-app purchases
a
No in-app purchases








