Comparison

a vs CAR

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, transfer files, and edit them. It supports programming languages like Python and JavaScript, along with network utilities and image/video conversion tools.

Highlights
  • Local Unix terminal emulator
  • File transfer (scp, curl)
  • Text editing (vim, ed)
  • Programming languages (Python, Lua, JavaScript)
  • Network utilities (nslookup, ping)
  • Image and video conversion (ffmpeg)
  • Shortcuts integration
Features
Read full description

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.

About

CAR

Create custom dashboards for your personal projects using AI. Visualize real-time data with over 25 native controls like gauges, charts, and toggles. Connect to your own server or use a hosted relay for secure data transmission.

Highlights
  • AI-powered dashboard creation
  • 25+ native controls (gauges, charts, toggles)
  • Real-time telemetry visualization
  • Connect to your own server
  • Hosted relay option
  • Phone as sensor beacon
  • WebSocket connectivity
Features
Read full description

Describe a control panel in plain language. AI can utilize our documentation to build it and push layouts it live to your phone, gauges, charts, toggles, and real-time telemetry, all over a server you control - or utilize our hosted relay. -- A real control library. -- 25+ native controls: gauges, sparklines, graphs, maps, joysticks, sliders, toggles, steppers, pickers, color pickers, status lights, log consoles, QR codes, web views, chat, and more - composed into tabs and grids. -- Built for makers. -- Home labs, IoT, robotics, embedded projects, dev tooling, anything! If it can speak WebSocket, you can build a beautiful connector for it. Your phone can also publish telemetry back to your mesh, turning it into a sensor beacon for your own server. -- Your server, your data. -- CAR-TER can either connect to your own server, or utilize our end-to-end encrypted hosted relay. We host a tiny, open-source, dependency-free relay that you can also run on any machine (MeshSocket). No necessary hosted cloud, no account, no sign-up. Whichever direction you choose, your commands and telemetry never leave your own infrastructure. Terms of Use: https://carterbeaudoin.net/legal Privacy Policy: https://carterbeaudoin.net/privacy

Screenshots

a4 screens
CAR4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: a at none against CAR's 5. a also leads on ratings volume (124 vs 1) and chart position (#35 vs unranked). CAR's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. CAR sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. a asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CAR holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: a has 124 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

a ships an update every 2 weeks, CAR every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
a versus CAR: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteraCAR
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (124 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings124 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#35 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size380 MB48 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperNicolas HolzschuchCarter Beaudoin

Customer experience

a

All ratings124 ratings
Positive89.5%
Neutral3.2%
Negative7.3%
Written reviews93 reviews
Positive77.4%
Neutral6.5%
Negative16.1%

CAR

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

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 more
  • 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 more
  • Make Ubuntu default
  • Add expansion of keys (e.g., echo {a..z})
  • Adjustable font size

CAR

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

a

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

CAR

Subscriptions4
  • Connect+ Solo$2.991 Month
  • Connect+ Duo$4.991 Month
  • Connect+ Group$9.991 Month
Show 1 more
  • Connect+ Fleet$19.991 Month
One-time1
  • Control Pack$6.99

Questions

Is a free?
a is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CAR free?
CAR is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, a or CAR?
CAR is rated higher. a averages 4.6 out of 5 from 124 ratings, while CAR averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do a or CAR have ads?
Neither a nor CAR shows ads.
Which is updated more often, a or CAR?
a ships an update every 2 weeks, and CAR every 5 days. Most recently, a was updated on November 13, 2026 and CAR on November 15, 2026.

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