Developer Laboratory vs Blink Shell, Build & Code
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Developer Laboratory
This app provides a collection of example code and UI components for iOS developers. It demonstrates various functionalities like app icon creation, image viewing, web page loading, and custom controls. Access the source code to learn implementation details.
- APP icon creation
- Imitation of WeChat Moments
- Web page loading
- Custom UI components
- QR code scanning
- Facial tracking
- Database operations
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iOS Technical Sharing (APP icon creation, imitation of WeChat Moments, imitation of WeChat image viewer, preventing @mentions on Sina Weibo, imitation of Alipay password prompt, imitation of Post Circle, tags, JS interaction + WK, loading web pages, adaptive cell height, embedding video player in TableView to prevent lag, custom beautiful popups, address selection, time selection, color selection, custom navigation control, carousel, QR code scanning, facial tracking, custom camera, ID card photo capture, iOS media player, AVPlayer encapsulation, dropdown selection popup, Snake game, marquee, adaptive height for TableView, native image download caching, folder operations, database operations, third-party login, sharing, payment, Apple installation agreement, data transfer between apps, acknowledgments for support) https://github.com/HansenCCC/YPLaboratory YPLaboratory is the source code for this project. If you want to see how it's implemented, you can click to view the source code. https://github.com/HansenCCC/YPUIKit-ObjC YPUIKit-ObjC is the framework for this project, providing many out-of-the-box functionalities. It includes in-app purchases, subscriptions, prompt dialogs, app info, user agent retrieval, device info, unique identifiers (persistent even after deletion), badges, useful buttons, common categories, MD5, hooks, regular expressions, hashed colors, image matrices, black-and-white images, base64 images, navigation settings, handy input fields, file management, floating draggable buttons, single-line input, multi-line input, loading dialogs, custom dialogs, local logs, marquee, waterfall flow, carousel, image preview, and more.
Blink Shell, Build & Code
Transform your iOS device into a powerful terminal for coding and development. Leverage Mosh and SSH for stable, fast connections. Integrate with VS Code and manage your entire development workflow from your pocket.
- Mosh and SSH connections
- VS Code integration (Blink Code)
- Remote runtime creation (Blink Build)
- Full SSH toolset
- Hardware keyboard support
- External display support
- SFTP transfers
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Do Blink! Transform your iOS device into a pro-grade terminal. Blink is the first professional, desktop-grade terminal for iOS that leverages the support of Mosh and SSH. Thus, we can guarantee stable connections, crazy-fast speeds, and full configurations. It can and should be your all-day-long tool. **Start your 14-day free trial now!** But, Blink is much more. Now with Blink Code and Blink Build**, your entire development workflow fits in your pocket. What the Blink community is saying: “In some ways, I prefer my iPad / Blink / Digital Ocean setup to coding on my Mac“ - TheVerge "I have tried a number of terminals on iOS and this is really The One." - Twit.tv “Connections still come up when I get back to a client project after a weekend off.“ - The Sweet Setup “The way to use VS Code on the iPad” - programminglife.io What our users love the most from Blink Shell: - Mosh connections that even survive a device reboot. - Most complete SSH implementation on iOS. - Code command for VS Code integration. - Blazingly fast terminal and SFTP transfers. - Includes Pragmata Pro with ligatures. Blink Shell has a fully loaded SSH toolset: - SSH with PKI support: DSA, RSA, ECDSA & ED25519 keys. - Support for Secure Enclave Keys and Certificates. - Port forwarding with local, remote & dynamic tunnel support. - SOCKS5 proxy for a private VPN. - Agent Forwarding. - Complete SSH Config file support. - ControlMaster and pooled connections. - Files.app integration for SFTP remote hosts. - SFTP with copy-on-change. Blink has been the leading developer tool in the AppStore for +5 years, so there is a lot more: - External Display support. - Legendary Hardware Keyboard support, even remap shortcuts and keyboard codes. - Local & iCloud Blink Shell folders for Files.app access across devices. - Host sync over iCloud. - Link-files from other applications and work with them in Blink. - Cool themes and fonts, and install your own! - Smart Keys on SW Keyboard to navigate with touch. - FaceCam command to create tutorials and streams. - Bell notifications. - Supports multiple windows and multiple tabs. - Network & UNIX CLI tools, check our docs for more information. Blink Code integrates with VS Code: - Code on local projects, or seamlessly on remote machines. - Fully-loaded code editor. - A coding experience fitted to your device, that connects to VS Code for web, GitHub Codespaces, GitPod or your own VS Code server. Blink Build (Requires a $7.99/month subscription) Creates remote runtimes that can be accessed on all your devices. You can use Build in your day-to-day workflows whether you need to do development, DevOps or just play around with new tooling. Participate in our community, and don’t forget to leave us your feedback and your feature(s) requests. Enjoy! http://blink.sh http://twitter.com/blinkshell http://GitHub.com/blinksh Terms of Use: https://blink.sh/blink-gpl Privacy Policy: https://blink.sh/pp * Blink Code is not affiliated nor endorsed by Microsoft. ** Blink Build requires a separate subscription to make use of our Virtual Machines.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Blink Shell, Build & Code at Free against Developer Laboratory's $0.99. Blink Shell, Build & Code also leads on ratings volume (418 vs 6) and chart position (#10 vs unranked). Developer Laboratory's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 3.1) and review sentiment (60% vs 37%). On update cadence, 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
Blink Shell, Build & Code is free to download; Developer Laboratory costs $0.99 up front. Developer Laboratory sells 8 one-off in-app purchases and Blink Shell, Build & Code sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Developer Laboratory holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Blink Shell, Build & Code has 418 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Developer Laboratory's written reviews are positive against 37% of Blink Shell, Build & Code's.
Developer Laboratory ships an update monthly, Blink Shell, Build & Code every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 10, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Developer Laboratory | Blink Shell, Build & Code |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (6 ratings) — better | 3.1 (418 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews — better | 36.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 418 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #10 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 211 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | 恒盛 程 | Blink Shell, Inc |
Customer experience
Developer Laboratory
Blink Shell, Build & Code
In-app purchases
Developer Laboratory
- 0 ice cola$0.99
- 1 ice cola$0.99
- A sip of iced cola$0.99
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- 一元商品$0.99
- 2 ice cola$1.99
- 3 ice cola$2.99
- 4.16 ice cola$3.99
- 16.5 ice cola$14.99
Blink Shell, Build & Code
- Build Basic - 50 credits/month1 Month trial$7.991 Month
- Blink+Build Basic7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Blink Plus$19.991 Year
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- Blink+14 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Blink Shell ClassicFree
Questions
Is Developer Laboratory free?
Is Blink Shell, Build & Code free?
Which has better reviews, Developer Laboratory or Blink Shell, Build & Code?
Do Developer Laboratory or Blink Shell, Build & Code have ads?
Which is updated more often, Developer Laboratory or Blink Shell, Build & Code?
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