Comparison

MuffinTerm vs Donate Books

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

Head to head
About

MuffinTerm

Relive the classic BBS experience with a modern terminal emulator. Connect to telnet-enabled BBSes worldwide and enjoy pixel-accurate retro display modes and aesthetic effects like simulated modem speed and CRT curvature. Upload and download files with classic protocols.

Highlights
  • Telnet BBS connection
  • Authentic retro display modes (CP437, PETSCII, ATASCII)
  • Simulated modem speed
  • CRT curvature and scanlines
  • File transfer (XMODEM, YMODEM, ZMODEM)
  • Digital sticky notes for BBSes
Read full description

MuffinTerm: A terminal crafted for the classic BBS experience. Dive back into the glory days of dial-up bulletin board systems… just, without the dialing up. (Though we’ll always miss that modem sound.) BBSes were once the way that almost anyone “online” got online. The modern Internet might have stolen a bit of the spotlight, but BBSes are still around if you know where to look—and MuffinTerm can take you there. Connect to telnet-enabled BBSes from around the world, with a terminal that’s designed to bring the classic experience to devices of today. (And no more busy signals!) Select from among text modes and terminal hardware of the DOS and home computer era, with pixel-accurate CP437, PETSCII, and ATASCII support for the popular systems of the day, reproduced in exacting detail to help you really feel at home. (All rendered with a custom Metal shader—it is the 21st century, after all.) • MDA with white (P4), green (P31), or amber (P3) phosphor • CGA in 40- or 80-column mode • EGA in 25- or 43-line mode • VGA in 25- or 50-line mode • VIC-II (C64/PETSCII) in NTSC, PAL, or borderless mode • ANTIC (ATASCII) in NTSC, PAL, or borderless mode Fuel your nostalgia further by enabling various aesthetic effects: • Simulated modem speed — from the 110cps teletype crawl of the 1970s to the “blazing fast” 56K of the awesome ’90s. Slow down that ANSI animation to look the way it was originally intended, or just relive the feel of watching the bytes roll in. (Fortunately, without the cross-town toll charges this time around.) • CRT curvature — Turn your flat-screen device into the spitting image of a classic ’tube. • Scan lines — Reject the modernity of your perfect high-DPI display and embrace the scanlines that once reigned supreme. • Warm tube tint — Harken back to an era of dubiously calibrated picture tubes and iffy RF adapters. • VIC-II luma bars — Relive the experience of poorly isolated clock lines (and the resulting visual artifacting). • Overscan borders — View the terminal as it would appear on a typical TV, or flout the factory calibration and show the full borders of the display field. • Select a custom app icon from among several inspired by modems of the BBS era (plus a couple of floppy disks). Some features are functional as well as fun. For example, who hasn’t stuck a sticky note or two to the side of their monitor at some point? Fortunately, the digital era is no bar to this ancient practice. Each BBS in your dialing directory gets its own digital sticky note (pick a color!), plus another that’s shared between them all. Record notes, make reminders, or be naughty and jot down a password or two. (We won’t peek.) Of course, the basics are still all there. Traditional ANSI, PETSCII, and ATASCII terminal emulation give you the proper BBS experience; teletype (TTY) and “raw mode” provide support for special-use systems. Upload and download files using the standard XMODEM, YMODEM, and ZMODEM protocols. Save transcripts of your calls as text or raw data logs. There’s even a session timer in the status line to show you how long you’ve been connected. (Not responsible for flashbacks to long-distance bills from the 1980s.) A comprehensive dialing directory helps you to keep track of your favorite systems. You can also import up-to-date BBS lists from popular online BBS directories. Have multiple devices? Automatically sync your dialing directory and call history between them all—whether iOS, iPadOS, and macOS—via iCloud. And last but not least, it’s free. No ads, no in-app purchases, no weird tracking shenanigans. It’s just you and the soft glow of the pixels calling out to you. It’s time to get back online with MuffinTerm.

About

Donate Books

This app helps you identify which books from your collection are wanted by the Internet Archive for preservation and digitization. Scan book barcodes or printed identifiers using your phone's camera to receive immediate feedback on whether to donate.

Highlights
  • Scan book barcodes
  • OCR printed identifiers
  • Camera-based scanning
  • Preservation feedback
  • Digitization matching
Features
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The Internet Archive Donate Books app helps donors determine which books from their collection to donate to the Internet Archive so they can be preserved and digitized. The app allows users to scan their book barcodes or identifiers to figure out which books to donate. Users can scan book barcodes or OCR printed identifiers in their books using their phone camera to identify their books and match to corresponding metadata. They will then receive feedback on whether the Internet Archive wants to preserve and digitize the book. The app includes modes for scanning barcodes or using OCR to scan printed identifiers. Simply place the barcode or identifier in the view of your phone camera and see a red or green response indicating whether to donate the book or not. For installation instructions, where to report bugs or request assistance, and information about physical item donations to the Internet Archive please see our help center page.

Screenshots

MuffinTerm4 screens
Donate Books3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: MuffinTerm at 4.9 against Donate Books's 4.0. MuffinTerm also leads on review sentiment (93% vs 60%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months). Donate Books's advantage is monetization model (free vs paid). 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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MuffinTerm holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MuffinTerm has 38 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 93% of MuffinTerm's written reviews are positive against 60% of Donate Books's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MuffinTerm ships an update every 3 weeks, Donate Books every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on July 6, 2026 and August 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
MuffinTerm versus Donate Books: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMuffinTermDonate Books
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (38 ratings) — better4.0 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews93.3% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings38 — better7
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB54 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMolly BlackInternet Archive

Customer experience

MuffinTerm

All ratings38 ratings
Positive97.4%
Neutral2.6%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive93.3%
Neutral3.3%
Negative3.3%

Donate Books

All ratings7 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral14.3%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative20.0%

In-app purchases

None

MuffinTerm

No in-app purchases

None

Donate Books

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is MuffinTerm free?
MuffinTerm is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Donate Books free?
Donate Books is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, MuffinTerm or Donate Books?
MuffinTerm is rated higher. MuffinTerm averages 4.9 out of 5 from 38 ratings, while Donate Books averages 4.0 from 7 ratings.
Do MuffinTerm or Donate Books have ads?
Neither MuffinTerm nor Donate Books shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MuffinTerm or Donate Books?
MuffinTerm ships an update every 3 weeks, and Donate Books every 4 months. Most recently, MuffinTerm was updated on July 6, 2026 and Donate Books on August 18, 2026.

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