Comparison

ntfy vs CellGlide

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

Head to head
About

ntfy

This app allows you to send push notifications to your phone from scripts or other applications using simple HTTP requests. It acts as a client for a free, open-source pub-sub service, enabling you to receive alerts and updates directly on your device.

Highlights
  • Send notifications via REST API
  • Subscribe to topics
  • Publish messages via HTTP
  • Integrates with Bash/PowerShell
  • Free and open source client
Features
Read full description

Send push notifications to your phone from any Bash or PowerShell script, or from your own app using PUT/POST requests, e.g. via curl on Linux or Invoke-WebRequest. ntfy is a client for https://ntfy.sh, a free and open source HTTP-based pub-sub service. You can subscribe to topics in this app, and then publish messages via a simple HTTP API. Uses: * Notify yourself when a long-running process is done * Ping your phone when a backup has failed * Alerts when someone logs into your server Example: $ curl -d "Your backup is done" ntfy.sh/mytopic Find more examples and usage instructions here: https://ntfy.sh/docs

About

CellGlide

Share your iPhone's cellular connection with your Mac via USB. Monitor live speeds, data usage by service, and network details. Offers DNS customization and diagnostic tools for your cellular connection.

Highlights
  • USB tethering to Mac
  • Live speed and data usage dashboard
  • Service and protocol traffic breakdown
  • Customizable DNS settings
  • Network diagnostics and speed tests
  • Usage history by session, day, or month
Read full description

CellGlide shares your iPhone’s cellular connection with your Mac over USB and makes that connection easy to understand: live speeds, how much data you used and which services it went to. Share with your Mac over USB Connect your iPhone and Mac with a cable, start sharing on your phone, then turn on the connection in CellGlide for Mac. Download and install the Mac client separately from our website. The app accepts only local connections forwarded over USB; it is not open to Wi-Fi, hotspot or local network devices. Live traffic dashboard The Network status card shows your carrier with 5G / 4G, public IP, this session’s total traffic and a live throughput chart at a glance; the details screen adds upload and download speed charts and active connections. Usage history, services and protocols Review traffic forwarded by CellGlide by session, day or month, see how much YouTube, WeChat, iCloud and other services used, and get a breakdown across HTTPS, TLS, QUIC, HTTP, DNS and other TCP / UDP traffic. Services are grouped by each connection’s destination main domain, with no full URLs or content recorded. Records stay on this iPhone and can be cleared at any time. Service and protocol categories are estimates, and HTTPS content is never decrypted. Statistics cover only traffic shared through CellGlide, not usage across all iPhone apps. DNS for shared traffic Choose Cloudflare, Google or a custom HTTPS DNS service for traffic forwarded by CellGlide, or turn off encrypted DNS and adjust caching. These settings do not change your iPhone’s global DNS or your Mac’s Wi-Fi DNS settings. Diagnostics and speed testing Check the cellular path, DNS and Internet connectivity, and run upload and download tests against Cloudflare. See your public IP, its network name and AS number, city, country and Cloudflare connection location. Geographic information is estimated from your IP address. Requirements Requires iOS 17 or later, an active cellular data plan, a USB data cable, a Mac with Apple silicon running macOS 13 or later, and CellGlide for Mac. Keep this app in the foreground while sharing; sharing may stop when you lock your phone or switch apps. Speed tests use cellular data. Speed, service availability and plan charges depend on your carrier and network conditions, and CellGlide does not guarantee any particular carrier billing treatment. Available in Simplified Chinese, English and Spanish. No account required.

Screenshots

ntfy2 screens
CellGlide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: CellGlide at daily against ntfy's fortnightly. CellGlide also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). ntfy's advantage is ratings volume (452 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CellGlide holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ntfy has 452 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ntfy ships an update fortnightly, CellGlide daily. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ntfy versus CellGlide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterntfyCellGlide
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (452 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings452 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPhilipp HeckelXi Wang

Customer experience

ntfy

All ratings452 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews171 reviews
Positive78.4%
Neutral5.8%
Negative15.8%

CellGlide

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

Bugs and requests

ntfy

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Notifications not working on iOS
  • Broken click URLs in notifications
  • Compatibility issues with iOS notification summarizing

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to change notification sounds
  • Support for Apple Watch
  • Customizable topic names/aliases
  • Improved iOS notification handling
  • All topics view and read/unread indicators

CellGlide

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

ntfy

No in-app purchases

None

CellGlide

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ntfy free?
ntfy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CellGlide free?
CellGlide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ntfy or CellGlide?
CellGlide is rated higher. ntfy averages 4.8 out of 5 from 452 ratings, while CellGlide averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do ntfy or CellGlide have ads?
Neither ntfy nor CellGlide shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ntfy or CellGlide?
ntfy ships an update fortnightly, and CellGlide daily. Most recently, ntfy was updated on October 18, 2026 and CellGlide on October 3, 2026.

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