Comparison

Public Mobile vs Open There

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

Head to head
About

Public Mobile

Manage your prepaid mobile subscription entirely through an app. Choose affordable plans with no contracts or hidden fees, and handle everything from plan selection to support within the application.

Highlights
  • 5G mobile subscription
  • Affordable prepaid plans
  • No contracts or hidden fees
  • Manage everything in the app
  • eSIM or pSIM options
  • In-app activation
Features
Read full description

Subscription, meet phone. Public Mobile is Canada’s first 5G mobile subscription provider. We offer affordable, reliable prepaid phone plans with no contracts, no hidden fees, no overage charges and no trips to a store. Everything happens in the app: pick your features, get support, and make changes. You know what you need, so we built it to run on your terms. HOW TO GET STARTED 1. Download the Public Mobile app. 2. Choose the subscription plan that fits best for you. 3. Choose from an eSIM or pSIM. 4. Activate in the app. That’s it, you’re connected. Download the Public Mobile app now, or learn more at PublicMobile.ca.

About

Open There

Features
Read full description

Note: Requires the macOS app to be installed to work with. Open There is the simple way to get something from your phone onto your Mac. Tap Share on your iPhone or iPad and choose Open There. A link opens in your Mac's browser. A file, photo, or video lands in your Downloads folder, with a notification showing you what arrived. No address to copy, no message to send yourself, no extra account to create. WHAT IT DOES Sends links, files, photos, videos, and text from the iOS Share Sheet Sends several items at once, straight from Photos or Files Saves what arrives to your Downloads folder, or any folder you choose Shows a notification when something lands, with a preview for images and video Keeps everything in one Mac list, split into All, Links, Files, and Photos Opens, previews with Quick Look, saves elsewhere, reveals in Finder, or drags out to any app Holds items in a durable queue when iCloud is briefly unavailable Shows sent items in the iOS Sent tab, with delivery confirmation from an updated Mac Lets you remove individual history items, clear history, and retry failed sends Runs from the Mac menu bar, with an optional Open at login setting Includes the iPhone, iPad, and Mac versions in one universal app OPEN THERE PRO See your full sent history on iPhone and iPad and your full received history on Mac, instead of five recent items Keep received files and links in the list rather than only in a folder Track what you have not looked at, and show the count in the menu bar Search, sort, and select several items at once Choose the same yearly or lifetime Pro plan in the iPhone, iPad, or Mac app. Existing Pro purchases are recognized automatically for the same App Store account PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything travels through your own private iCloud database. Open There has no advertising, no analytics SDK, no third-party relay, and no account system to sign up for. What you send is deleted from iCloud once your Mac has it. Sent history stays locally on the sending iPhone or iPad. Delivered items stay in one local list on the Mac. These history lists are not synchronized. Small delivery confirmations expire after 30 days and are cleaned up when an updated Mac next runs. REQUIREMENTS Your iPhone or iPad and Mac must be signed in to the same Apple Account for iCloud. Open the Mac version once to register it as a destination, then leave the menu-bar receiver running. Files up to 250 MB can be sent. Offline delivery is retried when iOS next gives the app time to run or when you open the iOS app. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: https://openthere.app/privacy

Screenshots

Public Mobile4 screens
Open There3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Public Mobile at none against Open There's 2. Open There's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and iOS requirement 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. Open There sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year. Public Mobile asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Public Mobile ships an update every 3 weeks, Open There monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Public Mobile versus Open There: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPublic MobileOpen There
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (259 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews44.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings259 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS16.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size74 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTELUS Communications Inc.Alt Development Labs, Inc.

Bugs and requests

Public Mobile

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Activation issues
  • Logging in problems
  • App crashes and freezes
  • Unreliable service
  • Billing and payment issues

Requested features

3 requests
  • Wifi calling
  • Support for iPad/tablets
  • Improve customer service access

Open There

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Public Mobile

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Open There

Subscriptions1
  • Open There Pro Yearly$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • Open There Pro Lifetime$14.99

Questions

Is Public Mobile free?
Public Mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Open There free?
Open There is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Public Mobile or Open There have ads?
Neither Public Mobile nor Open There shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Public Mobile or Open There?
Public Mobile ships an update every 3 weeks, and Open There monthly. Most recently, Public Mobile was updated on November 7, 2026 and Open There on November 6, 2026.

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