Comparison

Happy vs Preloop

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

Head to head
About

Happy

This app provides a secure mobile interface for AI coding assistants, allowing you to continue sessions and monitor progress from anywhere. It features end-to-end encryption and a zero-knowledge architecture for ultimate privacy. Seamlessly switch between desktop and mobile for uninterrupted AI coding.

Highlights
  • Seamless desktop and mobile session continuation
  • Push notifications for AI tasks
  • Offline access to conversation history
  • End-to-end encryption for code privacy
  • Real-time streaming of AI responses
  • Zero-knowledge architecture
Features
Read full description

Your coding agent shouldn't wait for you to get back to your desk. A task can run for an hour and then stop five minutes in to ask for permission or a decision. Happy lets you answer from your phone, and the same agent carries on in the same repository with the same tools and context. Happy is the mobile app for Claude Code and Codex. The agents keep running on your own computer, and your phone is how you start them, steer them and review their work. WHAT YOU CAN DO FROM YOUR PHONE • Start a new session or pick up one you began at your desk • Get notified when an agent needs input or finishes • Approve or deny permission requests, or let a session run in Auto mode • Choose the model and reasoning effort from the providers set up on your computer • Review changes: a file list, colored diffs, and the full set of changes on a branch • Attach a screenshot or photo to your prompt • Browse sessions in one list or grouped by project, with each checkout's chats as tabs • Open a side chat next to a session without losing your place • Drafts follow you between your phone and your computer HOW IT WORKS Happy runs on your computer, and this app connects to it. 1. Install Happy Desktop from happy.engineering, or if you prefer the terminal, run: npm install -g happy 2. Create an account in the app. You don't need an email address or a password. 3. Scan the QR code your computer shows to link it to your phone. Then start a session from either device. What you see on your phone is the same live session that's running on your computer. YOU WILL NEED • A computer running Happy Desktop or the Happy CLI • Access to the coding agents you want to use, such as a Claude or ChatGPT/Codex plan or API key. Happy uses your existing accounts. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Sessions are end-to-end encrypted. Your code, agent and encryption keys stay on your devices. Happy's servers only relay and store encrypted session data and can't read your prompts, responses or code. OPEN SOURCE The app, the CLI and the server are MIT-licensed and on GitHub. Read the code, run your own build or host your own server. ALSO ON DESKTOP Happy Desktop adds a harness that works across providers and lets you switch models in the middle of a task. The sessions it starts show up on your phone too. Happy is an independent project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic or OpenAI. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic. Codex and ChatGPT are trademarks of OpenAI. Privacy Policy: https://happy.engineering/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Preloop

This app acts as a human approval layer for AI agents, intercepting risky actions and routing them for your one-tap approval. It allows AI to handle routine tasks while you maintain control over critical decisions, ensuring compliance and an audit trail.

Highlights
  • Human approval for AI actions
  • Instant notifications with context
  • One-tap approve/decline
  • Audit trail for compliance
  • Risk-based policy enforcement
  • Works with Claude and Cursor
Features
Read full description

Preloop is the human approval layer for autonomous AI agents. When your agents attempt risky actions like deployments, refunds, or data changes, Preloop intercepts the request and routes it to you for approval right on your iPhone or Apple Watch. The right people in your organization get instant notifications with full context, approve or decline with one tap, while your organization maintains a complete audit trail for compliance. Preloop enables event-driven automation through Agentic Flows - let AI agents handle routine work automatically while you control critical decisions. Setup takes 3 minutes as an MCP proxy, works with Claude and Cursor, and requires no infrastructure changes. Risk-based policies ensure only high-stakes actions need approval while low-risk operations run automatically. AI agents can't take legal or moral responsibility for their actions - Preloop ensures humans stay in control. Perfect for engineering teams, DevOps, and anyone deploying autonomous AI in production. Enterprise-ready, designed for SOC2 compliance, role-based access, and secure end-to-end encryption.

Screenshots

Happy4 screens
Preloop2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Preloop at none against Happy's 1. Happy's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (1K vs 1). On price, rating, 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. Happy sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $19.99 per month. Preloop asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Happy against 5.0 for Preloop. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Happy has 1K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Happy ships an update weekly, Preloop every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Happy versus Preloop: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHappyPreloop
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (1K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings1K — better1
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#93 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.1 — better18.2
Further details — not scored
Size98 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBulka, LLCSpacecode AI Inc

Customer experience

Happy

All ratings1,024 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.0%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews67 reviews
Positive71.6%
Neutral10.4%
Negative17.9%

Preloop

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

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Happy

Subscriptions1
  • Plus Plus Monthly$19.991 Month
None

Preloop

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Happy free?
Happy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Preloop free?
Preloop is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Happy or Preloop?
Preloop is rated higher. Happy averages 4.9 out of 5 from 1K ratings, while Preloop averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Happy or Preloop have ads?
Neither Happy nor Preloop shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Happy or Preloop?
Happy ships an update weekly, and Preloop every 3 months. Most recently, Happy was updated on October 19, 2026 and Preloop on October 11, 2026.

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