Comparison

ActivitySmith vs brrr

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

Head to head
About

ActivitySmith

Stream real-time progress and status updates to your device's Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Send high-signal push notifications for critical events like failures, incidents, or sales. Integrate with any backend that can make HTTP requests for seamless monitoring.

Highlights
  • Live Activities for Lock Screen
  • Push Notifications for alerts
  • Real-time progress tracking
  • Integrates with CI/CD and servers
  • Supports multiple SDKs
  • Widgets for key metrics
Features
Read full description

ActivitySmith lets you send Live Activities and Push Notifications to your iOS device(s) from any backend. Keep long-running work visible at a glance: stream progress, step-by-step status, and outcomes to your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Use Push Notifications for high-signal alerts (failures, incidents, signups, sales, crashes, etc). Anything that can make an HTTP request can update a Live Activity or send a Push Notification - CI/CD, servers, cron, agents, webhooks, or plain curl. Use cases: - CI/CD deployments and build pipelines - Long-running jobs (migrations, backups, ETL) and background agents - On-call alerts and incident workflows - Business events (sales, signups, trial conversions) - Home Automation How it works: - Install ActivitySmith and pair your device - Create API key - Send custom Push Notifications with a simple API call - Trigger Live Activities to track deployments or any other long-running processes in a real-time - Target one or more paired devices as needed - Use widgets to track key metrics from your lock screen SDKs: Node.js, PHP, Ruby, Python, Go, CLI Integrations: GitHub, GitLab, Vercel, Railway, Netlify, Sentry, Linear, Zapier, n8n, and more...

About

brrr

Trigger notifications on your devices via HTTP requests from scripts, automations, or servers. This app offers a simple webhook for instant alerts, image attachments, and on-device history, integrating with Focus filters for context-aware delivery.

Highlights
  • Trigger notifications via HTTP requests
  • Send alerts to all or single devices
  • Open links directly from notifications
  • Attach images to notifications
  • On-device notification history
  • Focus filter integration
Features
Read full description

Trigger notifications from anything that can send an HTTP request: agents, scripts, automations, CI jobs, servers, smart home setups, or personal tools. No dashboard. No account setup. No unnecessary complexity. Just a small webhook that works. With brrr, you can: • Send notifications to all your devices or a single device • Trigger notifications from agents, scripts, and automations • Break through mute and Focus mode with critical notifications • Open links directly from notifications • Attach images to notifications • Keep an on-device notification history • Decide when notifications appear using Focus filters GREAT FOR AGENTS brrr is useful for agents and automations. Have an agent notify you when it is waiting for input, when a task finishes, when a run fails, when a deploy completes, or when something needs your attention immediately. FOCUS FRIENDLY brrr integrates with Focus filters so you can decide which notifications are allowed in different contexts. For example, allow work notifications during Work Focus while muting everything else. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Webhook secrets are generated on-device, and data stays tied to your iCloud account. brrr stores only what is required to verify webhook requests and deliver notifications through Apple Push Notification Service. Notification contents are not stored on the backend, and on-device history stays on your device. WHO IT’S FOR If you want a big dashboard packed with options and complexity, this probably is not for you. If you want a clean, fast way to make your devices go brrr, you will feel at home. Terms of Use https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

ActivitySmith4 screens
brrr4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ActivitySmith at 5.0 against brrr's 4.5. ActivitySmith also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (100% vs 85%). brrr's advantage is ratings volume (15 vs 1) and chart position (#120 vs unranked). On price, update cadence, ads 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. brrr sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. ActivitySmith asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ActivitySmith holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: brrr has 15 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of ActivitySmith's written reviews are positive against 85% of brrr's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ActivitySmith ships an update weekly, brrr every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on November 12, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
ActivitySmith versus brrr: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterActivitySmithbrrr
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.5 (15 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better84.6% of reviews
Number of ratings115 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank—#120 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.017.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdam BardonSimon B. Støvring

Customer experience

ActivitySmith

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

brrr

All ratings15 ratings
Positive86.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral7.7%
Negative7.7%

In-app purchases

None

ActivitySmith

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

brrr

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Yearly$9.991 Year

Questions

Is ActivitySmith free?
ActivitySmith is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is brrr free?
brrr is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ActivitySmith or brrr?
ActivitySmith is rated higher. ActivitySmith averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while brrr averages 4.5 from 15 ratings.
Do ActivitySmith or brrr have ads?
Neither ActivitySmith nor brrr shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ActivitySmith or brrr?
ActivitySmith ships an update weekly, and brrr every 2 weeks. Most recently, ActivitySmith was updated on November 12, 2026 and brrr on November 12, 2026.

Other comparisons