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 outcomes of long-running tasks to your iOS device's Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Receive high-signal alerts for critical events via push notifications. Integrates with various backend services and development tools.

Highlights
  • Live Activities for Lock Screen and Dynamic Island
  • Push Notifications for alerts
  • Update via HTTP requests
  • Track CI/CD, jobs, and events
  • Pair devices and create API keys
  • Widgets for lock screen 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, more coming soon...

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 in-app purchases: ActivitySmith at none against brrr's 2. ActivitySmith also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 85%). brrr's advantage is chart position (#116 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ActivitySmith ships an update weekly, brrr every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
ActivitySmith versus brrr: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterActivitySmithbrrr
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.5 (15 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better84.6% of reviews
Number of ratings—15 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank—#116 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.017.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdam BardonSimon B. Støvring

Customer experience

ActivitySmith

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.
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 September 19, 2026 and brrr on September 30, 2026.

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