Power Apps Mobile Preview vs Orca IDE
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Power Apps Mobile Preview
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Test your in-development Power Apps mobile experiences on a real device — no rebuild, no resign, no store submission. Power Apps Mobile Preview app is a developer companion app for the new React Native–based Power Apps mobile runtime: scan a QR code from your local Metro bundler (or paste a dev URL) and your app loads instantly on your phone or tablet, exactly the way it will run in production. Think of it as the Power Apps equivalent of a dev sandbox. Built for makers and engineers iterating on the next generation of Power Apps mobile. WHAT'S INSIDE Power Apps Mobile Preview is a thin host that loads your in-progress app bundles over the wire so you can see code, layout, and data changes in seconds. • Scan-to-load: Point the in-app scanner at the QR code printed by your local Metro / Expo dev server and the JS bundle streams onto the device. • Manual URL entry: Type or paste any reachable dev-server URL (e.g., http://192.168.1.20:8081) when QR scanning isn't an option — tunnels, remote machines, restricted networks. • Fast Refresh: Save a file in your editor and watch the change appear on device, with component state preserved where possible. • Native module parity: Bundled with the same native modules the production Power Apps client ships — auth, connectors, file system, camera, location, secure storage, telemetry — so what you test is what your users will get. • Sign-in with your work or school account: Authenticate once with Microsoft Entra and your dev apps can call Dataverse, Microsoft Graph, and custom connectors with real tokens. • Recent connections list: Quickly re-open previously loaded dev URLs without re-scanning. • Diagnostic overlay: Surface bundle URL, runtime version, JS errors, and red-box stacks for fast triage. WHO IT'S FOR • Makers previewing custom React Native components and pages before publishing. • ISVs and partners building native extensions against the Power Apps mobile runtime. • Engineers on the Power Apps platform team validating SDK and connector changes end-to-end on real hardware. TIPS • Make sure your phone and dev machine are on the same Wi-Fi network — if they aren't, use a tunnel (e.g., expo start --tunnel) and paste the public URL. • Shake the device (or use the menu) to reload the bundle, toggle the element inspector, or open the dev menu. • Long-press a recent connection to remove it from the list. • Mobile Preview app is for development only. You will need to package and distribute your own production apps to App Store or enterprise distribution channel. DISCLAIMER This is a developer only release intended for development and evaluation. APIs, behaviors, and supported native modules may change before general availability. Do not rely on Mobile Preview app for production workloads. Accessibility: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2121429
Orca IDE
This app mirrors your desktop terminal sessions, including AI agent interactions, directly to your iPhone. It provides full keyboard input and multi-terminal support for seamless remote coding management. All processing remains on your desktop, ensuring your data stays secure.
- Live desktop terminal mirror
- AI agent session management
- Full keyboard input
- Multi-worktree, multi-terminal support
- Phone-fit zoom and smart keyboard
- Background command execution
- End-to-end encrypted pairing
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Orca Mobile is the companion app for Orca, the open-source agentic coding workspace for macOS, Linux, and Windows. Pair your iPhone to your desktop in seconds and pick up a terminal session from the couch, the kitchen, or across the office. WHAT IT DOES • Live mirror of your desktop terminal, including running AI agent sessions (Claude Code, Codex, custom CLIs). • Full keyboard input — type, tab-complete, Ctrl-C, scroll back, all from the phone. • Multi-worktree, multi-terminal: jump between projects with a tap. • Phone-fit zoom and a smart on-screen keyboard with quick Ctrl/Alt accessory keys and shortcuts. • Background long-running commands and get a notification when a TUI goes idle (e.g. when Claude finishes thinking). HOW IT WORKS Orca Mobile is a thin client. Nothing runs on your phone except the viewer. Your code, your shells, your AI agents — all of that stays on your desktop. The phone shows you what's happening and forwards your keystrokes back over an encrypted local-network connection. Pairing is end-to-end encrypted. Your desktop generates a one-time keypair and shows a QR code; you scan it from the app. After that, all traffic between phone and desktop is sealed with that pair's keys. PRIVACY • No analytics SDK, no crash reporter, no third-party SDKs of any kind in the iOS app. • Pairing tokens and your preference list live in the app's own sandbox. The app's traffic to your desktop is end-to-end encrypted on your local network only. • The Orca desktop app collects anonymized usage metrics per the policy at https://www.onorca.dev/privacy. The mobile app itself does not. • Open source: every line is auditable at https://github.com/stablyai/orca. REQUIREMENTS • An iPhone (iOS 16+) on the same Wi-Fi as your desktop. • The Orca desktop app, free, from https://www.onorca.dev/ or https://github.com/stablyai/orca/releases.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Orca IDE at every 3 days against Power Apps Mobile Preview's monthly. Orca IDE also leads on chart position (#17 vs #131). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Power Apps Mobile Preview ships an update monthly, Orca IDE every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Power Apps Mobile Preview | Orca IDE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.6 (48 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 86.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 48 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Best chart rank | #131 | #17 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 57 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | Lovecast LLC |
In-app purchases
Power Apps Mobile Preview
No in-app purchases
Orca IDE
No in-app purchases









