Comparison

Card Barcodes vs Ash

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

Head to head
About

Card Barcodes

Features
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Store loyalty cards, membership cards, and any barcode-based cards on your iPhone. Never carry physical cards again. SCAN INSTANTLY Use your camera to capture any barcode automatically. No typing required. ALL FORMATS SUPPORTED QR codes, EAN-8, EAN-13, Code128, Code39, UPC-E, Aztec, PDF417 and more. AUTO BRIGHTNESS Screen brightness increases automatically when displaying cards for easy scanning at checkout. ORGANIZE YOUR WAY Drag to reorder cards, swipe to delete, and label cards with custom names. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your cards stay on your device. No accounts, no cloud sync, no tracking. Just your cards. BEAUTIFUL INTERFACE Native iOS app with full dark mode support. Fast, smooth, and feels right at home on your iPhone.

About

Ash

Features
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Native SSH client for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Open a shell, push files over SFTP, forward a port, monitor a server. Terminal โ€” multiple sessions, configurable shell, fonts, theme. Hold-and-drag cursor scrub, two-finger paste, pinch zoom. โŒ˜T / โŒ˜W / โŒ˜1-9 on iPad and Mac. SFTP โ€” browse, upload, download, edit text files inline. Save with sudo when needed. Drag-and-drop from Files or Finder. Server Dashboard โ€” live CPU, RAM, disk, latency. OS, kernel, uptime. Port Forwarding โ€” local (-L) and remote (-R) tunnels, multiple per host. SSH Keys โ€” generate Ed25519 or RSA on-device. Import from Files or clipboard. Stored in iOS Keychain. Face ID / Touch ID lock. Connections survive the lock screen. Keepalive defeats NAT timeouts. Auto-reconnect on Wi-Fi / cellular handoff. No telemetry. No analytics. No ads. Host configs sync only via your private iCloud, opt-in.

Screenshots

Card Barcodes3 screens
Ash4 screens

Verdict

The call

Card Barcodes and Ash are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters โ€” price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them โ€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Card Barcodes ships an update every 6 months, Ash every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 11, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Card Barcodes versus Ash: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCard BarcodesAsh
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 3 months โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad โ€” better
Requires iOS18.017.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size1 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaul SerbyArtem Sharifullin

In-app purchases

None

Card Barcodes

No in-app purchases

None

Ash

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Card Barcodes free?
Card Barcodes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ash free?
Ash is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Card Barcodes or Ash have ads?
Neither Card Barcodes nor Ash shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Card Barcodes or Ash?
Card Barcodes ships an update every 6 months, and Ash every 3 months. Most recently, Card Barcodes was updated on September 11, 2026 and Ash on September 18, 2026.

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