TickStack vs Tessera
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TickStack
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Life has a lot of timers. Now they all have a home. TickStack lets you create, organize, and run multiple timers at once — for cooking, working out, laundry, deep focus, plants, and everything in between. One app for every countdown in your day. - Run everything at once Start your pasta timer, your laundry timer, and your focus block simultaneously. TickStack keeps them all running in the background and notifies you the moment each one finishes. - Built-in library of ready-to-use timers Don't want to set it up from scratch? Browse pre-made timers for boiling eggs, brewing coffee, power naps, stretch breaks, watering plants, rest sets, and dozens more. Add any to your home screen in one tap. - Organized by category Cooking. Fitness. Work. Home. Plants. Hobbies. Life. Every timer lives where it makes sense, so your egg timer and your HIIT rest timer don't end up in the same pile. - Always visible with home screen widgets Glance at your active timers without opening the app. TickStack widgets keep your countdowns front and center right on your home screen. - Pick your sound Choose from five distinct notification tones — Two Bells, Bell & Drop, Doorbell, Kalimba, or Kitchen Bell — so you know exactly which timer finished just by the sound. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Tessera
A fast, keyboard-first SSH, Mosh, and tmux terminal for iOS devices. It offers seamless session handoff between devices, robust tmux integration, and secure, private connections directly to your servers without any tracking.
- Keyboard-first SSH, Mosh, and tmux terminal
- Seamless session handoff between devices
- First-class tmux integration with auto-attach
- Mosh for persistent connections across network changes
- Hardware keyboard support with shortcuts and key legend
- Configurable swipe pad for quick access
- Remote file panel with native iOS sharing
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Tessera is a fast, keyboard-first SSH, Mosh, and tmux terminal for iPhone and iPad. It connects directly to servers you own or control — no middleman, no account, no tracking. MOVE BETWEEN YOUR DEVICES • Hand off a live session: start on iPad, pick it up on iPhone, then double-tap to take back control. The session keeps running either way. • Your focused session appears in the App Switcher and Dock on your other devices. • Nearby Setup copies your hosts, keys, and preferences to a new device directly over the local network — you choose exactly what to copy, both devices confirm a matching code, and each grant needs Face ID. • Or don't sync at all: choose whether sessions follow you or stay on each device. STAY CONNECTED • First-class tmux integration: auto-attach on connect, so a dropped connection never loses your work. • Native tmux windows as tabs, with real panes. • Mosh keeps your session alive across Wi-Fi ↔ cellular roaming and sleep/wake — pick up exactly where you left off. • Session restore brings your saved hosts and layout back after relaunch. BUILT FOR TOUCH AND KEYBOARD • First-class hardware-keyboard support: shortcuts, a key legend (⌘ hold), and careful handling of modifier keys for real terminal work. • A configurable swipe pad puts arrows, Esc, Ctrl and your own macros in the thumb zone. • Mouse and trackpad support, including scrolling that works. • Find-in-terminal, themes, and adjustable fonts and appearance. • Optional on-device dictation straight into the terminal. FILES, PORTS, AND JUMP HOSTS • A remote file panel that tracks your shell's current directory, over SSH and mosh alike — with native iOS sharing to move files and images in and out. • Local port forwarding with a live tunnels overview. • Jump hosts for servers you can only reach through a bastion. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT • Tessera has no servers, no analytics, and collects no data. Connections go directly from your iOS devices to your machines. SECURITY YOU EXPECT • Keys are generated and stored in the iOS Keychain; Secure Enclave–backed keys never leave your device and can require Face ID to use. • Host-key verification with a persistent known-hosts store. • App lock with Face ID / passcode on launch, background return, and idle timeout. OPEN SOURCE • Tessera is free software (GPL-3.0). The full source code is available at github.com/bambouville/tessera. Tessera requires servers you provide — it is a client, not a hosting service. Mosh and tmux features require mosh/tmux installed on the server.
Screenshots
Verdict
TickStack and Tessera are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. TickStack sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Tessera sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | TickStack | Tessera |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | RevelRain | Bambouville Inc. |
In-app purchases
TickStack
- TickStack Monthly Pro$1.991 Month
- TickStack Lifetime PRO$12.99
Tessera
- Unlimited Saved Hosts$9.99





