OpenLens vs Tailscode
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OpenLens
This application allows you to remotely control and monitor AI coding sessions from your iPhone. Continue your work seamlessly from your mobile device, manage sessions, and receive real-time updates.
- Remote AI coding session control
- Real-time chat with streaming responses
- Session management (create, delete)
- Switch AI providers and models
- Live progress on Lock Screen/Dynamic Island
- Bonjour/mDNS server discovery
- Save multiple server connections
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OpenLens is a fast, focused iPhone client for OpenCode. Run OpenCode on your computer, then continue the same AI coding session from your phone. Use OpenLens to monitor progress, reply quickly, and stay in control when you are away from your desk. What you can do with OpenLens: - Connect instantly to nearby OpenCode servers with Bonjour/mDNS discovery - Save multiple server connections and reconnect automatically - Chat in real time with streaming responses - View and manage sessions, including creating and deleting sessions - Switch AI providers and models directly from the app - Review agent activity steps while work is in progress - Respond to permission prompts and interactive questions from the server - See live progress on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island with Live Activities Built for real workflows: - One session across terminal, web, and iPhone - Reliable reconnect behavior when network conditions change - Optional password-protected server access
Tailscode
Interact with AI agents like Claude Code and Oh My Pi from your phone. Monitor and approve commands, view code changes, and manage conversations live on your lock screen. All data is transmitted point-to-point over your private network.
- Live Lock Screen Activities for conversations
- Approve commands and answer agent questions
- View code diffs and output inline
- Manage multiple servers and conversations
- Track conversation costs and model usage
- End-to-end encrypted communication
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Send a prompt to Claude Code, opencode or Oh My Pi from your phone, pocket it, and watch the turn finish on your Lock Screen. Approve the risky command, answer the agent's question, read every diff — from anywhere on your own Tailscale network. WHAT YOU NEED A Mac or Linux machine on your tailnet (Tailscale is free for personal use) running one of your agents: opencode, Claude Code through the open-source claude-bridge, or Oh My Pi through the open-source omp-bridge. Set-up is three verified steps, and a built-in demo lets you try every screen before you wire anything. THE TURN, LIVE ON YOUR LOCK SCREEN • A Live Activity per conversation: what it is doing, for how long, and how many tools it has run. • An approval request alerts you; a finished turn lingers with its outcome. Tap to land in the exact chat. • Updates arrive by push while the app is suspended. A NATIVE TRANSCRIPT, NOT A TERMINAL • Streaming text written at the model's own speed, with thinking and tool runs folded into readable groups. • Diffs, commands and their real output inline; syntax-highlighted code with byte-exact copy. • Allow once, always, or deny — without leaving the chat. Agent questions become tappable cards. • Queue the next message while a turn runs, edit it before it goes, or stop the turn on the server. • Every picture the agent hands you, in a gallery you can zoom, save or share. EVERY MACHINE ON ONE BOARD • All your servers' conversations in one list, live status first, grouped by project. • Read the repository before you trust the change: branch, staged, changed, untracked, and the diff of any file. • Subagents dock inside the turn that spawned them; a compaction is drawn as a seam with what it kept. • Slash commands from the server's own catalog, per-message model and reasoning effort, forking. KNOW WHAT IT COSTS • Every conversation priced, every month totalled across machines — by model, project and tool. • Plan limits and quotas for Claude, Grok, Ollama Cloud, DeepSeek and more, on Home and in a widget. YOURS, END TO END • Point-to-point over your tailnet. No relay servers, no account, no analytics, nobody reading your code. • Programmatic UIKit, Swift 6, Liquid Glass on iOS 26. Dark mode, Dynamic Type, haptics. • Open source under GPL-3.0 — the app, the engine, and both bridges. FREE, WITH AN HONEST PRO The free app is the complete core: one server, full chat, approvals, attachments, models, forking, and Live Activities. Tailscode Pro is a one-time purchase, no subscription: multiple saved servers, concurrent Live Activities, and a supporter badge. Tailscode is independent open-source software: not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic, Tailscale Inc., the opencode project or Oh My Pi. Privacy policy: https://midgarcorp.cc/tailscode/privacy Source code: https://github.com/guitaripod/Tailscode
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: OpenLens at none against Tailscode's 4. OpenLens also leads on ratings volume (4 vs 1). Tailscode's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 days) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, ads 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. Tailscode sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. OpenLens asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for OpenLens against 5.0 for Tailscode. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively.
OpenLens ships an update every 5 days, Tailscode every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | OpenLens | Tailscode |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Martyn Pekala | Midgar Oy |
Customer experience
OpenLens
Tailscode
In-app purchases
OpenLens
No in-app purchases
Tailscode
- Small Tip$2.99
- Generous Tip$9.99
- Tailscode Pro$14.99
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- Lavish Tip$19.99







