Comparison

Coding Keyboard vs Sbu Scanner QR Barcode

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

Head to head
About

Coding Keyboard

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Coding Keyboard is an iOS keyboard laid out the way a desktop keyboard is laid out. In landscape and on iPad, the top four rows are identical to a full-size ANSI keyboard, key for key: backtick left of the 1, brackets right of the P, backslash above return, caps lock where caps lock goes. If you type on a desktop keyboard, you already know this layout. Why The stock iPhone keyboard hides the braces, square brackets, backslash, pipe, backtick and tilde behind two levels of page switching, and has no Tab key at all. iPad fares better, but only on the largest screens โ€” on an 11-inch iPad the system keyboard has no number row, no brackets, no backslash, and no arrow keys either. That is fine for prose and miserable for code, SSH sessions, and config files. This one puts them all on the first layer. Every key prints its shifted value, so ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) and the braces, pipe, tilde, underscore, plus, colon, quote, question mark and angle brackets are all one modifier away. Terminal mode A terminal does not receive key events โ€” the PTY sees a byte stream. Terminal mode sends the bytes a real keyboard would have produced, so a shell cannot tell the difference. It adds esc, ctrl and opt keys and a full set of cursor keys, and rewires the rest. Return sends CR rather than a newline. Ctrl plus a letter sends the C0 byte, so Ctrl-C is 0x03, Ctrl-D is 0x04, Ctrl-R is 0x12. Option prefixes with ESC, the way Meta is spelled everywhere. The arrow and Home/End keys send their ANSI escape sequences. Ctrl and opt latch like Shift โ€” tap, hold, or double-tap to lock โ€” and stack with it and with each other. This works wherever the host app forwards inserted text to its terminal. The app includes an echo terminal โ€” a real VT100 emulator with no shell behind it โ€” so you can see exactly what each key sends before you rely on it anywhere else. Turn it on with the term key in landscape, or by long-pressing Tab in portrait. Portrait A compact 10 by 6 layout for thumbs. The number row is always visible, and Tab and the cursor keys sit in the top row. The shift key Three states, matching a physical keyboard more closely than iOS does. Tap โ€” shifts the next character. Double tap โ€” locks until you press shift again. Press and hold โ€” shifts while held. Shift engages on finger-down rather than on lift, so holding shift with one thumb and typing with the other works the way it does on a real keyboard: the first keystroke is already capitalized. Where it works Anywhere iOS shows a keyboard. Terminal clients, git clients, editors, note apps, browsers, chat windows, search fields. Privacy The keyboard does not request Full Access. Without it, iOS grants a keyboard extension no network capability at all โ€” it cannot send keystrokes anywhere because it cannot send anything anywhere. That is enforced by the operating system, not promised in a policy. No data is collected. The keyboard extension has no analytics, no crash reporting, and no third-party SDKs. The source is on GitHub under the MIT license. What it doesn't do No autocorrect, predictive text, or swipe typing. No emoji key โ€” the globe key switches back to your usual keyboard. No haptic feedback. iOS only permits it with Full Access, which this keyboard does not request. US ASCII layout only. Setup Settings, then General, Keyboard, Keyboards, Add New Keyboard, Coding Keyboard. Then long-press the globe key on any keyboard to switch to it.

About

Sbu Scanner QR Barcode

Features
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Point at a code and it reads by itself. Before a link opens, you see where it really goes. - Reads QR, Data Matrix, Aztec, PDF417 and EAN, UPC, Code 128, Code 39 barcodes and more - Torch, front camera and pinch to zoom - Reads a code from a photo too, without access to your library - Before a link opens: the site's name in large type, the full address, and warnings about http, numeric addresses, look-alike letters and shortened links - Wi-Fi: joins the network, or copies the password - Contacts, events, email, phone, texts and places: one tap to add or open them - Products: the barcode's number, to search on the web - History with search, favourites and folders, exportable as CSV - Make QR codes for links, text, Wi-Fi, contacts, email, phone, texts, places and events, EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, UPC-E, Code 128, Code 39, ITF-14 and Codabar barcodes, plus Aztec and PDF417 - Export the codes you make as PNG or SVG - Shortcuts, Siri and the Action button to open the camera right away - Sound and vibration, your choice - Light and dark, Dynamic Type, VoiceOver Sbu does one thing: it reads any code and shows you where it goes before you open it. No subscription. No in-app purchases. No account. No ads. No tracking. Data stays on your device.

Screenshots

Coding Keyboard4 screens
Sbu Scanner QR Barcode4 screens

Verdict

The call

Coding Keyboard and Sbu Scanner QR Barcode are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters โ€” price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Coding Keyboard versus Sbu Scanner QR Barcode: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCoding KeyboardSbu Scanner QR Barcode
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyโ€”Every 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.617.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size13 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChi On HoMatteo Giuditta

In-app purchases

None

Coding Keyboard

No in-app purchases

None

Sbu Scanner QR Barcode

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Coding Keyboard free?
Coding Keyboard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sbu Scanner QR Barcode free?
Sbu Scanner QR Barcode is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Coding Keyboard or Sbu Scanner QR Barcode have ads?
Neither Coding Keyboard nor Sbu Scanner QR Barcode shows ads.

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