Comparison

GridBar vs PC Controller

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

Head to head
About

GridBar

Features
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Your boards. Now in your pocket. GridBar on the Mac is a board of keys you summon with a hotkey. This is the same board on your iPhone and iPad — your keys, in the order you built them, one tap away. WHAT A TAP DOES Links open. Calls dial. Mails start with the subject already filled in. Apple Shortcuts run. One tap, one thing, no menu diving. YOUR FIRST BOARD ARRIVES ON ITS OWN Sync is no longer Pro-only. The first board you built on the Mac mirrors here without Pro, so this app opens on your own keys instead of an empty grid. Pro carries every further board, the stash and your workspaces. WHAT STAYS AT THE DESK App launches, file paths, workspaces and keystrokes have no phone equivalent. Those keys keep their place in the grid but sit dimmed with a Mac badge, so you always know what travels and what waits at the desk. THE STASH COMES ALONG Copy something on the Mac and it is here seconds later. Tap text to copy it, tap a link to open it, share an image straight out of the row. Paste on the phone and it is back on the desk when you sit down. BUILD RIGHT HERE Add link, call, mail and Shortcut keys on the phone — name, color, done. They sync back to every Mac you own. ASK THE SYSTEM Every key the phone can fire is something the system understands. Run it from the Shortcuts app, ask Siri, or start it from Spotlight without opening GridBar first. A BOARD PER CONTEXT Work, home, studio. Switch from the toolbar, pull down to fetch the latest from iCloud. SYNC YOU CAN TRUST Boards and stash mirror between Mac, iPhone and iPad through your own iCloud account. Backups before every merge, newest edit wins, and a message in plain language if anything ever cannot sync. WORKS ON ITS OWN No Mac required to start. Build a board here, and it is waiting when you install GridBar on the desk. GRIDBAR PRO One unlock lifts every cap: boards and keys without limit, routines, Shortcut keys, and sync for every board and the stash. It covers Mac and iOS together. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Native Swift. No telemetry, no account, no servers of ours. Your boards live on your devices and in your iCloud. Made by Balane. Feedback: contact@balane.app Support: support@balane.tech Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

PC Controller

Features
Read full description

PC Controller turns your iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch into a remote control for your Windows PC or Mac. Move the mouse, type, change the volume, switch monitors, move files and put the computer to sleep, all over your own Wi-Fi, with no cloud, no account and nothing to sign up for. Install the free agent on your computer, scan the QR code it shows, and you're paired. The app also lists the computers it finds on your network, so there's nothing to type. TRACKPAD AND KEYBOARD • A full-screen trackpad: move, tap, two-finger right-click, scroll, drag and pinch to zoom • Type with the iPhone keyboard, emoji and dictation included • An extended keypad with the keys a phone doesn't have: arrows, Esc, Tab, Home, End, Delete, Ctrl, Alt and Win • Build your own shortcuts and fire any key combination with one tap • On Windows it all works on the login screen too, before anyone has signed in POWER • Lock, sleep, wake, shut down, restart or log off • Wake a sleeping PC over Wake-on-LAN, and let the app set up the PC so it wakes from a full shutdown too • Schedule it: "Sleep in 30 minutes" keeps counting down on the computer after you've left, with a live countdown on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island • Set your home once and the phone can wake the PC as you arrive and lock it as you leave, decided entirely on the device SOUND AND MEDIA • Master volume and mute, plus a mixer with its own slider for every app and every output device • Switch the default speaker, and mute the microphone for every app at once • See what's playing, with album art, a scrubber and transport controls that drive Spotify, browsers and any other player SCREENS • Turn each monitor on or off, choose the primary, and set brightness, resolution and refresh rate • Save a display arrangement and bring it back with one tap • Grab a screenshot of any display and save it to Photos or share it FILES AND CLIPBOARD • Browse the computer's folders and drives, download files with live progress, then preview, share or save them • Send photos, videos and files to the computer, from the app or straight from the share sheet in any other app • Push the phone's clipboard to the PC or pull the PC's to the phone, text or image • Send a link and it opens in the computer's browser AND MORE • Bluetooth: see what's paired and connected, then connect, disconnect, scan and pair • Vitals: CPU, memory, disk, battery, uptime and the processes using the most memory, with a swipe to end one • Apps: see what's open on the computer, bring one forward, minimize or close it • Siri: "Hey Siri, lock my PC", plus Home Screen, Lock Screen and Control Center buttons for Lock, Wake, Mute and Mute Mic • Apple Watch: trackpad, media, power, monitors, mixer, shortcuts and clipboard on your wrist, and it finds the PC on its own when the phone isn't around • iPad: a dashboard that puts the whole machine on one screen • Available in 15 languages PRIVATE BY DESIGN There is no server. The phone and watch talk directly to the agent on your computer over your Wi-Fi, VPN or Bluetooth, and the pairing token lives in your Keychain. PC Controller collects nothing: no analytics, no telemetry, no account. WHAT YOU NEED The free PC Controller agent, for Windows 11 or macOS 13 and later, from https://pccontroller.rymanit.com. The phone and the computer must be on the same network, or connected through a VPN or Bluetooth. PRICING Every feature is free for 7 days, with no card up front. After that, choose PC Controller Pro — Monthly (USD 0.99 per month), PC Controller Pro — Yearly (USD 8.99 per year) or PC Controller Pro — Lifetime, a one-time purchase (USD 19.99). Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and can be managed in your App Store account settings. Privacy policy: https://pccontroller.rymanit.com/privacy.html Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

GridBar2 screens
PC Controller4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: PC Controller at 16.0 against GridBar's 18.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. GridBar sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and PC Controller sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GridBar ships an update every 2 weeks, PC Controller weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference Ā· 5 level
GridBar versus PC Controller: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGridBarPC Controller
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS18.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJonas HoettlerMalkane

In-app purchases

1 purchases

GridBar

One-time1
  • GridBar Pro$8.99
3 purchases

PC Controller

Subscriptions2
  • PC Controller Pro — Monthly$1.991 Month
  • PC Controller Pro — Yearly$11.991 Year
One-time1
  • PC Controller Pro — Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is GridBar free?
GridBar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PC Controller free?
PC Controller is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do GridBar or PC Controller have ads?
Neither GridBar nor PC Controller shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GridBar or PC Controller?
GridBar ships an update every 2 weeks, and PC Controller weekly. Most recently, GridBar was updated on September 28, 2026 and PC Controller on October 11, 2026.

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