Comparison

Tether vs Simple Viewer

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

Head to head
About

Tether

Seamlessly integrate your mobile device with your Linux desktop. Share clipboards, transfer files, and discover your desktop locally over Wi-Fi. All communication is secured with end-to-end encryption, with no cloud servers or accounts needed.

Highlights
  • Shared Clipboard Sync
  • Bi-directional File Transfers
  • Local Network Discovery
  • End-to-End Encryption
  • No Cloud Services Required
Features
Read full description

Tether is an app designed for Linux users running custom desktop environments (Wayland). It provides essential ecosystem integration between your mobile device and your workstation, operating entirely over your local Wi-Fi. There are no cloud servers, third-party services, or accounts required. All data is routed strictly on your local network and secured with end-to-end mTLS encryption. Features: • Shared Clipboard: Sync clipboard text bi-directionally between your iPhone and your Linux machine. • File Transfers: Send documents, photos, and archives directly to your desktop, or receive files from it. • Local Discovery: Uses mDNS/Bonjour to automatically find your desktop - no static IP configuration needed. • Encrypted Connections: Device pairing and all network traffic are secured via mutual TLS certificates. Note: Tether is the iOS client app. To use it, simply run the free, open-source Tether desktop application (available as a CLI or GTK app) on your Linux machine. Visit the project's repository to download it and get started.

About

Simple Viewer

Features
Read full description

Simple Viewer opens files. Quietly, quickly, and without asking for anything in return. Share any file from any app — Mail, Messages, Files, a browser, a cloud drive — and Simple Viewer renders it the way it was meant to be read. No account. No upload. Files stay on your device. It is designed for the moment when you just need to see what's inside a file. RENDERED WITH CARE • PDF with smooth scrolling and pinch-to-zoom • Markdown with typography that reads • Source code with precise syntax highlighting • JSON, XML, and YAML, pretty-printed • CSV and TSV, as readable tables • Excel spreadsheets (XLSX) • Word documents (DOCX) • ZIP archives, browsed inside • Plain text, logs, and scripts • x509 certificates BUILT FOR iPHONE AND iPAD • Open from any app via the iOS share sheet • Recent files, one tap away • Orientation-aware on iPad • Works offline. Always. NOTHING YOU DON'T NEED No sign-up. No subscription. No ads. No tracking. No cloud sync. No bloat. Just a clean surface for reading what you already have. Because simple is elegant.

Screenshots

Tether3 screens
Simple Viewer3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Tether at weekly against Simple Viewer's monthly. Simple Viewer's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.1). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tether ships an update weekly, Simple Viewer monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Tether versus Simple Viewer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTetherSimple Viewer
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS26.117.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZack BartelSTLink

In-app purchases

None

Tether

No in-app purchases

None

Simple Viewer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tether free?
Tether is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Simple Viewer free?
Simple Viewer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Tether or Simple Viewer have ads?
Neither Tether nor Simple Viewer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tether or Simple Viewer?
Tether ships an update weekly, and Simple Viewer monthly. Most recently, Tether was updated on October 1, 2026 and Simple Viewer on October 3, 2026.

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