Comparison

Tether vs codetime.dev

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

codetime.dev

Features
Read full description

Code Time turns the time you spend in your editor into clear charts and totals. See your day at a glance: total coding hours, your most productive time of day, which languages you used, and which projects you worked on. Look back: 7-day, 30-day, 90-day, and yearly trends. Compare days. See your active streak. Track AI: if you use Claude Code, Cursor, or other AI assistants, Code Time pulls in token usage, sessions, tool calls, and AI-assisted code changes — so you can see how much your work is actually augmented by AI. Home screen widgets: Today's coding time, this year's activity heatmap, top languages, and recent AI usage — all updating throughout the day. Sources: Code Time tracks via official editor plugins for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, plus an agent CLI for terminal-based AI assistants. The mobile app is a read-only companion to your dashboard at codetime.dev. Privacy: We only store anonymized telemetry — coding times, project names, and language breakdowns. We never read your code. Full details at codetime.dev/privacy. Free to use. Sign in with Apple, Google, or GitHub.

Screenshots

Tether3 screens
codetime.dev4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: codetime.dev at 4 against Tether's 1. codetime.dev also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.1). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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, codetime.dev every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Tether versus codetime.dev: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTethercodetime.dev
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS26.118.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZack Bartel建琦 潘

In-app purchases

None

Tether

No in-app purchases

None

codetime.dev

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tether free?
Tether is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is codetime.dev free?
codetime.dev is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Tether or codetime.dev have ads?
Neither Tether nor codetime.dev shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tether or codetime.dev?
Tether ships an update weekly, and codetime.dev every 4 days. Most recently, Tether was updated on October 1, 2026 and codetime.dev on October 14, 2026.

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