ShellMan vs Pi
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ShellMan
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ShellMan is the most powerful local-network controller for your Shelly Gen 2, Gen 3, and Gen 4 smart home devices. No cloud. No subscription. Pure local control. Disclaimer: This app is an independent, unofficial third-party tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or in any way connected to Allterco Robotics Ltd. or its subsidiaries. "Shelly®" is a registered trademark of Allterco Robotics Ltd. All product names, logos, and brands mentioned are property of their respective owners and are used solely for identification purposes. This app communicates with devices using their publicly documented, open JSON-RPC 2.0 API. DISCOVER YOUR DEVICES • Auto-discover devices instantly via mDNS — no IP addresses needed • Scan your entire subnet to find every Shelly on your network • Add devices manually by entering their IP address CONTROL EVERYTHING • Turn switches on/off with a single tap • Dim lights to the perfect level • Adjust colour temperature and RGB colour for smart bulbs • Open, close, and position covers and blinds with precision REAL-TIME MONITORING • Live status updates via WebSocket — see your devices react in real time • Energy dashboard with power, voltage, current, and consumption data • Sensor readings: temperature, humidity, flood, smoke, motion, and illuminance MANAGE YOUR DEVICES • View firmware versions and update devices over the air • Batch-update multiple devices at once • Create and manage schedules directly on each device • Reboot or factory-reset devices when needed WORKS WITH YOUR HOME • Full support for password-protected devices (SHA-256 Digest authentication) • Automatic reconnection if a device drops off the network • Dark mode, light mode, and system theme support • Available in English, Deutsch, Français, Español, 䏿–‡, and 日本語 Compatible with all Shelly Gen 2, Gen 3, and Gen 4 devices. Gen 1 devices are not supported.
Pi
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Your Pi-hole, in your pocket. Pi-hole Remote finds the Pi-hole on your network and puts it under your thumb — the blocking switch, the numbers, and the log of everything your devices ask for. No IP address to hunt down, no account to create, and nothing about you leaves your phone. Set up in seconds Tap once. The app sweeps your network, finds your Pi-hole, and all that's left is your password. If it lives somewhere unusual — a custom port, HTTPS with a self-signed certificate, a path behind a reverse proxy — you can type the address in yourself. Pause blocking, then forget about it Something won't load? Pause for thirty seconds, five minutes, an hour — and it turns itself back on. No more discovering a week later that protection has been off since Tuesday. See what your network is really asking for Every query, as it happens: which device asked, which domain, and whether it was blocked, cached or forwarded. Search it, filter it, and find out why that one app is so chatty. Block or allow with a swipe An ad slipped through? Swipe the row and it's blocked. A site broken by the blocklist? Swipe and it's allowed. The rule is written straight to your Pi-hole, with one tap to undo it if you swiped the wrong row. Your lists, your rules Check your adlists, run a Gravity update, and manage the allow and deny rules you've made — flip one to the other side or remove it, all from the phone. Built to be private No account. No analytics, no advertising, no third-party SDKs of any kind. Your Pi-hole's password lives in the iOS Keychain on your device, and your DNS data goes from your Pi-hole to your screen and nowhere else. There is no server of ours for it to sit on. == What's inside: - Automatic discovery — no IP address needed - Manual entry for custom ports, HTTPS, self-signed certificates and reverse-proxy paths - Pause blocking for 30 seconds, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or until you switch it back on - Live counters and a 24-hour chart of queries, blocked, and block rate - Top blocked domains, top allowed domains, top clients, and upstream servers - Full query log with search and filtering by blocked or allowed - Swipe any query to allow or block that domain, with undo - View, flip and remove your own allow and deny rules - Adlists overview and one-tap Gravity update - Unlimited Pi-hole instances, switched instantly - App Password and two-factor authentication supported - Designed for dark mode, with full VoiceOver support - Available in 15 languages == Note: Pi-hole Remote is a remote control. It needs a working Pi-hole, version 6.0 or newer, running on your own network — the app does not block anything by itself. Pi-hole® is a registered trademark of Pi-hole LLC. This is an independent third-party app that uses the Pi-hole API, and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Pi-hole project. Learn more at https://pi-hole.net/ Full access is offered as an auto-renewing subscription: weekly, including a 7-day free trial for new subscribers, or yearly. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when a subscription is purchased. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ShellMan at none against Pi's 2. ShellMan also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, 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. Pi sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. ShellMan asks for nothing beyond the download.
ShellMan ships an update fortnightly, Pi every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ShellMan | Pi |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 16 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lars Roth | MNB DIGITAL LLC |
In-app purchases
ShellMan
No in-app purchases
Pi
- Pi-hole Remote Premium7 Days trial$4.997 Days
- Pi-hole Remote Premium$19.991 Year









