JS Shell vs Kodo
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
JS Shell
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JS Shell is a pocket-sized developer console that lets you write, run, and test web code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) directly on iOS and macOS. No Xcode, no laptop, no remote server. Paste a page in, tap run, and it loads in a real WKWebView served from a local HTTP origin. A real secure-context origin on iOS, so modern web APIs — from WebRTC to Geolocation — behave the way they should. KEY FEATURES Local HTTP server. An in-process server bound to the loopback interface. Provides a real secure-context origin so modern Web APIs work out of the box. Not reachable from outside the device. JavaScript REPL. A full JavaScript runtime backed by JavaScriptCore. Type js to enter the REPL. console.log, fetch, setTimeout, setInterval, Promises, and async await are all available. Real Promises, real microtasks, real JSON parsing, real URL parsing. Geolocation support. Test navigator.geolocation on a real iOS device. Permissions are handled by the system, just like Safari. Useful for validating location-based web features without deploying to a server. Persistent file system. Files you paste live in your Documents directory and survive app restarts. Each downloaded package gets its own directory. iCloud backup picks them up like any other app data. SQLite key-value store. A real B-tree on disk via SQLite. Read and write from your pages with same-origin fetch. No CORS configuration required. curl. A subset of curl built on URLSession. The flags X, H, d, i, I, o, A, m, v are supported. Pretty-prints JSON responses and saves binary blobs to the virtual filesystem. Archive extraction. In-process tar, tar.gz, tgz, gz, and zip extraction. No shelling out. Download a release tarball with curl, extract it, and run it immediately. Voice commands. Tap the mic, speak a command. Apple Speech framework converts speech to text. Auto-submits on detected silence. Voice commands are saved to the scripts list for one-tap re-run. Saved scripts. Save any sequence of commands as a named script. One-tap to re-run later. Voice-recognized commands are auto-saved to the scripts list for instant replay. Mac Catalyst support. Runs natively on macOS as a Mac Catalyst app. Multi-window, resizable, fullscreen-capable. The same code that runs on your iPhone runs on your Mac. DESIGNED FOR DEVELOPERS JS Shell is a tool for people who want to test web code on a real iOS device without installing Xcode, syncing files, or setting up a tunnel. It is especially useful for: Testing geolocation, camera, and microphone permission flows on iOS. Validating fetch, CORS, and cookie behavior on a real iPhone. Building small offline web tools that need persistent state. Running JavaScript snippets without opening Safari Inspector. Debugging mobile rendering edge cases on the device itself. PRIVACY JS Shell does not collect any user data. There is no telemetry, no ads, no analytics, no third-party SDKs, no remote configuration. Everything you type, paste, or download stays on your device. The local HTTP server only listens on the loopback interface and is not reachable from any network. The app forwards camera, microphone, speech recognition, and location permissions to web pages you load, exactly like Safari does on macOS. The first time a page tries to use them, iOS shows the standard system permission prompt. The first time a page tries to use them, iOS shows the standard system permission prompt.
Kodo
This app allows you to create and edit files using offline AI agents directly on your device. It provides a coding copilot, project organization tools, and the ability to run C/C++ and Python code. Connect to servers via SSH, transfer files, and preview web content locally.
- Offline AI code generation and editing
- Coding copilot with inline completions
- Project organization and file management
- Integrated C/C++ and Python runtimes
- Local HTTP server with Live Reload
- SSH connectivity for remote servers
- Support for 15 main programming languages
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YOUR PROJECT. YOUR DEVICE. YOUR AI. Ask offline AI agents to create and edit files across your projects. Review the differences and choose which changes to apply. Kodo brings your code and tools together on iPhone and iPad, without a Kodo account. Chat with AI using file and project context, get explanations and review code. Your coding copilot offers inline AI completions while you write. Organize code, folders, resources and documents, including authorized Files and iCloud locations. Tabs, find and replace, snippets, Emmet, formatting, drafts, saved versions, CSV and PDF tools keep work moving. Prepare technical documentation, CycloneDX BOM/SBOM inventories and editable CRA dossiers for requirements, security, support, maintenance and test evidence. Run C and C++ offline with the included Clang toolchain. Run Python with CPython/Pyodide WebAssembly, the standard library, interactive input and multi-file projects. Use the built-in terminal, Run, Stop and saved configurations. No extra runtime downloads. Start from templates or your HTML, CSS and JavaScript files. The local HTTP server offers Live Reload on save and sharing over the same Wi-Fi using links or QR codes. On iPad, code beside the preview or go full screen; on iPhone, use Safari inside Kodo. HTML and Markdown previews are included. Connect to your servers with SSH, use the remote terminal and run npm, Python or C/C++ with the tools installed there. Transfer files with SFTP/FTP and monitor server resources. Download GitHub repositories, update linked copies and upload files. Explore SQLite and query PostgreSQL. 15 main languages, plus 150 other languages and formats: 165 in the editor. Python, C, C++, Swift, JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, Java, PHP, Go, Rust, C#, Kotlin, SQL. AI models: Qwen2.5-Coder, Qwen2.5, Qwen3, Qwen3.5, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen, Gemma 3, Phi 3.5, Phi 4 mini, Mistral 7B, Granite 3.3, SmolLM2, Liquid LFM2.5, Spark-X2.5. Models download on request and then work offline. Compatibility, speed and memory requirements depend on the model and device. 51 interface languages and regional variants: Italiano, English (US), English (UK), English (Australia), English (Canada), Français (France), Français (Canada), Deutsch, Español (España), Español (México), Português (Portugal), Português (Brasil), Nederlands, 日本語, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 한국어, Русский, Українська, Türkçe, Polski, Română, Ελληνικά, हिन्दी, Bahasa Indonesia, ไทย, עברית, فارسی, العربية, Tiếng Việt, Svenska, Dansk, Čeština, Suomi, Norsk bokmål, Català, Hrvatski, Magyar, Bahasa Melayu, Slovenčina, Slovenščina, বাংলা, ગુજરાતી, ಕನ್ನಡ, മലയാളം, मराठी, ଓଡ଼ିଆ, ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, தமிழ், తెలుగు, اردو. Run Lua scripts offline from the editor or terminal and explore two sample projects. Search progressively by name, path, and content. Turn off inline AI suggestions when you want and choose a custom accent color. Settings search, the SQL editor, and fullscreen web preview have also been improved. There are also targeted editor optimizations and additional checks for local changes during GitHub updates. Lua: Runs scripts offline in an isolated environment. Enter input before running. Network access, files and external modules are unavailable.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is chart position: Kodo at #181 against JS Shell's unranked. 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | JS Shell | Kodo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.7 (12 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 12 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Every 8 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | #181 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 133 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jowb Inc. | THEODOR TIBERIUS STEFAN |
In-app purchases
JS Shell
No in-app purchases
Kodo
No in-app purchases









