Comparison

Apperture vs ChibyooShell

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

Head to head
About

Apperture

Features
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Apperture lets you see and control one Mac app right from your iPhone โ€” not your whole desktop. Apperture mirrors just the app that matters, full-screen on your phone, so it feels like the app is running in your hand. Traditional screen sharing puts a 27-inch desktop on a 6-inch screen and makes you pan, zoom, and hunt for windows. Apperture takes the opposite approach: pick a single running Mac app and it fills your iPhone with a sharp, low-latency live view sized for the screen you're actually holding. BUILT FOR DEVELOPERS โ€ข Mirror the iOS Simulator and it feels native: touches map directly, and rotating your phone rotates the simulated app. โ€ข Keep working while your Mac builds and runs. Perfect for agent-assisted coding โ€” let Claude Code or your favorite agent build and launch the app on your Mac, then review and interact with the result from anywhere in the house. โ€ข Stream any Xcode-launched Mac app with its real window chrome intact. FULL CONTROL, NOT JUST A VIEW โ€ข Tap, drag, long-press for right-click, two-finger scroll โ€” touch input translated naturally to the Mac. โ€ข Type with the iPhone keyboard, including full Unicode text entry. โ€ข Browse and run the Mac app's real menu bar commands from a searchable, touch-friendly palette. โ€ข Send clipboard text securely between devices. โ€ข Fit-width, fit-height, and readable-zoom layout modes in portrait and landscape. PRIVATE BY DESIGN โ€ข No accounts. No cloud relay. Your screen never touches our servers. โ€ข Pairing starts with a short-lived QR code on your Mac, and the Mac owner must explicitly approve every phone. โ€ข Connections work only over private networks โ€” your Wi-Fi or your own VPN such as Tailscale. Public endpoints are rejected by design. โ€ข Every session is encrypted. Pairing trust is stored in the device Keychain and never synced to the cloud. โ€ข Review or revoke paired devices anytime. The Mac keeps a local 30-day session history โ€” device, time, and app names only, never keystrokes or screen contents. GOOD TO KNOW โ€ข Apperture requires the free companion Mac app from runapperture.com. It's notarized by Apple and distributed directly because it uses Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions the Mac App Store doesn't allow. โ€ข Away from home, you'll need a VPN to reach your Mac โ€” Tailscale takes about five minutes to set up, works beautifully, and is free for personal use. โ€ข Your Mac does all the work, so it needs to be on, awake, and logged in. Apperture is a viewer and controller for your own Mac, not a way to run Mac apps on iPhone. โ€ข Apperture streams one selected window at a time โ€” that focus is the point. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

ChibyooShell

Features
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Professional SSH client and server monitor. Terminal, SFTP, Docker management and real-time metrics โ€” all in one app. ChibyooShell โ€” powerful SSH client and server monitoring tool for iOS professionals. CHIBYOO PRO Unlock all features: โ€” Unlimited servers โ€” Full access to all features Available as monthly, yearly or lifetime subscription. TERMINAL & SSH โ€” Full SSH terminal with xterm-256color support โ€” Ed25519, RSA, ECDSA key authentication โ€” Password and key-based login โ€” SSH key generation and management โ€” Fira Code, Menlo, SF Mono font support SERVER MONITORING โ€” Real-time CPU, RAM, disk and network metrics โ€” Per-core CPU usage โ€” Network interface stats with TX/RX graphs โ€” Disk I/O monitoring โ€” Active process list โ€” Server uptime and load average SFTP FILE MANAGER โ€” Browse, upload and download files โ€” Create, rename, delete files and folders โ€” Built-in text editor โ€” File permissions (chmod) โ€” Quick Look preview DOCKER & PODMAN โ€” Container list with real-time metrics โ€” Start, stop, restart, remove containers โ€” Container log viewer โ€” Per-container CPU and memory usage SECURITY โ€” All credentials stored in iOS Keychain โ€” Face ID / Touch ID protection โ€” SSH host key verification (TOFU) โ€” Optional iCloud sync via CloudKit PORT FORWARDING โ€” Local port forwarding via SSH tunnel CONNECTIVITY โ€” Citadel (modern SSH) + LibSSH2 fallback โ€” Auto-reconnect โ€” Configurable connection timeout Terms of Use: https://chibyoo.com/terms-chibyooshell/ Privacy Policy: https://chibyoo.com/privacy-policy-chibyooshell/

Screenshots

Apperture4 screens
ChibyooShell4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ChibyooShell at none against Apperture's 1. Apperture's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Apperture sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ChibyooShell asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Apperture ships an update every 3 weeks, ChibyooShell every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Apperture versus ChibyooShell: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAppertureChibyooShell
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks โ€” betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPad โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.017.6 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size11 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLAND MK 1Aleksandr Kolesnikov

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Apperture

One-time1
  • Early Adopter$24.99
None

ChibyooShell

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Apperture free?
Apperture is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ChibyooShell free?
ChibyooShell is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Apperture or ChibyooShell have ads?
Neither Apperture nor ChibyooShell shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Apperture or ChibyooShell?
Apperture ships an update every 3 weeks, and ChibyooShell every 2 months. Most recently, Apperture was updated on October 10, 2026 and ChibyooShell on October 7, 2026.

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