Comparison

Apperture vs ChibyooShell

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

Head to head
About

Apperture

Control a single Mac application on your iPhone with a full-screen, low-latency view. This app translates touch input naturally, allowing you to interact with Mac menus, type text, and transfer clipboard content securely. It prioritizes privacy with no accounts or cloud relay, operating solely over private networks.

Highlights
  • Mirror single Mac apps full-screen
  • Natural touch input translation
  • Full Mac menu bar control
  • Secure clipboard sharing
  • Private network connections
  • No account or cloud required
Features
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Apperture lets you see and control one Mac app right from your iPhone — 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 • Mirror the iOS Simulator and it feels native: touches map directly, and rotating your phone rotates the simulated app. • Keep working while your Mac builds and runs. Perfect for agent-assisted coding — 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. • Stream any Xcode-launched Mac app with its real window chrome intact. FULL CONTROL, NOT JUST A VIEW • Tap, drag, long-press for right-click, two-finger scroll — touch input translated naturally to the Mac. • Type with the iPhone keyboard, including full Unicode text entry. • Browse and run the Mac app's real menu bar commands from a searchable, touch-friendly palette. • Send clipboard text securely between devices. • Fit-width, fit-height, and readable-zoom layout modes in portrait and landscape. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No accounts. No cloud relay. Your screen never touches our servers. • Pairing starts with a short-lived QR code on your Mac, and the Mac owner must explicitly approve every phone. • Connections work only over private networks — your Wi-Fi or your own VPN such as Tailscale. Public endpoints are rejected by design. • Every session is encrypted. Pairing trust is stored in the device Keychain and never synced to the cloud. • Review or revoke paired devices anytime. The Mac keeps a local 30-day session history — device, time, and app names only, never keystrokes or screen contents. GOOD TO KNOW • 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. • Away from home, you'll need a VPN to reach your Mac — Tailscale takes about five minutes to set up, works beautifully, and is free for personal use. • 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. • Apperture streams one selected window at a time — that focus is the point. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

ChibyooShell

Features
Read full description

Professional SSH client and server monitor. Terminal, SFTP, Docker management and real-time metrics — all in one app. ChibyooShell — powerful SSH client and server monitoring tool for iOS professionals. CHIBYOO PRO Unlock all features: — Unlimited servers — Full access to all features Available as monthly, yearly or lifetime subscription. TERMINAL & SSH — Full SSH terminal with xterm-256color support — Ed25519, RSA, ECDSA key authentication — Password and key-based login — SSH key generation and management — Fira Code, Menlo, SF Mono font support SERVER MONITORING — Real-time CPU, RAM, disk and network metrics — Per-core CPU usage — Network interface stats with TX/RX graphs — Disk I/O monitoring — Active process list — Server uptime and load average SFTP FILE MANAGER — Browse, upload and download files — Create, rename, delete files and folders — Built-in text editor — File permissions (chmod) — Quick Look preview DOCKER & PODMAN — Container list with real-time metrics — Start, stop, restart, remove containers — Container log viewer — Per-container CPU and memory usage SECURITY — All credentials stored in iOS Keychain — Face ID / Touch ID protection — SSH host key verification (TOFU) — Optional iCloud sync via CloudKit PORT FORWARDING — Local port forwarding via SSH tunnel CONNECTIVITY — Citadel (modern SSH) + LibSSH2 fallback — Auto-reconnect — 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 update cadence: Apperture at monthly against ChibyooShell's every 2 months. 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. Apperture sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and ChibyooShell sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Apperture ships an update monthly, ChibyooShell every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Apperture versus ChibyooShell: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAppertureChibyooShell
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.017.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLAND MK 1Aleksandr Kolesnikov

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Apperture

One-time1
  • Early Adopter$24.99
5 purchases

ChibyooShell

Subscriptions3
  • ChibyooShell Pro — Monthly$2.991 Month
  • ChibyooShell Plus — Yearly$5.991 Year
  • ChibyooShell Pro — Yearly7 Days trial$17.991 Year
One-time2
  • ChibyooShell Plus — Lifetime$17.99
  • ChibyooShell Pro — Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is Apperture free?
Apperture is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ChibyooShell free?
ChibyooShell is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Apperture or ChibyooShell have ads?
Neither Apperture nor ChibyooShell shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Apperture or ChibyooShell?
Apperture ships an update monthly, and ChibyooShell every 2 months. Most recently, Apperture was updated on November 5, 2026 and ChibyooShell on October 31, 2026.

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