OnDevice vs Tapproval
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OnDevice
This app provides a local AI workbench for your iPhone, running open-source language and vision models entirely on-device. Features include live camera captioning, hands-free voice conversation, and code assistance with various models. It prioritizes privacy with no servers, API keys, or telemetry.
- On-device LLM and VLM execution
- Live camera captioning
- Hands-free voice conversation
- Code assistant with multiple models
- Document scanner and live OCR
- Model benchmarking and A/B comparison
- Mac pairing for inference server
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OnDevice is a local-first AI studio for iPhone. Run compatible language, vision, speech, and image models on your device. Browse models and choose what to download. Model size, memory use, and speed depend on your hardware. CHAT AND CREATE Ask questions, write, work with code, save snippets, and export conversations. Use camera or photo input with a compatible vision model, or use built-in OCR without downloading a vision model. Voice conversations use local Apple speech by default, with optional downloadable neural voices. Compatible image models support local image generation, which can be restricted with a parental PIN. YOU CHOOSE THE CONNECTIONS Local inference uses installed models. Network features are optional: model discovery and downloads, web search, paired Mac tools, a local API, and iCloud sync. Web providers may receive the queries or content you choose to send and may require their own API account. No app account is required for local use; there is no analytics SDK. REQUIREMENTS Requires iOS 18 or later. Downloadable models need storage and sufficient available memory. The app may pause or refuse heavy workloads when the device is too hot or memory is low. Model compatibility and performance vary by device.
Tapproval
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Tapproval is for Claude Code: a remote control for it on your Apple Watch. When the agent working on your computer asks permission — run this command? change this file? — the question lands on your wrist, in the session that asked, and a tap answers it. No phone out of the pocket, no walk back to the desk. Made for vibe coding: start Claude Code on a task, walk away, and keep it going from your wrist — on the sofa, on a walk, or in a meeting. WHAT IT DOES • Approve or deny in the session that asked, right under its conversation, or, for lower-risk prompts, straight from the alert • Answer Claude's questions and plans with the same choices as on your computer, picking more than one where Claude allows it • Your sessions are the first screen, live and grouped by what they need: which one needs a tap, which one is working, and the project each belongs to • Read the conversation the way your phone shows it, with bold, lists and plans laid out, and reply from the watch: "Proceed", "What's left?", "/code-review", or anything you dictate • Send a message and it reaches the session open on your Mac: its terminal and the Claude app on your phone show it, with the answer. What you type there shows on the watch too • With the app closed, the watch still buzzes for a card from a Mac, through your own iCloud • See your day: what was handled without you, and what you decided NOTHING TO CONFIGURE The watch finds your computer by itself — on your home Wi-Fi, or away from home through a private travel address. No account, no server of ours: your prompts and conversations stay on your own machines and in your own iCloud. WHAT YOU NEED A computer running Claude Code (any Mac or Linux machine) with the free, open-source helper installed — one command, then forget it. Curious first? The built-in demo shows the whole flow without any setup. Your first 100 answers are free. After that, one purchase of $5 unlocks unlimited answers for good. There is no subscription and no account. Reading sessions and the day's activity stays free, and a prompt you don't answer from the wrist still appears on your computer as usual, so nothing is ever blocked. An optional $1 coffee for the developer is there too.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: OnDevice at none against Tapproval's 2. Tapproval's advantage is device support (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence and ads 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. Tapproval sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. OnDevice asks for nothing beyond the download.
OnDevice ships an update every 3 days, Tapproval every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | OnDevice | Tapproval |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 199 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MESUT CAN YAGCI | Marc Dines |
In-app purchases
OnDevice
No in-app purchases
Tapproval
- Coffee for the developer$1.00
- Unlock Forever$5.00









