Comparison

Hi,buddy vs Monish

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

Head to head
About

Hi,buddy

This app transforms your phone into a companion device for Claude Desktop, allowing you to monitor session status, approve requests, and receive important updates via Bluetooth. It eliminates the need for extra hardware, making it convenient for developers and makers.

Highlights
  • Live session status monitoring
  • Permission prompt approval
  • Haptic and sound feedback
  • No extra hardware needed
  • Designed for developers
Features
Read full description

Hi,buddy turns your phone into a Claude Hardware Buddy companion for Claude Desktop. Connect over Bluetooth and keep Claude's work visible in the palm of your hand. Hi,buddy acts as a BLE peripheral compatible with the Hardware Buddy flow, showing live session state, permission prompts, and feedback controls on the device you already carry. What Hi,buddy helps with: โ€ข See Claude status at a glance Track running and waiting sessions, current status, recent activity, and token signals from Claude Desktop. โ€ข Approve faster When Claude needs permission, Hi,buddy surfaces the request so you can approve once or deny from your phone. โ€ข Feel important changes Use haptics, sound, visual states, Live Activities, and notifications to notice waiting approvals and session changes. โ€ข No extra device required Try the Claude Buddy experience without setting up an ESP32 or M5StickC-style hardware accessory. โ€ข Made for makers and developers Hi,buddy is designed for people who keep Claude Desktop running while coding, shipping, testing, or tinkering. Important notes: Hi,buddy works with Claude Desktop's Hardware Buddy Bluetooth flow. For discovery, your device system Bluetooth name may need to start with "Claude". Bluetooth discovery and sensory feedback depend on foreground/background behavior.

About

Monish

Features
Read full description

Your agents, live on your lock screen. Paste one line into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, n8n or any script and it can send pushes, live progress and yes/no questions to your iPhone. No account, no SDK, nothing to install on your computer. Monish creates a private key on this iPhone. The line you paste carries it, and your agent reads the rest by itself. What lands on your iPhone Progress, live. A Live Activity on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island, updated in place: tests 412 of 440, step 3 of 5, a countdown. Your agent can add a Stop button. Questions. Your agent asks before it deploys, sends or spends. Tap Approve or Deny on the lock screen, or type a reply in the app. A question left unanswered expires as a no. Results. One notification when the work lands, with the figures that matter. Failures show in red. Numbers. Two to four figures, such as signups, revenue or tests passed, kept live on the lock screen if your agent wants. How it works 1. Install Monish. It creates a private key for this iPhone. 2. Copy the line from the app and paste it into your agent. 3. Your agent sends a first ping. From then on, it reaches you when it matters. Not just for code Ask your agent to watch a price and ping you when it drops, to brief you at 7 with meetings and weather, or to ask before it sends a reply to your landlord. If it can run a command, it can reach your iPhone. Quiet by default Agents follow a short guide that tells them to ping for results, failures and decisions, not for every step. A long run stays on one live card instead of twenty notifications. Quiet hours keep pings silent at night, and failures can still ring. Private by design No name, no email, no phone number. What your agents send is kept 48 hours on our server so the app can catch up on a missed notification, then deleted. Answers are kept 24 hours. Your feed lives on your iPhone. Anonymous analytics and crash reports only: no ads, no tracking. Free No subscription, no in-app purchase, no ads. Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, n8n, cron jobs, CI pipelines and any script that can run curl. Monish is an independent app, not affiliated with the makers of these tools. Requires iOS 17.2 or later. Live Activities in the Dynamic Island need an iPhone with a Dynamic Island. Support: monish.cc/support Privacy: monish.cc/privacy

Screenshots

Hi,buddy4 screens
Monish4 screens

Verdict

The call

Hi,buddy and Monish are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters โ€” price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them โ€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hi,buddy ships an update every 11 days, Monish every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Hi,buddy versus Monish: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHi,buddyMonish
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews0.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 11 daysEvery 6 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeโ€”
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better17.2
Further details โ€” not scored
Size17 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerๅธ† ๆŸฏMARIUS LABS

In-app purchases

None

Hi,buddy

No in-app purchases

None

Monish

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hi,buddy free?
Hi,buddy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Monish free?
Monish is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Hi,buddy or Monish have ads?
Neither Hi,buddy nor Monish shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hi,buddy or Monish?
Hi,buddy ships an update every 11 days, and Monish every 6 days. Most recently, Hi,buddy was updated on October 31, 2026 and Monish on November 10, 2026.

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