Codex Live Bar vs Vays
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Codex Live Bar
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Keep Codex limits visible while you work. Codex Live Bar shows session, weekly, and model-specific usage in a focused Live Activity on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Create two private Shortcuts automations and the Live Activity can appear when ChatGPT opens and disappear when it closes. Refresh from the app, Shortcuts, or the Live Activity itself. Everything runs on your device. Authentication tokens stay in the iOS Keychain, usage is fetched directly from OpenAI, and there are no analytics, ads, tracking, accounts, or developer servers. Codex Live Bar is an independent client and is not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAI. The app relies on an undocumented OpenAI endpoint that may change.
Vays
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Your AI writes Markdown all day. Now you can read it anywhere. VAYS MD is a native iPhone and iPad reader and editor for .md files ā READMEs, specs, meeting notes, transcripts. Open a file and read it like a document, with real typography, not source code. No cloud in the middle. Nothing leaves your device. READ ⢠GitHub Flavored Markdown: tables, task lists, strikethrough ⢠Callout cards ā GitHub [!NOTE] / [!TIP] / [!WARNING] and Obsidian styles ⢠Display math typeset natively ā no web view ⢠shields.io badges drawn natively, front-matter shown as a tidy card ⢠Footnotes become superscripts with gathered definitions ⢠Mermaid blocks appear as clean code cards (full diagram rendering is on the roadmap) ⢠Dark mode tuned for night reading WRITE ⢠Source editor with Markdown highlighting ⢠Autosave straight back to the file ā no export dance ⢠Works with the Files app: iCloud Drive, On My iPhone, and any provider PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No account. No analytics. No network requests. Your documents stay in your storage, exactly where they were. BETTER TOGETHER WITH THE MAC APP VAYS MD Reader for Mac adds a folder library, Mermaid diagrams rendered offline, a visual diagram creator, QuickLook, PDF export and Claude Code integration. Same design, same privacy. PART OF THE VAYS FAMILY From the maker of Vays, the private voice-note app. Record on the go, read the transcript beautifully. Built by a solo developer. Every feedback email is read.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Vays at 17.0 against Codex Live Bar's 26.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Codex Live Bar | Vays |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | ā | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bohdan Podvirnyi | ARVIND JUNEJA OUMM |
In-app purchases
Codex Live Bar
No in-app purchases
Vays
No in-app purchases









