Comparison

Drover vs Runline

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

Head to head
About

Drover

Supervise AI coding agents running on your computer directly from your phone. View sessions as a chat, interact with prompts via buttons, and receive notifications when agents need your input. Connects directly via SSH with no intermediary servers.

Highlights
  • Supervise AI coding agents
  • View sessions as chat
  • Interact with prompts via buttons
  • Receive agent status notifications
  • Direct SSH connection
  • Voice dictation
  • Attach photos to agents
Features
Read full description

Drover is a mobile client for the AI coding agents you run under Herdr on your own computer. It turns them into something you can supervise from your phone. It is not a mobile terminal. Drover speaks the agent's language: it renders a running session as a readable chat, turns permission prompts into buttons you can tap, and tells you the moment an agent is waiting on you. NO SERVER IN BETWEEN Drover connects straight from your device to your own machine over SSH. There is no service in the middle. Your transcripts, your commands and your code go to your machine — the developer of this app cannot see them. The voice assistant is an experimental, opt-in exception: it sends to Google, not to the developer, after you accept its disclosure. WHAT YOU CAN DO • See every agent and its status at a glance — waiting for you, working, done • Read the session as a chat, with Markdown, syntax-highlighted code and diffs • Answer an agent's permission prompt by tapping a button instead of typing into a raw terminal pane • Send follow-up instructions, cycle the agent's mode, or dictate by voice • Talk to an agent hands-free with the experimental voice assistant — launch it, send it a message, or answer its question, and hear back what's happening • Attach a photo from your camera or library for the agent to look at • Get a notification the moment an agent is blocked and needs you • Switch between several machines, or watch them all in one list TRY IT WITH NO SETUP Tap "Try the demo" on the first screen. It runs a scripted session entirely on your device, with no host and no connection, so you can see how Drover works before setting anything up. WHAT YOU NEED Drover is a client for a machine you already own. To use it for real you need a computer running Herdr (herdr.dev) with your coding agents in it, SSH access to that machine with key-based authentication, and Herdr 0.8.0 or newer. PRIVACY Dictation runs entirely on your device — Drover will not fa The experimental voice assistant is different: it asks for your consent before first use, and while a voice session is running your speech transcripts, agent context and message drafts are sent to Google's Gemini. Notifications carry a fixed message and never any of your t key is stored in the iOS Keychain and never leaves your device. Drover is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Herdr project, Anthropic, OpenAI, or GitHu certified by any of them.

About

Runline

Control AI coding agents on your Mac remotely from your iPhone. Assign tasks, answer prompts, and monitor progress without needing to be at your computer. Your code remains secure on your machine.

Highlights
  • Remote AI coding agent control
  • Assign tasks and answer prompts
  • Monitor progress live
  • Voice input and model switching
  • Secure code on your Mac
  • Notifications for agent needs
Features
Read full description

Runline connects the AI coding agents running on your Mac — Claude Code, Codex, Kimi Code and more — to your iPhone: assign work, answer questions and watch progress without being at the computer. It runs, you walk away Start a session on your Mac, close the lid, leave. The task keeps running on your own machine while your phone streams every step. One sentence is one task "Make the retry exponential, five attempts max" — send it and the agent takes it from there. Voice input works too, and you can switch models and permission modes from the phone. It asks, you answer on the phone When the agent needs approval or wants you to pick between proposals, the notification carries the options. One tap and the turn resumes. The Dynamic Island shows the live session state and the tool currently running. See exactly what changed Every turn ends with a summary, and each tool call can be inspected. Read first, then decide whether it continues. Your code never leaves your Mac Repositories and files stay on your own machine; Runline relays session messages only. Permissions are controlled on the Mac, and a lost phone can be revoked there at any time. Requires the free Runline Mac app (runline.rethinking.art). No accounts — pairing is one QR scan. Terms of Service: https://runline.rethinking.art/terms Privacy Policy: https://runline.rethinking.art/privacy

Screenshots

Drover4 screens
Runline4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Drover at none against Runline's 3. Drover also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Runline sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $17.99 per month. Drover asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drover ships an update every 5 days, Runline weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Drover versus Runline: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDroverRunline
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size38 MB70 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKEISUKE NISHITANIRethinking.Studio

Customer experience

Drover

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Runline

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Drover

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Runline

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Pro$17.991 Month
  • Annual Pro$69.991 Year
One-time1
  • Buyout$99.99

Questions

Is Drover free?
Drover is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Runline free?
Runline is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Drover or Runline have ads?
Neither Drover nor Runline shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Drover or Runline?
Drover ships an update every 5 days, and Runline weekly. Most recently, Drover was updated on October 10, 2026 and Runline on October 16, 2026.

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