Comparison

Sidecar ML vs 9Remote

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

Head to head
About

Sidecar ML

Features
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Turn your iPhone into a private, on-device AI server for your whole network. Sidecar ML runs a lightweight HTTP server on your iPhone that exposes Apple's built-in machine-learning models to any device on your local network. Tap Start Server, scan the QR code, and your Mac, PC, Raspberry Pi, or browser can call powerful on-device AI over plain REST — no cloud, no accounts, no API keys, no usage fees, and no data leaving your network. Everything runs on the phone. Nothing is uploaded to a server and there's nothing to pay for. (The one exception, music recognition, matches against Apple's catalog and tells you so up front.) ONE IPHONE, A DOZEN AI CAPABILITIES • Chat with the on-device large language model through a chat-completions endpoint that's compatible with the popular OpenAI API format — streaming, JSON mode, and structured output included. Point existing tools and SDKs at your phone and they just work. • Generate images from a text prompt in a choice of art styles. • OCR — pull text out of photos, receipts, and screenshots with per-line boxes and multi-language support. • Read barcodes and QR codes (EAN, Code128, and more). • Classify images across roughly a thousand categories, or produce image embeddings for similarity search. • Remove backgrounds and isolate subjects or people as clean PNG cut-outs. • Detect faces and facial landmarks, body pose, and hand pose. • Scan documents with automatic edge detection and perspective correction. • Convert speech to text and text to speech, with a wide range of voices (including Personal Voice). • Translate text between languages completely offline. • Analyse text: language, sentiment, named entities, tokens, and embeddings. • Classify sounds across hundreds of categories, or identify the music that's playing. BUILT FOR DEVELOPERS AND MAKERS • Clean REST + Server-Sent Events API — call it from curl, Python, JavaScript, or any HTTP client. • Chat endpoint compatible with the OpenAI format, so many existing tools and SDKs work unchanged. • Automatic discovery on your network via Bonjour. • Honest capability reporting: ask the server what it can do and it tells you exactly what's available on your device, and why. • Optional bearer-token authentication to lock the server down on shared networks. FREE WEB CONSOLE AND CODE EXAMPLES A ready-to-use web console — plus Python examples, a command-line client, and full API documentation — is free and open-source. Download the single-file console and browse the source here: https://github.com/AndersFB/Sidecar-ML-Console/ Open the console in any browser, enter your phone's address, and try every capability with a friendly UI — nothing to install. GOOD TO KNOW • The on-device large language model and image generation require an Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone. The other capabilities run on a much wider range of devices. • The server runs while the app is in the foreground; a keep-awake option helps during longer sessions. • Some features (offline translation language pairs and certain speech models) download their models on first use. Turn the iPhone in your pocket into a private AI endpoint for your projects, your home lab, and your prototypes — Sidecar ML.

About

9Remote

Features
Read full description

9Remote gives you secure, low-latency access to your terminal, desktop, and files from any phone or browser. Connect to your own machine through a Cloudflare tunnel — no monthly hosting fees. WebRTC streaming keeps the screen crisp and responsive, while the integrated file explorer lets you browse, upload, and download on the go. Built for developers who want their dev environment always within reach.

Screenshots

Sidecar ML4 screens
9Remote4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: 9Remote at 3 against Sidecar ML's 1. 9Remote also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
Sidecar ML versus 9Remote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSidecar ML9Remote
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 daysEvery 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB31 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperAnders Fog BunzelVu Hoang Anh

In-app purchases

None

Sidecar ML

No in-app purchases

None

9Remote

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sidecar ML free?
Sidecar ML is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is 9Remote free?
9Remote is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Sidecar ML or 9Remote have ads?
Neither Sidecar ML nor 9Remote shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sidecar ML or 9Remote?
Sidecar ML ships an update every 3 days, and 9Remote every 3 days. Most recently, Sidecar ML was updated on September 22, 2026 and 9Remote on September 29, 2026.

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