Sidecar ML vs Codetether
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sidecar ML
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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.
Codetether
Control your AI coding agent from your phone. Monitor live sessions, approve permissions, review code changes, and send instructions remotely. Your code remains secure on your machine.
- Follow AI coding sessions live
- Approve/reject tool permissions
- Answer agent's questions
- Review code diffs
- Browse project files
- Compose with commands and attachments
- Connect to multiple servers
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Codetether puts the opencode AI coding agent in your pocket. Run opencode on your computer, then follow the work from your phone: watch replies stream in, approve permissions, review diffs and send the next instruction from anywhere. Your code never leaves your machine. The app connects to your own opencode server — over your local network, Tailscale or an end-to-end encrypted relay — and no account is needed. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Follow sessions live: streaming replies, reasoning and tool calls • Approve or reject permissions from your phone, the lock screen or Apple Watch • Answer the agent's questions without leaving the app • Review every diff the agent produced, file by file, and revert changes • See what each session costs: usage by day, project and model • Live Activities and the Dynamic Island show every session at a glance • Browse and read your project files • Compose with @ files, / commands, ! shell and photo attachments • Keep several servers (LAN, Tailscale, relay) with automatic reconnect • Available in 33 languages SETUP On your computer, run: npx ocremote --pair A QR appears; scan it once and you are connected. Keep the terminal running while you work. No computer at hand? Tap “Try the demo” to explore the app with sample data — nothing is sent anywhere. opencode is an open source AI coding agent by its authors; this app is an independent client for it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sidecar ML at none against Codetether's 1. Codetether's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support 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. Codetether sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Sidecar ML asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sidecar ML ships an update monthly, Codetether every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sidecar ML | Codetether |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Anders Fog Bunzel | Raul Alonso Pardo |
In-app purchases
Sidecar ML
No in-app purchases
Codetether
- Unlock opencode remote$9.99
Questions
Is Sidecar ML free?
Is Codetether free?
Do Sidecar ML or Codetether have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sidecar ML or Codetether?
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