Comparison

Knockbox vs BotBus

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

Head to head
About

Knockbox

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Knock once, and your phone buzzes. Knockbox turns one HTTP request into a push notification on your iPhone. Anything that can send a request can reach you: a deploy script, a cron job, a monitoring check, a CI pipeline, or a coding agent that has just finished a long task. If it needs your go-ahead before continuing, it can wait for your answer. curl -d "Build finished" https://your-server/api/v1/send/YOUR_TOKEN THE SERVER IS YOURS Knockbox is the client for a server you control. The server is open source and runs on a VPS, a NAS, or a Raspberry Pi at home. It holds its own Apple push key, so a notification goes from your machine to Apple and then to your phone, without passing through anyone in between. If you would rather not run anything, open knockbox.miramiao.com on your iPhone and you are connected — no sign-up, no password. WHAT A MESSAGE CAN CARRY • A Markdown body with headings, lists, links and syntax-highlighted code. • Images, shown in the notification and kept with the message. • Long text. The body is fetched as the notification lands rather than packed into it, so there is no length limit to work around. • A title, a channel, and an interruption level: quiet, normal, or time sensitive when it has to break through Focus. REPLIES • The sender can attach a set of options, or allow a free-text answer. • Answer from the message itself. Your server posts the reply back to the address the sender gave, signed, and the sender takes it from there. • The sender can set a deadline. After it passes the message reads "Reply window closed" and the server stops accepting — you are never left thinking an answer went through. • A message is answered once, and the answer is the same across your devices. CHANNELS • One token per channel, so a noisy monitor and a personal reminder stay apart. • Muting a channel truly stops it: the mute lives on the server, so nothing is sent at all. • Search your history, mark as read, delete a message, or clear a channel. Deletions are real, on the device and on the server. MORE THAN ONE DEVICE Pair a second iPhone or iPad from a device that is already connected. Both receive everything and share read state. TRY IT WITHOUT A SERVER Demo mode fills the app with example messages and sends a sample notification, so you can see how it works before setting anything up. FREE, AND THAT IS ALL No ads, no analytics, no account with us, no in-app purchase, no subscription. The app is free and the server is open source. Server source code: https://github.com/aichy126/knockbox Public server: https://knockbox.miramiao.com How to send: https://knockbox.miramiao.com/docs Questions: info@miramiao.com

About

BotBus

Features
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Your AI coding agents keep working after you leave your desk. With BotBus, so can you: approve requests, answer questions, send the next instruction, or take over the computer itself, from iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. BotBus connects Claude Code, Codex and other coding agents on your Mac, Linux or Windows computer to your phone and watch. No SSH, no VPN, no port forwarding, no account. Install BotBus on the computer, scan one QR code, and you're set. Tasks and computer controls are end-to-end encrypted. Made for long refactors, test runs and vibe coding sessions that need a quick yes every few minutes. WORKS WITH THE AGENTS YOU ALREADY USE • Built in: Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Hermes, Pi, OpenClaw and DeepSeek Harness • Gemini CLI, Qwen Code, Kimi CLI, goose and other ACP (Agent Client Protocol) agents • Sessions you started at your desk show up too, sorted by computer, agent and project • Agents keep their own logins, subscriptions and API keys NEVER LEAVE AN AGENT WAITING • Get notified when an agent needs approval, waits for your reply, finishes or fails; on iPhone you see the actual command • Approve or deny in one tap and answer multiple-choice questions • Auto-approve projects you trust (Claude Code and Codex); questions still come to you • When a task fails, BotBus tells you why and what to do next RUN THE WORK FROM ANYWHERE • Start a chat: pick a computer, agent and project, then type or just speak • Follow up, interrupt, or start, stop and restart an agent • Choose the model and reasoning effort for Claude Code and Codex • Run a task in its own git worktree, then merge it back in one tap • Attach photos; location data is stripped before sending • Read the conversation with formatting, code and images SEE WHAT YOUR AGENTS BUILT • Screenshots, files, videos and links come straight to your phone • Open the dev server your agent just started and try the page on your phone (Mac) • Review uncommitted changes as a line-by-line diff before you merge CONTROL YOUR COMPUTER • Files: browse projects, view and edit text files, upload photos, share files to your phone, rename, or move to Trash (never permanently deleted) • Terminal: a real shell on your computer, with tabs, extra keys (esc, ctrl, tab, arrows) and sessions that survive dropped connections • Screen: see your Mac live; tap, drag, zoom, right-click and type, with a secure field for passwords • Changes stay locked until you unlock them and re-lock after 10 idle minutes • Files and terminal on Mac, Linux and Windows; screen control on Mac BUILT FOR APPLE WATCH • After syncing from iPhone, the watch connects on its own • Approve, answer, dictate a reply, interrupt or start a task from your wrist • See every computer's pending count at a glance MANY COMPUTERS, MANY DEVICES • Pair up to 10 computers with up to 10 phones and iPads; mix Mac, Linux and Windows • Two-column layout on iPad • Remove any device at any time PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Tasks, chats, commands, files, terminal and screen are encrypted with AES-256-GCM on your devices • The key travels only in the pairing QR code and stays in your Keychain; compare the 8-digit fingerprint to verify • Our relay sees only ciphertext; pairings idle for 30 days are erased • Dev previews pass through our relay and are not end-to-end encrypted GET STARTED IN A MINUTE 1. Install BotBus on your computer from botbus.io: a menu bar app on Mac, a one-line install on Linux and Windows (no sudo or admin rights) 2. Scan the pairing QR code with this app 3. Walk away. Your agents will find you. No computer at hand? Try demo mode first. Requires iOS or iPadOS 26 and watchOS 26 or later; macOS 26, Linux (x86_64, aarch64) or Windows 10/11 on the computer. Actions need the computer online with BotBus running; available controls depend on the agent. Claude Code, Codex and other agent names are trademarks of their respective owners. BotBus is independent and not affiliated with them.

Screenshots

Knockbox4 screens
BotBus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Knockbox at 17.0 against BotBus's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Knockbox ships an update daily, BotBus every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Knockbox versus BotBus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKnockboxBotBus
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB25 MB
Age rating4+17+
Developer苗 苗Chengdu Tuyang Tusen Technology Co., Ltd

In-app purchases

None

Knockbox

No in-app purchases

None

BotBus

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Knockbox free?
Knockbox is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is BotBus free?
BotBus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Knockbox or BotBus have ads?
Neither Knockbox nor BotBus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Knockbox or BotBus?
Knockbox ships an update daily, and BotBus every 3 days. Most recently, Knockbox was updated on October 29, 2026 and BotBus on October 31, 2026.

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