XKCD vs sudo xkcd
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
XKCD
Access and read a popular Q&A blog offline. Get notified of new posts and enjoy articles on a larger screen. Remove ads with an in-app purchase.
- Offline reading mode
- Push notifications for new posts
- iPad version support
- In-app purchase to remove ads
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This app is for offline reading of the wonderful Q&A blog by Randall Munroe. Features include: * Offline Reading Mode * Push notifications for new posts * iPad Version, enjoy the articles on the big screen * In-App purchase, no more ads if you don't want them
sudo xkcd
Access and enjoy all xkcd comics offline with this free app. Browse, search, and favorite comics, with features like alt-text viewing and smooth zooming. It provides a clean interface for a seamless reading experience.
- Offline access to all comics
- Search by title/keywords
- Favorites list
- Random comic button
- View alt-text
- Smooth zooming and panning
- Link to explainxkcd
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All xkcd comics are *property of Randall Munroe* and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. This app simply displays the comics that are already viewable for free on his website. This app is *free of charge* and *does not collect any data* from its users. It exists purely for the love of xkcd. General Features – Offline access to ALL 3000+ xkcd comics (uses only a couple hundred megabytes) – Browse chronologically – Search by title/keywords – Favorites List – Button for viewing a random comic – Download new comics by pulling down the browse list or refreshing the app. – Clear, minimal, dark design Features within each comic – View comic title, comic number, and release date – Quickly view Alt-Text – Add to Favorites List – Swipe left and right to navigate or use arrow buttons – Smooth zooming and panning (up to 10x scale) – Link to "explainxkcd" (non-affiliated, community-run Wiki that attempts to explain and provide transcripts for each comic) – Full-screen horizontal view (rotate iPhone or iPad)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: sudo xkcd at none against XKCD's 4. sudo xkcd also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 76%). XKCD's advantage is rating (4.3 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (22 vs 1). 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. XKCD sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. sudo xkcd asks for nothing beyond the download.
XKCD holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: XKCD has 22 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 76% of XKCD's written reviews are positive against 100% of sudo xkcd's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
| Parameter | XKCD | sudo xkcd |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (22 ratings) — better | 4.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 22 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Dimitry Grekov | Connor Avery Shafran |
Customer experience
XKCD
sudo xkcd
Bugs and requests
XKCD
Reported bugs
24 issues- Data does not load
- Text won't scroll
- Too many glitches
- Footnotes with non-ASCII text, footnotes with footnotes, and footnotes with math formatting are broken
- Links inside footnotes don't work right
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- Image alt-text is often truncated
- Footnotes are out of order
- Links are broken
- Missing half a paragraph and an image in at least one article
- App is consistently unusable with iOS 9
- Scrolling is broken, unresponsive at times
- App freezes
- Buttons are disabled during loading
- App doesn't update
- Lack of numbering makes finding place difficult
- Numbers like '3 x 10^12' show up as 'I'
- Reference text bleeds into normal text
- Chronological order of articles not apparent
- Images in articles do not show up
- Formulas do not display
- Formulas are not fixed on older devices
- Text is unnecessarily spaced apart
- New What If? articles are un-openable
- App asks to be reviewed too often
Requested features
13 requests- Update app more frequently
- Add 'weird and worrying questions from the what if inbox'
- Add date of publication to articles
- Improve formatting on tablets
- Fix issues with footnotes
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- Fix issues with math formatting
- Fix image alt-text truncation
- Fix missing paragraphs and images in articles
- Add a refresh option for content
- Improve chronological order of articles
- Add clear column separators
- Add visual hints about article ordering
- Remove ads or offer a paid ad-free version
sudo xkcd
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
XKCD
- Bronze Level$0.99
- Silver Level$4.99
- Gold Level$9.99
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- Platinum Level$19.99
sudo xkcd
No in-app purchases
