Comparison

File vs Samurai Search

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

Head to head
About

File

Easily transfer and manage files between your Apple devices and PCs. This app offers a simple yet powerful interface for seamless file sharing over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, with built-in tools for previewing and organizing your data.

Highlights
  • Cross-device file transfer
  • File management
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support
  • Multi-type file preview
  • Zip/unzip functionality
  • In-app photo/video sharing
Features
Read full description

Want a reliable-but-not-complex file relay point? Want a simple-but-powerful file manager? File Drop can help you! File Drop can help you transmitting and managing files and folders among iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Macintosh and Windows PC. Just tap your fingers and the file dropped. ◆ Compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC ◆ Simple but powerful user interface ◆ Auto find and auto recognize ◆ Amazing speed with wifi network ◆ Manually add ip address if not in the same wifi ◆ Inner-app photo taking and video recording, instantly sharing ◆ Multi-type file preview ◆ File Drop for iOS now support BLUETOOTH ◆ zip/unzip support ◆ better pdf viewer Please navigate to http://www.xiongdianpku.com/products/file-drop to download File Drop for Mac, Windows and other platforms :-)

About

Samurai Search

Efficiently search text and PDF files across your device, iCloud, and external storage. Preview matched files or open them in other applications. Supports advanced search options like regular expressions.

Highlights
  • Search text and PDF files
  • iCloud and external storage support
  • File preview
  • Regular expression support
  • Customizable file types
  • Saved search locations
Read full description

Search your iOS device or iCloud for text, source code, plain text files, and PDFs. Find matches inside files and preview results instantly, or open any matched file in your favourite editing or viewing app. Flexible search options: whole word, case sensitive (all file types), and regular expressions (for text files). Choose which files to include by selecting standard or custom text file types, or by searching filenames that match a pattern. Select where to search from On My iPad, iCloud Drive, or external file providers such as SMB and USB folders. When possible, the app retains saved search selections so you can quickly repeat the same searches later. If you search selected folders in iCloud Drive, matching iCloud files are synced to your device before searching, ensuring fast local results. Searching plain text files is extremely fast and memory efficient. PDF search speed depends on the document content and can be slow. Note also that PDF search may consume large amounts of memory which can cause Samurai Search to crash.

Screenshots

File4 screens
Samurai Search4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Samurai Search at 5.0 against File's 2.6. Samurai Search also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (100% vs 68%). File's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. File sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Samurai Search asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Samurai Search holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Samurai Search has 25 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of File's written reviews are positive against 100% of Samurai Search's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

File ships an update every 2 weeks, Samurai Search every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
File versus Samurai Search: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFileSamurai Search
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.6 (5 ratings)5.0 (25 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings525 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer典 熊Michael Rourke

Customer experience

File

All ratings5 ratings
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive68.2%
Neutral4.5%
Negative27.3%

Samurai Search

All ratings25 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

File

One-time1
  • Remove ADs$0.99
None

Samurai Search

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is File free?
File is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Samurai Search free?
Samurai Search is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, File or Samurai Search?
Samurai Search is rated higher. File averages 2.6 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Samurai Search averages 5.0 from 25 ratings.
Do File or Samurai Search have ads?
Neither File nor Samurai Search shows ads.
Which is updated more often, File or Samurai Search?
File ships an update every 2 weeks, and Samurai Search every 5 days. Most recently, File was updated on November 9, 2026 and Samurai Search on November 3, 2026.

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