HCA vs Tearline by NGA
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HCA
Control your home's lighting, thermostat, and automation devices remotely. Monitor sensors, trigger programs, and manage keypads. Uses geofencing for automated actions when entering or leaving areas.
- Remote device control
- Sensor status monitoring
- Program execution
- Keypad control
- Geofencing automation
- Log viewing and filtering
- Custom icon synchronization
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HCA is a companion app for the Home Control Assistant Server desktop application. It is a client that connects to your HCA Server home automation system over WiFi or Cell network. I have no affiliation with the makers of HCA Server - I'm just a user providing this app for free to people who already own HCA Server. With this app, you can: - Control your home lighting, thermostat and other automation devices remotely. - Check on the status of motion and door/window sensors and your alarm system. - Trigger the execution of HCA programs to expand your remote automation capability. - Control the keypads throughout your home. - Use GeoFences to cause an HCA program to execute when entering/leaving an area. - View the HCA log and filters - Synchronize your custom icons from the HCA server to the app. - View your custom HTML pages generated by the HCA Server - Much, Much more! NOTE: For geofences, the users location is NEVER transmitted to the server or anywhere else outside of the app. It is used only by iOS to track the geofence. The app only sends the user-supplied name of the geofence to the server. For a video showing how to setup and use the app, see here: Part 1: https://youtu.be/IRWOgmouC_c Part 2: https://youtu.be/-On3jNJHW6M Please provide feedback on what features you would like to see implemented next! *** Please give us a rating in the app store ***
Tearline by NGA
Access open-source intelligence on strategic, economic, and humanitarian topics. Review articles chronologically or by category, with detailed overviews and downloadable structured data. Includes infographics, visualizations, and satellite imagery analysis.
- Open access intelligence content
- Chronological and categorized article review
- Analytic overview and future focus highlights
- Downloadable structured data
- Infographics and visualizations
- Satellite imagery analysis
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Tearline provides open source intelligence to the public. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is partnering with expert non-profit groups to grow public-facing, authoritative open source intelligence on various strategic, economic, and humanitarian intelligence topics that tend to be under-reported within in-depth or long-form formats. Features • Content is open and available to the general public • Review all articles in chronological order or select a category of interest to view related articles • Article Overview feature highlights the analytic overview, activity intro, looking ahead focus areas and things to watch for next • Download the underlying structured data used in the articles, which are organized using simple color codes • Read content in chronological order in the Timeline feature • View infographics and visualizations summarizing the articles main content in the Graphs feature • Satellite imagery analysis available in articles
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: HCA at 4.7 against Tearline by NGA's 3.6. HCA also leads on review sentiment (80% vs 44%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 14.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HCA holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 9 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of HCA's written reviews are positive against 44% of Tearline by NGA's.
HCA ships an update every 4 months, Tearline by NGA every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HCA | Tearline by NGA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (6 ratings) — better | 3.6 (9 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better | 44.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 9 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Advanced Quonset Technology, Inc | National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency |
Customer experience
HCA
Tearline by NGA
In-app purchases
HCA
No in-app purchases
Tearline by NGA
No in-app purchases
