HCA vs alt Codes
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 ***
alt Codes
Discover Windows keyboard shortcuts for typing special characters and symbols not on your keyboard. Quickly copy symbols to your iOS device's clipboard for easy pasting on your Mac via Universal Clipboard.
- Find Windows keyboard shortcuts
- Type special characters and symbols
- Copy symbols to iOS clipboard
- Paste on Mac with Universal Clipboard
- Quick symbol lookup
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alt Codes enables you to quickly and easily find the keyboard combinations in Windows to type symbols and characters that are not found on traditional keyboards. In addition to discovering the keyboard code for a character or symbol, you can quickly copy the character or symbol to the clipboard of your iOS device. With Universal Clipboard, any character or symbol copied on your iOS device can be instantly pasted on your Mac.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: HCA at 4.7 against alt Codes's 4.3. HCA also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). alt Codes's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume 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 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 10 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of HCA's written reviews are positive against 75% of alt Codes's.
HCA ships an update every 4 months, alt Codes every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | HCA | alt Codes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (6 ratings) — better | 4.3 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better | 75.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 10 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 0 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Advanced Quonset Technology, Inc | Jared Lipton |
Customer experience
HCA
alt Codes
In-app purchases
HCA
No in-app purchases
alt Codes
No in-app purchases
