Comparison

HCA vs alt Codes

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Remote device control
  • Sensor status monitoring
  • Program execution
  • Keypad control
  • Geofencing automation
  • Log viewing and filtering
  • Custom icon synchronization
Features
Read full description

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 ***

About

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.

Highlights
  • Find Windows keyboard shortcuts
  • Type special characters and symbols
  • Copy symbols to iOS clipboard
  • Paste on Mac with Universal Clipboard
  • Quick symbol lookup
Features
Read full description

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

HCA3 screens
alt Codes3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: alt Codes at fortnightly against HCA's every 4 months. HCA's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HCA holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 9 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 80% of HCA's written reviews are positive against 82% of alt Codes's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HCA ships an update every 4 months, alt Codes fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
HCA versus alt Codes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHCAalt Codes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (6 ratings) — better4.4 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews81.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings69 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB0 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdvanced Quonset Technology, IncJared Lipton

Customer experience

HCA

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%

alt Codes

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive81.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative18.2%

In-app purchases

None

HCA

No in-app purchases

None

alt Codes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HCA free?
HCA is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is alt Codes free?
alt Codes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, HCA or alt Codes?
HCA is rated higher. HCA averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while alt Codes averages 4.4 from 9 ratings.
Do HCA or alt Codes have ads?
Neither HCA nor alt Codes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HCA or alt Codes?
HCA ships an update every 4 months, and alt Codes fortnightly. Most recently, HCA was updated on October 5, 2026 and alt Codes on October 7, 2026.

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