When comparing aText vs Cloak, the Slant community recommends Cloak for most people. In the question“What are the best power user tools for macOS?” Cloak is ranked 27th while aText is ranked 49th. The most important reason people chose Cloak is:
SSL pinning protects against some forms of man-in-the-middle attacks that even SSL encrypted traffic is vulnerable to. Not long ago, iOS did not allow for pinning but that may have changed more recently.
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Pros
Pro No Update
Pro A snippet can be expanded to plain or styled text and include pictures
Pro Has built-in snippets for common typos
Pro Cheaper than competition
$4.99, cheaper than textExpander ($35)
Pro Compatible with TextExpander snippets
TextExpander snippets can be imported into aText
Pro Works with VMs
Pro Imports from most alternative text expansion apps
aText can import data from TextExpander, TypeIt4Me, SpellCatcherX, Automaton and CSV file.
Pro Has common HTML & JS snippets built-in
Pro Snippets can include editable fields
Pro Data can be synced through cloud storage services
Pro Snippets can include a wide variety of variables
Possible variables include date, time, other snippets, clipboard content, etc.
Pro Does SSL Pinning on OS X
SSL pinning protects against some forms of man-in-the-middle attacks that even SSL encrypted traffic is vulnerable to. Not long ago, iOS did not allow for pinning but that may have changed more recently.
Pro Responsive developer
The developer of Cloak is extremely responsive to feedback and quick to answer questions or support requests.
Pro Senses Trusted WiFi networks
Cloak can be set to not use the VPN on whitelisted WiFI SSIDs (like home/work).
Pro Unlimited devices (as long as they're OSX/iOS)
Unlimited devices and data per account, so you can connect up the whole family or office on one account if you so choose.
Cons
Con Frequent crashes in MacOS Sierra
aText crashes frequently, and the developer is unresponsive. Not clear if app is supported or under current development: last update was in 11/15; last post to aText Facebook page 10/15.
Con Doesn't work in Mojave
The current version, with no issues. In fact, I've never had any issue with it with Mojave, so I assume when Mojave was released, aText was already up to date for it.
Con Long time no update
Seems to be abandoned.