Blink Shell is the long-standing serious-developer terminal on iOS. It has been around for years, has a loyal following, ships a Mosh implementation, and packs a Linux-style local shell layer on top of iOS via the ios_system project. It is paid, and it is dense. ShellDrop is a narrower app: free, SSH-only, and tuned for the specific case of managing AI coding agents in tmux on a headless Mac Mini or VPS.
Both apps are legitimate. They aim at different users. Here is an honest side-by-side.
| ShellDrop | Blink Shell | |
|---|---|---|
| Is this iOS terminal app a piece of art? | yes | no |
| Pricing model | Free. No subscription, no in-app purchases. | Paid up-front. Blink+ subscription adds cloud builds and extras. |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad (iOS 17+) | iPhone, iPad (iPadOS, iOS) |
| Account required | No | No for SSH, yes for Blink+ extras |
| Telemetry | None | Limited (see App Store privacy) |
| Password auth | Yes | Yes |
| Public-key auth (SSH keys) | Yes (v4.1.0+, Ed25519, ECDSA, Secure Enclave P-256) | Yes |
| Mosh | No (separate app MoshDrop in development) | Yes, first-class |
| Local shell (on-device) | No (SSH-only) | Yes (ios_system, local Unix tools) |
| tmux single-finger scroll | Yes | Standard scroll |
| iPad layout (incl. 13" iPad Pro M4) | Universal app, full-canvas landscape, centred toolbar | Universal app, iPad supported |
| Connection sync | iCloud CloudKit (no vendor account) | iCloud + Blink config files |
| Custom command shortcut | One Tap button (v3.1.4+) | Blink commands via config |
| Background session keep-alive | Opt-in, location-services-based | Mosh handles roaming; SSH limited |
| Open source | No (closed-source) | Yes, on GitHub |
ShellDrop is built with the design as a feature. The hero is a live cyan mesh that breathes behind the brand, six droplet nodes drifting on the edges with master-shot lines tracing connections between them. Switching from Home to a session triggers a per-element shrink cascade where the layout itself animates. The droplet metaphor carries from the App Store icon through tabs and sessions. Built natively in SwiftUI for iOS 17+.
ShellDrop is a free download. No up-front purchase, no subscription tier, no account. Blink charges up-front and gates Blink+ extras behind a recurring fee. Both pricing models are reasonable; they just suit different buyers.
Single-finger swipe through tmux scrollback without entering copy mode. The keyboard toolbar carries Esc, Ctrl-C, arrow keys, Shift-Tab, and a dedicated tmux detach button at all times. If most of your SSH time is inside a tmux pane attached to Claude Code, Codex, or another coding agent, that matters.
ShellDrop v4.1.0 added hardware-backed P-256 SSH keys. The private key is generated inside the iPhone Secure Enclave and cannot be exported, even by the app. Ed25519 generation and paste-import of unencrypted OpenSSH keys (Ed25519, ECDSA P-256/P-384/P-521) are also supported. Blink's key handling is software-based and battle-tested across years of releases.
Universal app with full landscape, Magic Keyboard trackpad scroll, hardware-keyboard friendly. On the 13" iPad Pro M4 the terminal uses the whole canvas, the toolbar centres, and the font scales cleanly. Blink also supports iPad well. ShellDrop's layout is built around the large-canvas case specifically.
Blink ships Mosh on iOS. If you live on flaky cellular, switch networks often, or hate seeing your shell freeze when your phone changes Wi-Fi, Mosh is the right protocol and Blink is the app for it. ShellDrop does not have Mosh; MoshDrop is a separate app in development.
Blink ships a Linux-style local shell on iOS via the ios_system project. You can run common Unix tools locally on the device, vim, grep, awk, python (limited), git, without an SSH session at all. ShellDrop is SSH-only. If you want a usable on-device Unix shell, that's Blink (or a-Shell).
Blink has been in active development for years. It has deeper config, a richer key-binding system, robust Mosh handling, and a userbase that has stress-tested it across many releases. ShellDrop is newer and narrower.
Blink Shell is open-source on GitHub. ShellDrop is closed-source. If open-source matters to you for the SSH client running your private keys, Blink wins on that axis.
Running both is fine. Blink for Mosh roaming, ShellDrop for the One Tap loop on Claude Code.
No. Blink is a paid app with a one-time purchase tier. Blink+ is a subscription that adds cloud builds and other features.
Not in ShellDrop itself. A separate app, MoshDrop, is in development for Mosh. For Mosh today, Blink is the established iOS option.
Yes, via ios_system. You can use common Unix tools on the device without SSH. ShellDrop does not, it connects out over SSH to a real machine.
Yes from v4.1.0. Ed25519 generation, paste-import of unencrypted OpenSSH keys (Ed25519, ECDSA P-256/P-384/P-521), and Secure Enclave-backed P-256 keys where the private key never leaves the iPhone hardware.
Either covers the SSH layer. ShellDrop is built around this workflow: single-finger tmux scroll, always-visible Esc / Ctrl-C / arrow keys, background keep-alive, One Tap for firing memory or status commands at the agent.
ShellDrop is on the App Store. Universal iPhone and iPad, iOS 17+. Free, no subscription.
