Termius is the default answer when someone asks "what's a good SSH client for iPhone." It has been around for years, ships on every platform, and covers the full SSH feature set. It also runs on a subscription model that gates a lot of useful functionality. ShellDrop sits in a smaller, narrower spot: no subscription, iOS-only, and tuned for one workflow in particular. Managing AI coding agents on a headless Mac Mini or VPS.
Both apps are legitimate. They just solve different problems for different people. Here is an honest side-by-side.
| ShellDrop | Termius | |
|---|---|---|
| Is this iOS terminal app a piece of art? | yes | no |
| Pricing model | No subscription. No in-app purchases. | Free tier with limits, Pro/Premium subscriptions. |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro (iOS 17+, visionOS 2+) | iPhone, iPad, macOS, Windows, Linux, Android |
| Account required | No | Yes for sync |
| Telemetry | None | Analytics and crash reporting |
| Password auth | Yes | Yes |
| Public-key auth (SSH keys) | Yes. Ed25519 and Secure Enclave P-256 | Yes |
| SFTP | No | Yes |
| Port forwarding | Not yet | Yes, with UI |
| tmux single-finger scroll | Yes | Not explicit; standard scroll |
| tmux-native ergonomics | Always-visible Esc, Ctrl-C, arrows, Shift-Tab, detach | Standard keyboard accessory bar |
| Thumb-first mobile layout | Floating bottom toolbar, reachable one-handed | Standard iOS layout |
| Connection sync | iCloud CloudKit (no vendor account) | Termius cloud (account required, wider device reach) |
| Password storage | iOS Keychain on-device only | Synced via Termius cloud (encrypted) |
| Host key verification | TOFU | TOFU |
| Secure Enclave hardware keys | Yes. P-256 private key never leaves the Secure Enclave | Encrypted vault (software keys) |
| Multiple sessions in tabs | Yes | Yes |
| Background session keep-alive | Opt-in, location-services-based | Limited on iOS |
| Custom command shortcut | One Tap button (v3.1.4+) | Snippets (paid tier) |
| Magic Keyboard trackpad scroll | Yes | Yes |
| iPad layout (incl. 13" iPad Pro M4) | Universal app, full-canvas landscape, centred toolbar | Universal app, iPad supported |
| Open source | No (repo not public) | No |
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+.
One App Store download, no account creation, no recurring charge. Termius runs on a freemium model with sync, SFTP, snippets, and port-forwarding UI on the paid tier. ShellDrop ships every feature in the base download.
There is no ShellDrop cloud to sign in to. Connection metadata syncs via Apple's iCloud CloudKit (your own iCloud account), and passwords never leave the device. No analytics SDK, no third-party crash reporter, no event tracking.
The whole app assumes you live in tmux. Single-finger swipe scrolls through scrollback without entering copy mode. The keyboard toolbar keeps Esc, Ctrl-C, arrow keys, Shift-Tab, and a dedicated tmux detach button always visible, so the keys you reach for on a remote agent session are one tap away instead of buried behind a modifier menu.
The controls sit where your thumb already is. A floating toolbar pinned to the bottom of the screen puts the terminal keys within one-handed reach on a phone, rather than stretching for a top bar or a hardware keyboard you may not be carrying. It is built for driving a session standing up with the phone in one hand.
ShellDrop has an opt-in background keep-alive that uses iOS location services to keep the SSH connection open when you switch apps or lock the phone. iOS aggressively kills sockets on backgrounded apps; this is the workaround.
ShellDrop is a universal app. Same binary on iPhone and iPad, full landscape, Magic Keyboard trackpad scroll, hardware-keyboard friendly. On the 13" iPad Pro M4 the terminal stretches to use the whole canvas. Toolbar centres, font scales cleanly, scrollback is comfortable to read.
Same universal binary builds for visionOS 2 and up, so the terminal runs natively in the Vision Pro as a window you can place in space. If you babysit agents from a headset, the session comes with you.
v4.1 generates Ed25519 keys in-app or P-256 keys backed by the iPhone Secure Enclave. With Secure-Enclave keys the private material never leaves the hardware (not even ShellDrop can read it), and signing happens inside the SE itself. Paste-import of existing OpenSSH keys (Ed25519, ECDSA P-256/P-384/P-521) is also supported.
Termius has a full SFTP client. ShellDrop is SSH-only, no file transfer. If you move files between your phone and remote hosts regularly, Termius covers that.
Termius has a proper port-forwarding interface. ShellDrop relies on manual -L / -R flags at the shell level, which is fine if you're comfortable with SSH syntax but not a feature Termius users need to think about.
Termius ships on macOS, Windows, Linux, and Android in addition to iOS. If you want a single SSH manager that works on every device, that's Termius. ShellDrop is iOS-only.
Termius has a deeper feature catalogue than ShellDrop, especially at the Pro and Premium tiers. Snippets, saved command templates, identities, groups, tags, port knocking. ShellDrop's feature set is narrower by design.
It's also fine to have both. Termius for SFTP and pubkey work on the desktop, ShellDrop on the phone for day-to-day tmux babysitting. These aren't mutually exclusive.
Termius has a free tier with limits. Most meaningful features (cross-device sync, SFTP, snippets, port forwarding UI) sit behind a paid subscription.
ShellDrop. No subscription, no account, covers the core SSH workflow, tmux scrollback, multi-session tabs.
No. SSH-only. For SFTP today, Termius covers it.
Yes, as of v4.1. Generate Ed25519 keys in-app, or P-256 keys backed by the iPhone's Secure Enclave where the private key never leaves the hardware. Paste-import of existing OpenSSH keys (Ed25519, ECDSA P-256/P-384/P-521) works too.
Either works for the SSH layer. ShellDrop is tuned for this specific workflow: single-finger tmux scroll, always-visible Esc / Ctrl-C / arrow keys, background keep-alive, One Tap button for firing refresh commands at the agent.
ShellDrop is on the App Store. Universal iPhone and iPad, iOS 17+. No subscription.
