vSSH from Velocity Apps is a long-running iOS SSH client with a companion macOS app. It has mature key management, tunneling, and the small-feature polish that comes from years of paid one-time-purchase releases. ShellDrop is on a different track: free, iOS-only, narrower, and built around tmux sessions attached to AI coding agents on a headless Mac Mini.
Two different apps for two different jobs. Honest side-by-side.
| ShellDrop | vSSH | |
|---|---|---|
| Is this iOS terminal app a piece of art? | yes | no |
| Pricing model | Free. No in-app purchases. | Paid one-time purchase |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad (iOS 17+) | iPhone, iPad, macOS |
| Account required | No | No |
| Telemetry | None | Limited (see App Store privacy) |
| Password auth | Yes | Yes |
| Public-key auth (SSH keys) | Yes (v4.1.0+, Secure Enclave P-256) | Yes, mature |
| Port forwarding UI | No (manual via SSH config) | Yes |
| 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 |
| Custom command shortcut | One Tap toolbar button (v3.1.4+) | Saved commands |
| Background session keep-alive | Opt-in, location-services-based | Limited (iOS standard) |
| Connection sync | iCloud CloudKit | iCloud + vSSH config |
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+.
No up-front cost.
Single-finger swipe through tmux scrollback without entering copy mode. The toolbar carries Esc, Ctrl-C, arrow keys, Shift-Tab, and a tmux detach button at all times. Built around the case of leaving a coding agent running in tmux and checking in from a phone.
v4.1.0 generates P-256 keys inside the iPhone Secure Enclave. Private key cannot be exported, even by the app. Ed25519 and paste-import of unencrypted OpenSSH keys (Ed25519, ECDSA P-256/P-384/P-521) also supported.
Full landscape, hardware-keyboard friendly, font scales cleanly. The toolbar centres on the large canvas.
vSSH has a proper port-forwarding interface, local, remote, dynamic tunnels with a manageable configuration screen. ShellDrop expects you to handle this at the SSH config layer.
vSSH ships a macOS client alongside the iOS app. If you want one client across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, that's worth something. ShellDrop is iOS / iPadOS only.
vSSH has been around long enough that the corner cases, agent forwarding, identity files, jump hosts, terminal type negotiation, are well-handled. ShellDrop's SSH layer is newer.
No. vSSH is a paid one-time-purchase iOS app from Velocity Apps. There is also a macOS version.
Yes. vSSH historically supports SSH port-forwarding configurations through its UI. ShellDrop relies on manual -L/-R flags via SSH config.
Yes from v4.1.0. Ed25519, ECDSA P-256/P-384/P-521 paste-import, plus Secure Enclave-backed P-256 keys.
ShellDrop. Single-finger tmux scrollback, dedicated detach button, always-visible Esc / Ctrl-C / arrow keys. vSSH renders tmux fine but isn't built around it.
ShellDrop. The whole app is built around remote tmux sessions attached to coding agents.
ShellDrop is on the App Store. Universal iPhone and iPad, iOS 17+. Free, no subscription.
