WebSSH has been on the App Store for years. It is one of the older serious SSH apps still maintained on iOS, supports SSH plus Telnet plus Mosh, and sits at a low one-time price. It is the budget pick for someone who wants a workable iOS terminal and does not need the polish of Termius or Prompt. ShellDrop is on the other end of the same shelf: free, SSH-only, tuned for tmux and AI coding agents.
Both are legitimate apps. Here is an honest side-by-side.
| ShellDrop | WebSSH | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Protocols | SSH | SSH, Telnet, Mosh |
| Account required | No | No |
| 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 |
| 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 | iCloud (varies by version) |
| Custom command shortcut | One Tap toolbar button (v3.1.4+) | Snippets |
| Background session keep-alive | Opt-in, location-services-based | Limited (iOS standard) |
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 purchase. WebSSH is reasonably priced, but free is free.
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. WebSSH renders tmux fine but does not have a dedicated mode for it.
ShellDrop v4.1.0 generates P-256 keys inside the iPhone Secure Enclave. The private key never leaves the hardware. Ed25519 and paste-import of unencrypted OpenSSH keys (Ed25519, ECDSA P-256/P-384/P-521) are also supported.
Full landscape, hardware-keyboard friendly, font scales cleanly, toolbar centres. On the 13" iPad Pro M4 the terminal uses the whole canvas.
WebSSH covers SSH, Telnet, and Mosh in a single app. If you connect to a mix of legacy gear (Telnet on switches, routers, old serial concentrators) and modern boxes, having one client that does all three is genuinely useful. ShellDrop is SSH-only.
WebSSH has been in the store for many years with steady maintenance. The corner cases are well-worn, odd terminal types, legacy key formats, broken servers, and the app handles them.
The UI is simple and direct. If you SSH into a box a couple of times a week and don't want anything cute, WebSSH gets out of the way.
No. WebSSH is a paid one-time-purchase iOS app at a low price point. It is not subscription-based.
Yes. WebSSH supports SSH, Telnet, and Mosh. ShellDrop is SSH-only.
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 scrollback, dedicated detach button, always-visible Esc / Ctrl-C / arrow keys.
ShellDrop. The whole app is tuned for it, tmux scroll, dedicated keys, background keep-alive, One Tap for firing commands at the agent.
ShellDrop is on the App Store. Universal iPhone and iPad, iOS 17+. Free, no subscription.
