Shell Drop 5.2.4 is an iPhone Duo release. On the closed Duo the terminal now uses the full width of the outer display. On the open Duo, in landscape, two sessions sit side by side as two pages. There is also an experimental reading mode.
On the closed iPhone Duo, iOS 27 stands the clock and Wi-Fi in a strip down the right edge of the screen, and keeps that strip for an app's toolbar buttons. That is the native Duo layout. In a terminal, most of that strip ends up as empty space.
In 5.2.4, Shell Drop puts the system icons back across the top of the screen, so the terminal runs the full width of the outer display. That is about a fifth more room, roughly 22% more columns on every line. It is a deliberate choice made for the terminal, and it departs from the native Duo look.
Open the Duo and turn it to landscape, and Shell Drop can show two sessions side by side, one on each page, meeting at the hinge. Each page has its own tabs, so each page switches sessions on its own.
Pick the same session on both pages to scroll back through it on one page while you type on the other.
One button, next to Home, cycles between one screen and Duo mode.
A book-binding spine runs down the hinge between the two pages. It names the mode the pages are in: Duo mode for two sessions, Mirror when both pages show the same session, and Reading. The label fades slowly from one mode to the next.
Reading mode is off by default. Switch it on in Settings > Terminal > Duo Reading Mode, then tap the mode button next to Home until the book shows. The right page shows the session laid out for reading, light like paper, while you type on the left page.
It is experimental, and it will keep improving.
The release also brings smaller user interface improvements, including the flow of the help screens.
Shell Drop 5.2.4 has been submitted to the App Store and should be live within a couple of days. Shell Drop is free on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo, iOS 17+.
