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 keeps some day-to-day features behind Pro. ShellDrop sits in a smaller, narrower spot: no subscription, native on iPhone and iPad, 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 5 | Termius | |
|---|---|---|
| Paste a screenshot into the terminal | Yes. Any image, multi-image; agent reads them on the server | No. Their docs: upload via SFTP first, reference the path by hand |
| Attach a file from Files or Photos | Yes. Files, photos or video; uploads over SSH, path lands at the prompt | No. Upload via SFTP first, then reference the path by hand |
| Agent-to-phone clipboard | Yes. The agent can drop text onto your phone's clipboard | No |
| Voice dictation | Built in. On-device Apple speech free, or your own Groq key. | Not a listed feature |
| Pricing model | Free. No account, no in-app purchases | Free tier; Pro $15/mo or $119/yr on iOS |
| Platforms | Native on iPhone and iPad, Vision Pro with version 5, macOS coming soon | iPhone, iPad, macOS, Windows, Linux, Android |
| Account required | No | Prompts sign-in on install; required for sync |
| Telemetry | None | Usage and crash data, linked to your identity |
| Password auth | Yes | Yes |
| Public-key auth (SSH keys) | Yes. Ed25519 and Secure Enclave P-256 | Yes. ECDSA, ed25519, FIDO2 keys |
| 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 | Thumb-first; double-tap collapses the keyboard for full-screen output | Standard iOS layout; keyboard stays raised over about half the screen |
| 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 | No Secure Enclave; supports FIDO2 external security 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 | 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 |
The biggest day-to-day difference on a phone: in Termius the keyboard cannot be retracted and sits over roughly half the screen while you read output. ShellDrop collapses the keyboard with a double tap, so output gets the whole screen.
Copy an image anywhere on the phone and paste it into the session. Your agent reads it on the server. Multi-image paste works too. The same toolbar has a paperclip button for files: pick one from Files, or a photo or video from the library, upload over SSH, and the path lands at the prompt. Termius does not do either: their own documentation says images and files cannot be pasted into the terminal, and that you have to upload over SFTP first and reference the path by hand. For anyone feeding screenshots to a coding agent all day, that is the gap between one paste and a five-step detour.
The clipboard works the other way too. Ask the agent to write something, tell it to copy the result, and it lands on the phone's clipboard ready to paste into another app. It is opt-in and takes about ten seconds to set up. Terminal text selection is now a dedicated mode: toggle it on, long-press a word, drag the handles, copy. And Nerd Fonts (FiraCode and JetBrains Mono) ship bundled, so nvim and LazyVim render the way they should.
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.
Vision Pro app arriving with version 5.
ShellDrop 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.
ShellDrop adds Voice Drop, a built-in mic on the keyboard toolbar. It transcribes on-device with Apple speech at no cost, or through your own Groq API key for whisper-large-v3-turbo, and drops the words at the cursor without sending Return. Dictating a long prompt to an agent is the kind of input a phone keyboard is worst at, and it is where ShellDrop puts the least friction.
Version 5 also added custom key bindings for the keyboard toolbar: create your own Tmux-aware keys in Settings, Ctrl plus a key with an optional follow-up, and arrange them like any stock key.
Termius has a full SFTP client. ShellDrop is SSH-only, with no general file browser. If you move arbitrary files between your phone and remote hosts regularly, Termius covers that and ShellDrop does not. Worth noting though: the transfers most agent operators actually make, dropping a screenshot or attaching a single file for the agent to read, ShellDrop does natively with image paste and the paperclip attach button. For those specific jobs it is faster than opening an SFTP browser. For everything else, moving real files back and forth, Termius is the right tool.
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 one SSH manager on every platform today, that's Termius. ShellDrop is native on iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro, with a macOS app coming soon.
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; the agent does the heavy lifting now.
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.
No. Termius's own docs say images and files can't be pasted into the terminal, so you upload over SFTP first and reference the path by hand. ShellDrop lets you copy any image on the phone, paste it into the session for your agent to read.
Termius has a free tier. SSH, SFTP and port forwarding are in it; cross-device sync and snippets automation sit behind Pro, which is $15/month or $119/year on iOS. ShellDrop is free with no account and no in-app purchases.
ShellDrop. No subscription, no account, covers the core SSH workflow, tmux scrollback, multi-session tabs.
No general SFTP browser. It's SSH-only. For moving arbitrary files, Termius covers that. For the common cases, dropping a screenshot or attaching a single file into the session, ShellDrop's image paste and paperclip attach button handle it natively.
Yes. 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.
Related: What is the best iOS terminal app in July/August 2026?
ShellDrop is on the App Store. Universal iPhone and iPad, iOS 17+. No subscription.
