# Shell Keyboard — Real Ctrl, Esc & arrow keys

> Real Ctrl, Esc & arrow keys (iPhone/iPad app by Nguyen Nguyen.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/shell-keyboard/id6811290737 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Nguyen Nguyen](https://appshunter.io/developer/1071455830)
- Category: Developer Tools
- Price: $0.99
- Age rating: +4
- Requires: iOS 16.0 · 2 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-09-16
- Data updated: 2026-09-19
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/shell-keyboard/id6811290737/reviews.md

## What is Shell Keyboard?

Shell Keyboard adds the keys a terminal actually needs — the ones iOS's default keyboard leaves out.

Working over SSH or in a local shell needs Ctrl, Esc, Tab, arrow keys, and function keys, none of which exist on the standard iOS keyboard. Shell Keyboard is a custom keyboard built specifically for terminal apps like Blink, Termius, Prompt, a-Shell and iSH — it sends the exact ASCII control codes and ANSI/VT escape sequences your terminal expects, the same bytes a physical keyboard would send.

WHAT'S INCLUDED
• A dedicated terminal layer: Ctrl, Alt, Esc, Tab, arrow keys, Home/End/PgUp/PgDn, and the punctuation a shell prompt uses constantly
• Ctrl and Alt as proper modifiers — latch one for a single keypress, or double-tap to lock it on, like a hardware keyboard
• A full function-key layer: tap fn and the top row becomes F1 through F12, while every other row stays exactly where it was
• Arrow keys that match the app you're in — Normal for shells, Application for vim, tmux, less and htop, or Move the Cursor for ordinary text fields
• Return or Enter: long-press the Return key to switch between a carriage return and a line feed
• A plain QWERTY layer and a complete symbols layer, for ordinary text — hostnames, paths, commit messages — without leaving the keyboard
• A searchable reference inside the app, listing every key alongside the exact escape sequence and hex bytes it sends
• Every key emits the exact byte sequence a real terminal expects

BUILT FOR PRIVACY
Shell Keyboard never asks for Full Access. It cannot reach the network. It never reads, stores, or transmits anything you type — every key it sends is decided from the key you tapped, and nothing else. No analytics, no crash reporting, no account.

GOOD TO KNOW
In a terminal or editor running inside a web browser — code-server, Jupyter and the like — the keys that send a multi-character escape sequence don't get through: the arrow keys, F1 through F12, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, Shift+Tab and Alt combinations. Everything that sends a single byte works there normally, including every Ctrl combination, Esc, Tab, Return and ordinary typing. Web pages listen for key press events and iOS only lets a keyboard extension insert text, so this is an iOS limitation that applies to every third-party keyboard, not something an app can work around.

WHO IT'S FOR
Anyone who SSHes from an iPhone or iPad — sysadmins, developers, and anyone tired of missing Ctrl+C.

## Chart rankings

- #27 in Top Paid · Developer Tools (US App Store)


## Version history (last 1 release)

### 1.0 — 2026-09-16

No release notes.

## More apps by Nguyen Nguyen

- [Square 'em All](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/square-em-all/id1071455831)
- [Whitez Blocks](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/whitez-blocks/id1113236583)
- [Game Scoresheet](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/game-scoresheet/id1175735678)
- [Four Blocks!](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/four-blocks/id1216643732)
- [Tính Thuế TNCN](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tinh-thue-tncn/id1240884553)

All apps by Nguyen Nguyen: https://appshunter.io/developer/1071455830

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-19.*