Comparison

iSH Shell vs Runestone Text Editor

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

iSH Shell

Experience a Linux-like command-line environment directly on your iOS device. This application allows you to perform common Linux operations such as editing, moving, and manipulating files using familiar commands.

Highlights
  • Linux-like shell environment
  • File editing with sed and cat
  • File manipulation
  • Command-line operations
  • Pocket Linux experience
Features
Read full description

A Linux-like shell on iOS. You can edit files with sed and cat, move them around, and more! https://github.com/ish-app/ish/

About

Runestone Text Editor

A powerful plain text and code editor for iPhone and iPad. Offers syntax highlighting, line numbers, find and replace, and extensive customization options for developers and writers.

Highlights
  • Syntax highlighting for many languages
  • Customizable themes and fonts
  • Advanced find and replace
  • Line numbers and cursor location
  • Code formatting with Prettier.js
  • Multiple windows on iPad
Features
Read full description

A plain text editor with syntax highlighting, line numbers, search and replace, page guide, and much more. It's like TextEdit but more powerful and optimised for iPhone and iPad. Runestone is made by a single person with a love for text editors and a vision of building the most lightweight text editor for iPhone and iPad that still has the core features for editing code. Features: - Syntax highlighting of many languages including HTML, JavaScript, JSON, Markdown, Swift, Python, PHP, YAML, and many more. - Select one of the twelve standard themes including popular themes like Tomorrow, Dracula, Solarized, and One Dark Pro. - Innovative find and replace for searching and modifying text while still viewing your file. - Choose font and font size, including support for custom fonts imported using another third-party app. - Show the line and column the cursor is located on. - Uses the standard document browser for an experience similar to the Files app. - Quickly navigate to a specific line. - Automatically close opening brackets and quotes. - Multiple windows on the iPad. - Format code using Prettier.js. Supported languages include CSS,HTML, JavaScript, JSON, PHP and more. - Choose text encoding between popular encodings like UTF-8, UTF-16, ISO Latin 1, and many more. - Enable or disable autocorrection, autocapitalization, and smart punctuation. - Set default file extension of new files. - Open files in Runestone from the Share Sheet. - Print documents. Premium features: - Choose between eight app icons. - Show line numbers. - Highlight the selected line. - Increase line height and letter spacing. - Disable line wrapping to allow horizontal scrolling. - Show tabs, spaces, and line breaks using a selected symbol. - Enable page guide at a specific column to easily tell when lines are getting too long. - Add vertical and horizontal overscroll. - Remember the selected language per file. - Save file extensions and filenames that should always be treated as plain text files. - Enable soft tabs and choose the width of the tab character. - Specify whether pressing the tab key should insert a tab or indent the line. - Adjust the scaling of Markdown headings and disable highlighting of code blocks in Markdown. Runestone was built on the open-source framework with the same name. Find more information on the Runestone framework at github.com/simonbs/runestone

Screenshots

iSH Shell1 screens
Runestone Text Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: iSH Shell at none against Runestone Text Editor's 1. iSH Shell also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. iSH Shell asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for iSH Shell against 4.7 for Runestone Text Editor. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.2K and 2K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of iSH Shell's written reviews are positive against 76% of Runestone Text Editor's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iSH Shell ships an update every 3 weeks, Runestone Text Editor every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
iSH Shell versus Runestone Text Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriSH ShellRunestone Text Editor
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.2K ratings)4.7 (2K ratings)
Positive reviews80.3% of reviews — better76.2% of reviews
Number of ratings1.2K2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#17 — better#30
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB64 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperTheodore DuboisSimon B. Støvring

Customer experience

iSH Shell

All ratings1,230 ratings
Positive92.8%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews400 reviews
Positive80.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative11.5%

Runestone Text Editor

All ratings1,962 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews353 reviews
Positive76.2%
Neutral9.6%
Negative14.2%

User reviews

iSH Shell

From 1.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent Linux environment
  • 👍 Great for SSH and network utilities
  • 💡 Allows running Linux apps on iOS
  • 🔒 Secure and sandboxed
  • 👍 Customizable and flexible

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🔋 Battery intensive
  • ⚠️ Limited functionality compared to full Linux
  • ⚠️ Outdated packages and dependencies

Runestone Text Editor

From 2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Excellent text editor
  • 🚀 Smooth and responsive
  • 🎨 Customizable themes and appearance
  • 🔒 Secure file storage and sync
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or bugs
  • 🔍 Difficulty navigating files/folders
  • 📝 Limited functionality without premium
  • 🔌 Performance issues on older devices
  • 🔒 Difficulty accessing files in cloud storage

Bugs and requests

iSH Shell

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Cursor focus issues
  • Incompatibility with certain commands and packages
  • Mounting issues with iOS file system

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add support for more Linux distributions
  • Improve performance and stability
  • Implement GUI support
  • Add shortcuts and automation features

Runestone Text Editor

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Disappearing files
  • Difficulty pasting text
  • Scroll position not saved
  • Hangs on startup
  • Trouble opening large files
Show 1 more
  • Issues after iOS updates

Requested features

6 requests
  • Markdown preview
  • Code folding
  • Syntax highlighting for more languages
  • Ability to run/execute code
  • Multiple file/window support
Show 1 more
  • Improved undo/redo functionality

In-app purchases

None

iSH Shell

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99

Questions

Is iSH Shell free?
iSH Shell is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, iSH Shell or Runestone Text Editor?
iSH Shell and Runestone Text Editor are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1.2K and 2K ratings respectively.
Do iSH Shell or Runestone Text Editor have ads?
Neither iSH Shell nor Runestone Text Editor shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iSH Shell or Runestone Text Editor?
iSH Shell ships an update every 3 weeks, and Runestone Text Editor every 2 weeks. Most recently, iSH Shell was updated on September 29, 2026 and Runestone Text Editor on September 30, 2026.
Which is more popular, iSH Shell or Runestone Text Editor?
iSH Shell currently peaks at #17 in the App Store charts, and Runestone Text Editor at #30. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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