Comparison

NiHao vs Shellton

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

Head to head
About

NiHao

Features
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NiHao is not just another remote connection tool. It's a terminal built for vibe coding -- the state where your tools disappear and only the code remains. Designed for developers who spend their lives in the command line, NiHao brings the experience to your iPhone and iPad with the polish it deserves. Every animation, every color, every font choice exists for one reason: to keep you in the flow. "The best tools are the ones you forget you're using." --- Why NiHao --- β€’ STAY IN THE ZONE - Connect to your servers and start typing. Simple, fast, reliable. No clutter, no distractions. β€’ YOUR SECRETS, SAFE - Credentials stay on your device, protected by iOS. Everything you need, nothing you don't. β€’ PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT - Multiple named connections per server. Your sessions, your names, your flow. β€’ EASY ON THE EYES - Thoughtful colors, clean layout, automatic dark mode for those late-night sessions. β€’ MADE YOUR WAY - Adjust text size, pick a font that sparks joy. Works in English and Chinese. β€’ NO ACCOUNT. NO TRACKING. NO ADS - Just a tool. A good one. --- For the ones who --- β€’ Live in the terminal and want that feeling on the go β€’ Believe great tools should feel great to use β€’ Need a quick connection from anywhere β€’ Think beauty and function belong together --- Note --- You'll need access to your own server to use this app. No sign-up required. No data leaves your device. Happy vibe coding

About

Shellton

Features
Read full description

Shellton is a native ACP cockpit and persistent SSH/Mosh terminal for developers who want to run coding agents from iPhone without moving their work into a proprietary cloud relay. RUN CLAUDE AND CODEX ON YOUR HOSTS. Connect to a saved SSH or Mosh host, choose Claude or Codex, and start or resume an agent session in the directory where your code already lives. Shellton launches the official Agent Client Protocol adapter on demand and carries the session over your existing encrypted connectionβ€”no Shellton account, relay server, or host daemon. AN AGENT INTERFACE BUILT FOR MOBILE. Follow live transcripts, reasoning, tool activity, and plans without squeezing a desktop terminal onto your phone. Approve or deny tool requests, send the next instruction by keyboard or voice, switch between conversations, and hand control back to tmux when you return to a computer. EVERY DROPPED SESSION IS A BUG. Shellton tries Mosh first on every connection. Mosh survives Wi-Fi handoffs, dead zones, and locked-screen suspends. If the server does not have mosh-server installed, Shellton transparently falls back to SSH. VOICE INPUT, ON-DEVICE. Tap the mic and dictate agent prompts or terminal commands. Supported speech engines run on your device; your audio is never sent to Shellton. KEYBOARD THAT WORKS FOR DEVELOPERS. Use a configurable accessory bar with modifier keys, arrows, and custom escape sequences. Build bars in the app or author them in YAML and import them from Files. Hyper, Meh, Kitty keyboard protocol, and tmux prefix shortcuts are supported. FULL-SCREEN TERMINAL. Use a true-color SwiftTerm terminal with Nerd Font glyphs, themes, snippets, per-host history, SSH key management, host-key verification, Live Activities, and tmux-aware navigation. YOUR DATA STAYS YOUR OWN. Shellton uses privacy-preserving product analytics for feature adoption and connection reliability. Analytics never include hostnames, addresses, usernames, commands, terminal text, credentials, voice audio, transcripts, or raw errors, and can be disabled in Settings. There is no advertising or cross-app tracking. SSH keys live in the iOS Keychain, app data remains local, and accessory-bar configuration can sync through your private iCloud container. KEY FEATURES β€’ Native ACP conversations with Claude and Codex β€’ Live transcripts, plans, tool activity, and permission approvals β€’ Direct operation over your SSH or Mosh hosts; no proprietary relay β€’ Auto Mosh-to-SSH fallback per host β€’ On-device voice input β€’ Customizable accessory bar with YAML import/export β€’ Live Activities for active sessions β€’ Ed25519 and ECDSA SSH key generation and import β€’ Optional Face ID protection for stored credentials β€’ Trust-On-First-Use host-key verification β€’ Anonymous, opt-out product analytics; no tracking or ads CONVERSATION REQUIREMENTS β€’ A saved SSH-accessible host with Node.js 22 or later and npm β€’ Authentication with the selected agent provider when prompted β€’ Shellton resolves the official ACP adapter through npx on demand; users do not install a separate Shellton daemon or generic ACP service TERMINAL REQUIREMENTS β€’ iOS 17.0 or later β€’ An SSH server you can connect to β€’ mosh-server on the remote host for persistent Mosh sessions (optional) SHELLTON PRO An optional auto-renewable subscription unlocks voice input, agent conversations, custom accessory bars, and session-continuity tools. Payment is charged to your Apple ID; the subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://datons.github.io/shellton-site/privacy/

Screenshots

NiHao3 screens
Shellton4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: NiHao at 3 against Shellton's 1. NiHao also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

NiHao ships an update every 8 days, Shellton every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
NiHao versus Shellton: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNiHaoShellton
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 8 days β€” betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod β€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 β€” better17.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size81 MB46 MB
Age rating+1717+
Developerζ–‡ ι‚“Jesus Lopez

In-app purchases

None

NiHao

No in-app purchases

None

Shellton

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is NiHao free?
NiHao is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shellton free?
Shellton is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do NiHao or Shellton have ads?
Neither NiHao nor Shellton shows ads.
Which is updated more often, NiHao or Shellton?
NiHao ships an update every 8 days, and Shellton every 2 weeks. Most recently, NiHao was updated on October 9, 2026 and Shellton on October 16, 2026.

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