Comparison

a vs eTreego

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

Head to head
About

a

This app provides a local Unix terminal emulator for iOS devices, enabling users to run various Unix commands, transfer files, and edit them. It supports programming languages like Python and JavaScript, along with network utilities and image/video conversion tools.

Highlights
  • Local Unix terminal emulator
  • File transfer (scp, curl)
  • Text editing (vim, ed)
  • Programming languages (Python, Lua, JavaScript)
  • Network utilities (nslookup, ping)
  • Image and video conversion (ffmpeg)
  • Shortcuts integration
Features
Read full description

a-Shell mini is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on you iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. Work with git repositories using lg2. Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with iOS underlying BSD Unix. a-Shell mini includes Python, Lua, JavaScript and webAssembly for programming and scripting. It also includes native ffmpeg and convert for fast image and video conversion. There are also multiple network utilities: nslookup, ping, whois, ifconfig... Type help for help, help -l to get the full list of commands. a-Shell mini can be controlled from Shortcuts: run commands in order, process files in a-Shell, get the results as text or files, transfer files to other apps... a-Shell mini uses iPadOS 13+ “multiple windows” ability, so you can run multiple shells at the same time, with different commands, in different directories. You can edit a file in one window with vim and process it in the other with python. a-Shell mini is a minimalist terminal, designed to have a very small footprint (less than 250 MB). If you need more commands, please consider a-Shell, which has more Python packages, more JavaScript modules, Perl, make, a C and C++ compiler and TeX.

About

eTreego

Features
Read full description

好用就用,不好用先跟我說

Screenshots

a4 screens
eTreego4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: eTreego at weekly against a's monthly. a's advantage is chart position (#33 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

a ships an update monthly, eTreego weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
a versus eTreego: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteraeTreego
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (123 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings123 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
Best chart rank#33 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size383 MB15 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperNicolas HolzschucheTreego.Co,.Ltd

Bugs and requests

a

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • Keyboard icons comically large
  • App deletes itself
  • Rotating iPhone/iPad scrambles display
  • Pasting text results in strange characters
  • App only uses half of the screen when editing files
Show 7 more
  • Command not found errors for all commands
  • App crashes on launch after update
  • Cannot get own absolute path
  • Cannot execute own programs
  • App messes up .txt file association
  • Trouble selecting characters to copy and paste
  • No module named requests in shortcuts

Requested features

8 requests
  • Option to use old keyboard buttons
  • Add openssl support
  • Add libx265 codec for ffmpeg
  • Support telnet command
  • Add possibility to compile from source
Show 3 more
  • Make Ubuntu default
  • Add expansion of keys (e.g., echo {a..z})
  • Adjustable font size

eTreego

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

a

No in-app purchases

None

eTreego

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is a free?
a is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is eTreego free?
eTreego is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do a or eTreego have ads?
Neither a nor eTreego shows ads.
Which is updated more often, a or eTreego?
a ships an update monthly, and eTreego weekly. Most recently, a was updated on November 3, 2026 and eTreego on October 31, 2026.

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