Blink Shell, Build & Code vs dotMux easy SSH with tmux
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Blink Shell, Build & Code
Transform your iOS device into a powerful terminal for coding and development. Leverage Mosh and SSH for stable, fast connections. Integrate with VS Code and manage your entire development workflow from your pocket.
- Mosh and SSH connections
- VS Code integration (Blink Code)
- Remote runtime creation (Blink Build)
- Full SSH toolset
- Hardware keyboard support
- External display support
- SFTP transfers
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Do Blink! Transform your iOS device into a pro-grade terminal. Blink is the first professional, desktop-grade terminal for iOS that leverages the support of Mosh and SSH. Thus, we can guarantee stable connections, crazy-fast speeds, and full configurations. It can and should be your all-day-long tool. **Start your 14-day free trial now!** But, Blink is much more. Now with Blink Code and Blink Build**, your entire development workflow fits in your pocket. What the Blink community is saying: “In some ways, I prefer my iPad / Blink / Digital Ocean setup to coding on my Mac“ - TheVerge "I have tried a number of terminals on iOS and this is really The One." - Twit.tv “Connections still come up when I get back to a client project after a weekend off.“ - The Sweet Setup “The way to use VS Code on the iPad” - programminglife.io What our users love the most from Blink Shell: - Mosh connections that even survive a device reboot. - Most complete SSH implementation on iOS. - Code command for VS Code integration. - Blazingly fast terminal and SFTP transfers. - Includes Pragmata Pro with ligatures. Blink Shell has a fully loaded SSH toolset: - SSH with PKI support: DSA, RSA, ECDSA & ED25519 keys. - Support for Secure Enclave Keys and Certificates. - Port forwarding with local, remote & dynamic tunnel support. - SOCKS5 proxy for a private VPN. - Agent Forwarding. - Complete SSH Config file support. - ControlMaster and pooled connections. - Files.app integration for SFTP remote hosts. - SFTP with copy-on-change. Blink has been the leading developer tool in the AppStore for +5 years, so there is a lot more: - External Display support. - Legendary Hardware Keyboard support, even remap shortcuts and keyboard codes. - Local & iCloud Blink Shell folders for Files.app access across devices. - Host sync over iCloud. - Link-files from other applications and work with them in Blink. - Cool themes and fonts, and install your own! - Smart Keys on SW Keyboard to navigate with touch. - FaceCam command to create tutorials and streams. - Bell notifications. - Supports multiple windows and multiple tabs. - Network & UNIX CLI tools, check our docs for more information. Blink Code integrates with VS Code: - Code on local projects, or seamlessly on remote machines. - Fully-loaded code editor. - A coding experience fitted to your device, that connects to VS Code for web, GitHub Codespaces, GitPod or your own VS Code server. Blink Build (Requires a $7.99/month subscription) Creates remote runtimes that can be accessed on all your devices. You can use Build in your day-to-day workflows whether you need to do development, DevOps or just play around with new tooling. Participate in our community, and don’t forget to leave us your feedback and your feature(s) requests. Enjoy! http://blink.sh http://twitter.com/blinkshell http://GitHub.com/blinksh Terms of Use: https://blink.sh/blink-gpl Privacy Policy: https://blink.sh/pp * Blink Code is not affiliated nor endorsed by Microsoft. ** Blink Build requires a separate subscription to make use of our Virtual Machines.
dotMux easy SSH with tmux
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Stop fighting tmux on a touchscreen. dotMux speaks tmux control mode natively and rebuilds your remote workspace as real iOS UI — the way iTerm2 does on the Mac. Windows and panes become native tabs and views you drive by touch. NATIVE tmux, NOT raw text - Remote tmux windows become native tabs. - Every pane becomes a native view — focused full-screen on iPhone, true side-by-side splits on iPad. - Split, resize, and close panes from the app — pane menu, long-press, drag the divider, or keyboard shortcuts. - The window and pane pickers render your real terminals, live: pick a window by what's in it, not by its name. - Select and copy text with native handles; tap links in the terminal to open them. - If a host has no tmux, dotMux falls back gracefully to a plain terminal. EVERY HOST AT ONCE - Connect to as many hosts as you like at once. Leaving a terminal doesn't disconnect it — work keeps running on every host you have open. - The host list is the connection switcher: live hosts marked where you already look, one tap away. - Group hosts into folders; each folder shows what's connected inside it. - Forward a remote port over SSH and open your server's web UI inside dotMux. REAL SSH, DONE RIGHT - Password and public-key authentication. - Import your ed25519 or ECDSA (P-256) keys by paste or from Files — passphrase-protected keys included. - Or generate a key in the Secure Enclave: non-exportable, signed in-chip, never leaving the device. - Review and forget trusted host keys. - Connect directly from your device to your own servers. No middleman, no developer backend. PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF - The session picker lists every tmux session on the host and marks the ones already attached. - Switch sessions in place, or create named ones on the fly. - iOS suspended the app? Jobs keep running on the server, and dotMux re-attaches and rebuilds your tabs and panes when you come back. A KEYBOARD BUILT FOR TERMINALS - A helper bar with the keys terminals actually need: Esc, Ctrl, Tab and more. - Fully customizable: add, remove, and reorder every key — F-keys, Ctrl combos, arrows, even your own text. - Snippets: save commands globally or per host and run them again without typing them. - A multi-line composer for drafting long commands and agent prompts, sent in one go. - A drag-pad arrow joystick with press-and-hold repeat, sticky modifiers, and a hide-to-floating-dock control when you want the screen back. - Paste images from your clipboard — annotate them first if you like; dotMux uploads them and pastes the path (built for Claude Code). MAKE IT YOURS - Terminal fonts: JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, Hack, IBM Plex Mono and more. - Color themes with live preview: Dracula, Nord, Solarized, Gruvbox, Tokyo Night and more — or import any Ghostty or iTerm2 theme from a file or URL. - Pinch to zoom with a live cols × rows readout; keep the screen awake while connected. AUTOMATE IT - Shortcuts support: connect to a host, send a command, read the output back. Unattended runs, enabled per credential, for automations that can't stop to ask for Face ID. SECURITY THAT STAYS ON YOUR DEVICE - Face ID app-lock, plus a second Face ID gate per credential, with a short configurable grace period. - Credentials live in the Keychain and Secure Enclave, bound to this device — never synced to iCloud, never sent anywhere. - A privacy cover hides the terminal in the app switcher. - dotMux collects no data. No analytics, no tracking, no ads, no account, no sign-up. MADE FOR iPad TOO - One universal app for iPhone and iPad. - Open hosts side by side in multiple windows; built for hardware keyboard and trackpad. PRICING - Free: save and connect to one host, fully featured. - Unlimited Hosts: a one-time $1.99 purchase to save as many servers as you like. No subscription. Restore Purchases supported. Note: RSA keys are not supported (modern OpenSSH disables the SHA-1 ssh-rsa signature). Use ed25519, ECDSA (P-256), or a Secure Enclave key.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is chart position: Blink Shell, Build & Code at #15 against dotMux easy SSH with tmux's unranked. Blink Shell, Build & Code also leads on iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Blink Shell, Build & Code sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and dotMux easy SSH with tmux sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Blink Shell, Build & Code | dotMux easy SSH with tmux |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.1 (418 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 36.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 418 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #15 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 211 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Blink Shell, Inc | Free Tomorrow |
In-app purchases
Blink Shell, Build & Code
- Build Basic - 50 credits/month1 Month trial$7.991 Month
- Blink+Build Basic7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Blink Plus$19.991 Year
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- Blink+14 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Blink Shell ClassicFree
dotMux easy SSH with tmux
- dotMux — Unlimited Hosts$1.99
Questions
Is Blink Shell, Build & Code free?
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