Comparison

Blink Shell, Build & Code vs Waycar

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Waycar

Control coding agents and shells on your Mac or Linux from your iPhone or iPad. Connect via Mosh or SSH to manage sessions, reply to prompts, and start new tasks remotely. Supports AI agents and integrates with tmux.

Highlights
  • Remote SSH/Mosh connection
  • Manage coding agents and shells
  • Live terminal session viewing
  • Dictation for replies
  • AI agent chat mode
  • tmux integration
  • iCloud sync for settings
Features
Read full description

Waycar is an iPhone and iPad app for the coding agents and shells running on your own Mac or Linux computer. It connects over Mosh or SSH, lists every session with the ones waiting for you on top, and lets you read, reply to and start them from wherever you are. WHAT YOU NEED A Mac or Linux computer you own or rent and can reach over SSH, running herdr (a free, open-source terminal workspace, herdr.dev) or tmux 3.2 or later. Your commands, agents and code run on that computer. Waycar shows its terminal text, replies and files on your device, like any SSH app. HOW IT WORKS - Add a computer by address, user and password or an on-device key, or scan a Pairing Code. - The Console lists every agent and shell on every computer. The ones that need you come first. - Open one to follow its terminal live. Reply by typing or by dictating. - Start a new agent or shell in any workspace, on a fresh git worktree if you like. CHAT MODE Turn on Chat Mode when you start Claude Code, Codex, omp, pi or OpenCode, and the agent opens as a simple chat: your messages, its replies and a line saying what it's doing. Tap Allow or Cancel when it asks. Images and videos it shows you appear above its reply. Touch and hold the Waycar icon and tap New Chat to start one right away. HERDR OR TMUX Already use tmux? Keep it. Your tmux sessions show up as workspaces, and you can start, open, message, rename and close agents from your phone. Run both? Everything appears in one list. ALSO IN WAYCAR - Mosh with automatic SSH fallback, so sessions survive network changes and sleep. - Closed Sessions: agents that ended in the last 30 days stay listed, and you can resume them. - Dictation in the Composer, on device, with a live waveform. - AI Usage: if CodexBar is installed on your computer, Waycar shows how much of each AI account's session and weekly limit is left. - iCloud sync of your hosts, keys and settings through end-to-end encrypted iCloud Keychain. - Notifications and Live Activities when an agent is blocked or done (needs Waycar's free tools on your computer). - Jump hosts, photo and file attachments over SFTP, Ghostty terminal rendering and iPad keyboard shortcuts. FREE AND WAYCAR PRO Waycar is free to download with 10 Launches in any rolling 30 days. A Launch is starting a new agent or shell from Waycar, resuming a closed agent, or starting an agent by typing its command in a Waycar shell. Opening and reading sessions that are already running never counts. Every feature works on the free tier. Waycar Pro removes the Launch limit. It costs $5/month or $40/year in the US, and prices in other countries are shown in the app before you buy. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase. The subscription renews automatically at the same price and period unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the current period ends. Manage or cancel it any time in your Apple Account settings. PRIVACY No sign-up and no Waycar account. Terminal content goes straight between your device and your computer. Usage analytics are sent only if you agree. AI Summaries stay off until you turn them on. herdr is an independent open-source project. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic, PBC. Codex and OpenAI are trademarks of OpenAI. Waycar is not affiliated with or endorsed by herdr, tmux, Ghostty, CodexBar, Anthropic or OpenAI. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://waycar.dev/privacy

Screenshots

Blink Shell, Build & Code4 screens
Waycar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Waycar at 5.0 against Blink Shell, Build & Code's 3.1. Blink Shell, Build & Code's advantage is ratings volume (421 vs 5) and chart position (#8 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Blink Shell, Build & Code sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Waycar sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.00 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Waycar holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Blink Shell, Build & Code has 421 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Blink Shell, Build & Code versus Waycar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlink Shell, Build & CodeWaycar
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.1 (421 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews36.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings421 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#8 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size211 MB82 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperBlink Shell, IncOtreva, LLC

Customer experience

Blink Shell, Build & Code

All ratings418 ratings
Positive51.7%
Neutral2.6%
Negative45.7%
Written reviews348 reviews
Positive36.8%
Neutral2.3%
Negative60.9%

Waycar

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Blink Shell, Build & Code

Subscriptions4
  • Build Basic - 50 credits/month1 Month trial$7.991 Month
  • Blink+Build Basic7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Blink Plus$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Blink+14 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Blink Shell ClassicFree
2 purchases

Waycar

Subscriptions2
  • Waycar Pro Monthly$5.001 Month
  • Waycar Pro Yearly$40.001 Year

Questions

Is Blink Shell, Build & Code free?
Blink Shell, Build & Code is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Waycar free?
Waycar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Blink Shell, Build & Code or Waycar?
Waycar is rated higher. Blink Shell, Build & Code averages 3.1 out of 5 from 421 ratings, while Waycar averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Blink Shell, Build & Code or Waycar have ads?
Neither Blink Shell, Build & Code nor Waycar shows ads.

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