Preview App vs Shell Keyboard
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Preview App
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Do you want to preview what your app looks like on the app store in advance? Let me help you. First download this app and then edit your app information. You can see the 6.5-inch and 6.9-inch app preview.
Shell Keyboard
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Shell Keyboard adds the keys a terminal actually needs โ the ones iOS's default keyboard leaves out. Working over SSH or in a local shell needs Ctrl, Esc, Tab, arrow keys, and function keys, none of which exist on the standard iOS keyboard. Shell Keyboard is a custom keyboard built specifically for terminal apps like Blink, Termius, Prompt, a-Shell and iSH โ it sends the exact ASCII control codes and ANSI/VT escape sequences your terminal expects, the same bytes a physical keyboard would send. NEW ON IPAD: A REAL KEYBOARD Choose a 60% or 75% layout, the compact keyboards terminal users already type on. The 75% layout puts Esc, F1โF12, a number row, Caps Lock, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down and inverted-T arrow keys on one screen, and Shift types the symbol printed on each key, just like a physical keyboard. The 60% layout keeps the function keys, navigation and arrows one fn press away. iPad opens in the 75% layout; the original ShellKey layout is one tap away in Settings. WHAT'S INCLUDED โข A dedicated terminal layer: Ctrl, Alt, Esc, Tab, arrow keys, Home/End/PgUp/PgDn, and the punctuation a shell prompt uses constantly โข Ctrl and Alt as proper modifiers โ latch one for a single keypress, or double-tap to lock it on, like a hardware keyboard โข A full function-key layer: tap fn and the top row becomes F1 through F12, while every other row stays exactly where it was โข Arrow keys that match the app you're in โ Normal for shells, Application for vim, tmux, less and htop, or Move the Cursor for ordinary text fields โข Return or Enter: long-press the Return key to switch between a carriage return and a line feed โข A plain QWERTY layer and a complete symbols layer, for ordinary text โ hostnames, paths, commit messages โ without leaving the keyboard โข Seven themes โ Shell, Ember, Glacier, Dusk, Moss, Void (pure black) and High Contrast โ each in light and dark, and an Appearance option to keep the keyboard light or dark everywhere โข On iPad, 60% and 75% layouts (75% by default), described above โข A searchable reference inside the app, listing every key alongside the exact escape sequence and hex bytes it sends โข Every key emits the exact byte sequence a real terminal expects SETTINGS LIVE IN THE KEYBOARD Touch and hold the key with the small gear (or tap the gear key on the iPad's 60% and 75% layouts) for Haptic feedback, Theme, Appearance and, on iPad, Layout. They live in the keyboard itself because, without Full Access, iOS keeps a keyboard and its app apart, and Shell Keyboard never asks for Full Access. BUILT FOR PRIVACY Shell Keyboard never asks for Full Access. It cannot reach the network. It never reads, stores, or transmits anything you type โ every key it sends is decided from the key you tapped, and nothing else. No analytics, no crash reporting, no account. GOOD TO KNOW In a terminal or editor running inside a web browser โ code-server, Jupyter and the like โ the keys that send a multi-character escape sequence don't get through: the arrow keys, F1 through F12, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, Shift+Tab and Alt combinations. Everything that sends a single byte works there normally, including every Ctrl combination, Esc, Tab, Return and ordinary typing. Web pages listen for key press events and iOS only lets a keyboard extension insert text, so this is an iOS limitation that applies to every third-party keyboard, not something an app can work around. WHO IT'S FOR Anyone who SSHes from an iPhone or iPad โ sysadmins, developers, and anyone tired of missing Ctrl+C.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Shell Keyboard at fortnightly against Preview App's every 13 months. Shell Keyboard also leads on chart position (#1 vs unranked) and price ($0.99 vs $1.99). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Preview App costs $1.99 and Shell Keyboard $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Preview App ships an update every 13 months, Shell Keyboard fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Preview App | Shell Keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | $0.99 โ better |
| Update frequency | Every 13 months | Fortnightly โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Best chart rank | โ | #1 โ better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 โ better | 16.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Cangmu Technology Co., Ltd | Nguyen Nguyen |
In-app purchases
Preview App
No in-app purchases
Shell Keyboard
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Preview App free?
Is Shell Keyboard free?
Do Preview App or Shell Keyboard have ads?
Which is updated more often, Preview App or Shell Keyboard?
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