Comparison

La Terminal vs Shell Drop

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

Head to head
About

La Terminal

This app provides a mobile command center for AI coding agents and server management. It offers full SSH and Mosh support for resilient sessions, along with powerful resource monitoring and an AI-powered assistant for command generation.

Highlights
  • SSH and Mosh support
  • AI-powered command assistant
  • Command Search and workflow gallery
  • Resource monitoring and process explorer
  • Secure private key storage
  • iCloud sync for settings and keys
Features
Read full description

Welcome to La Terminal, your mobile command center for AI coding agents. Connect to OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, or OpenClaw from anywhere, with full SSH and Mosh support for resilient, always-on sessions. More than just a simple command-line shell, La Terminal provides a fully-native, first-class touch experience for command-line hackers on iPhone and iPad. Built on Open Source: From the original developer of Midnight Commander, the open source visual file manager for Linux, La Terminal provides a comprehensive Xterm/DEC VT terminal emulator experience based on the popular open source SwiftTerm library with powerful client amenities for serious command-line aficionados. Command Search: Use Command Search to quickly find the command you are looking for. Search your own command history and our comprehensive workflow gallery to find and execute commands. Create and edit your own workflows for a variety of tasks, including running frequently used commands, automating a series of commands, or just tracking down a complex command that might be difficult to recall. AI-powered assistant: Get help writing Linux, Mac, or Windows terminal commands using plain English, such as “extract the name property inside the article element from a json file” or “list the most CPU consuming Kubernetes pods”. Eye candy: La Terminal sports a fully themeable experience accented with beautifully captivating live-effect backgrounds powered by Metal Performance Shaders. Secure Enclave: Your private keys are stored in the secure enclave so your private key can never be found in plain text. Powerful status visualizations: La Terminal’s resource monitoring tools put powerful CPU and memory use visualizations, as well as a native process explorer, right at your fingertips. Resource monitoring visualizations are accessible from the top of any connected terminal, and process explorer tools provide multiple views into CPU, memory, and disk utilization. Thumbnail snapshots show previews of connected hosts along with system load over time in the active Terminals view. Network monitoring plots data traffic on a world map to help you understand the sources and targets of connections to and from your connected hosts. iCloud for everyone: La Terminal makes it easy to switch between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac by syncing your settings and keys over iCloud - like magic! Host platform aware: Whether you’re managing a dozen Linux VMs on AWS or Azure, logging into zsh on your Mac desktop, or configuring your latest IoT Raspberry Pi project via bash, La Terminal provides the most productive experience possible on a mobile device. La Terminal is even Windows-aware to ensure PowerShell power users can enjoy a delightful ssh experience, too. International support: La Terminal delivers extensive support for international terminals, including rendering internationalized output as well as support for internationalized input methods from native iOS dictation and international keyboards. La Terminal Pro features - Complete SFTP File Manager - Upload, download and navigate remote filesystems with our native SFTP client. - Files can be uploaded or downloaded to the local device via the iOS Files app, or copied between remote hosts. - Files app support - Access files on any configured La Terminal host using Apple’s Files app and other File Provider-enabled apps. - SSH Agent Forwarding - Use locally configured keys to authorize connections when SSHing between remote hosts. - All Live Backgrounds - Choose from our full library of GPU-accelerated Live Backgrounds to customize your terminal experience. Terms of Service: https://la-terminal.net/la-terminal/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://la-terminal.net/privacy-policy

About

Shell Drop

This app provides a native terminal experience for iOS and iPadOS, designed for running AI agents via SSH. It allows seamless integration with AI models by enabling image and file uploads directly into sessions, with customizable upload limits. Features include tmux awareness, secure SSH key authentication, and on-device voice input for commands.

Highlights
  • AI agent integration
  • Image and file uploads
  • Tmux session management
  • SSH key authentication
  • On-device voice input
  • Customizable keyboard toolbar
Features
Read full description

ShellDrop is a fast, native terminal for iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro, built for running AI agents: Claude Code, Codex, Grok, Hermes, OpenClaw, opencode, anything that lives in tmux on a Mac mini, VPS or any box you can SSH into. WORK WITH YOUR AGENTS - Paste images straight into a session. Copy a screenshot from any app, paste it in the terminal, and your agent reads it. - Attach files too. Tap the paperclip in the toolbar to pick a file from Files, or a photo or video from your library, and it uploads to the server for your agent to read. - You choose the upload size limit. Settings goes from 100 MB to 1 GB, and if a file is over, ShellDrop offers to raise it on the spot. - Tmux aware. Vertical swipe scrolls history, horizontal swipe switches sessions. - Tab names sync with the real tmux session names automatically. - Sessions stay alive in the background while you switch apps. - Agent to clipboard. Ask your agent to write an email, say "copy that to my clipboard", and it lands on your phone ready to paste into your mail app. - Droplet Visualizer: the feature nobody asked for. See all your sessions from the perspective of an Egyptian god. BUILT LIKE A REAL TERMINAL - SSH key authentication. Generate Ed25519 keys or hardware-backed Secure Enclave keys in-app, where the private key never leaves the chip. - Paste-import your existing OpenSSH keys. - The keyboard toolbar is yours. Tap and hold to rearrange the keys you use most, and create your own custom Tmux key bindings. - Sticky ctrl for all of your perverted tmux activities. - Text selection with a dedicated selection mode, long-press word select, and one-tap links. - Nerd Fonts. FiraCode and JetBrains Mono render the glyphs nvim and LazyVim need. - Full screen mode for extra real estate. - Full iPad support including 13" iPad Pro, plus hardware keyboards. - iCloud sync keeps saved connections on every device, and you can switch it off in Settings any time. Private keys stay on your device by design. NO SUBSCRIPTION Every feature included. VOICE DROP Tap the mic on the keyboard toolbar and talk. Your words drop into the prompt at the cursor. Transcription runs on-device with Apple speech, or through your own Groq API key for whisper-large-v3-turbo. Nothing sends until you hit return. Prefer a dictation keyboard like Wispr Flow? Works great here too. PRIVACY Credentials live in the iOS keychain on your device. There is no account, and no telemetry or analytics are collected. Terminal traffic goes to your servers over SSH and nowhere else. Built by an indie developer who runs AI agents every day.

Screenshots

La Terminal4 screens
Shell Drop4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Shell Drop at none against La Terminal's 3. Shell Drop also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 66%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). La Terminal's advantage is ratings volume (104 vs 3). On price, ads, chart position 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. La Terminal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Shell Drop asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shell Drop holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: La Terminal has 104 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 66% of La Terminal's written reviews are positive against 100% of Shell Drop's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

La Terminal ships an update every 3 weeks, Shell Drop every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
La Terminal versus Shell Drop: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLa TerminalShell Drop
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (104 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings104 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#142 — better#197
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size85 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperXibbon, IncDaniel Bilsborough

Customer experience

La Terminal

All ratings104 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral1.0%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive66.0%
Neutral14.0%
Negative20.0%

Shell Drop

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

La Terminal

Reported bugs

23 issues
  • Stuck in "keys" dialog on first use (Vision Pro)
  • Nerd symbols do not display well
  • Session keep alive technology stopped working well
  • File transfer corrupts uploads
  • Connection silently dies after app switch, folders appear empty
Show 18 more
  • Korean language is de-composed
  • No character support for 2-character-wide characters
  • App crashes reproducible on iOS 18.1 when loading SSH key from file
  • Keyboard will not hide on sessions page, tab bar unreachable
  • Lot of lag when typing, making app unusable
  • Blurry fonts compared to other SSH apps
  • Unable to open more than two SSH sessions
  • Clicking on terminal pastes clipboard content
  • Cannot get anything to connect using Vision Pro initially (PolicyDenied)
  • VisionOS local network access issues
  • App sometimes crashes when scrolling to appearance section of a connection
  • Can’t change default port number
  • Text is clipped entirely on the four rounded corners
  • Cannot figure out how to highlight text and paste
  • Need to put login/password for every individual host
  • Need to use ed25519 SSH key
  • Sneaky processes uploaded to server without permission/explanation
  • Monitoring bug: typing doesn't input after dismissing charts

Requested features

34 requests
  • Add English option
  • Ability to change text size easily
  • Support for ed25519 SSH keys
  • Option to turn off rendering bright colors as bold fonts
  • Ban the soft keyboard from ever appearing again
Show 29 more
  • Open a second session with a host
  • Customization for monitoring (exclude/hide mount points)
  • Ability to highlight text and paste easily
  • One spot for passwords (accounts/group menu)
  • Support for 2-character-wide characters
  • Ability to change font
  • Disable mouse reporting option
  • Fix file transfer corruption
  • Improve session keep alive technology
  • Fix connection dying after app switch
  • Fix keyboard not hiding on sessions page
  • Fix blurry fonts
  • Support more than two windows
  • Fix pasting on click
  • Remove black bars on Vision Pro windows
  • Add margin to terminal windows
  • Fix text clipping at rounded corners
  • Fix laggy performance
  • Make scrolling work with Neovim
  • Fix VisionOS local network access issues
  • Allow changing default port number
  • Fix native session persistence
  • Fix tmux option to attach to existing session
  • Improve handling of network glitches
  • Fix Korean language de-composition
  • Fix tutorials not working
  • Fix settings buttons
  • Add dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard

Shell Drop

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

La Terminal

Subscriptions2
  • La Terminal Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • La Terminal Pro Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • La Terminal Pro Lifetime$99.99
None

Shell Drop

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is La Terminal free?
La Terminal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shell Drop free?
Shell Drop is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, La Terminal or Shell Drop?
Shell Drop is rated higher. La Terminal averages 4.7 out of 5 from 104 ratings, while Shell Drop averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do La Terminal or Shell Drop have ads?
Neither La Terminal nor Shell Drop shows ads.
Which is updated more often, La Terminal or Shell Drop?
La Terminal ships an update every 3 weeks, and Shell Drop every 9 days. Most recently, La Terminal was updated on October 27, 2026 and Shell Drop on October 25, 2026.
Which is more popular, La Terminal or Shell Drop?
La Terminal currently peaks at #142 in the App Store charts, and Shell Drop at #197. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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