Binarrator vs Shell Keyboard
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Binarrator
Convert text into binary code and vice versa with a single tap. This straightforward tool simplifies the process of encoding and decoding binary information.
- Text to binary translation
- Binary to text translation
- One-click conversion
- Simple user interface
- Ad-free experience
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This app allows you to easily translate text to binary code or binary code to text, with just the click of a button. It's very simple, just type in the text (or your 0's and 1's), click the translate button and let the app do the rest. The app doesn't show any ads.
Shell Keyboard
This custom keyboard provides essential keys like Ctrl, Esc, and arrow keys that are missing from the standard iOS keyboard. It's designed for terminal applications, sending precise control codes and escape sequences for seamless command-line interaction on iOS and iPadOS devices.
- Dedicated terminal layer with Ctrl, Esc, Tab, arrow keys
- Ctrl and Alt as proper modifiers with lock functionality
- Full function-key layer (F1-F12)
- Configurable arrow key behavior for different apps
- Multiple keyboard layouts for iPad (60% and 75%)
- Seven customizable themes (light and dark)
- Privacy-focused, no Full Access required
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Shell Keyboard adds the keys a terminal actually needs — 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 — 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, F1–F12, 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 • A dedicated terminal layer: Ctrl, Alt, Esc, Tab, arrow keys, Home/End/PgUp/PgDn, and the punctuation a shell prompt uses constantly • Ctrl and Alt as proper modifiers — latch one for a single keypress, or double-tap to lock it on, like a hardware keyboard • A full function-key layer: tap fn and the top row becomes F1 through F12, while every other row stays exactly where it was • Arrow keys that match the app you're in — Normal for shells, Application for vim, tmux, less and htop, or Move the Cursor for ordinary text fields • Return or Enter: long-press the Return key to switch between a carriage return and a line feed • A plain QWERTY layer and a complete symbols layer, for ordinary text — hostnames, paths, commit messages — without leaving the keyboard • Seven themes — Shell, Ember, Glacier, Dusk, Moss, Void (pure black) and High Contrast — each in light and dark, and an Appearance option to keep the keyboard light or dark everywhere • On iPad, 60% and 75% layouts (75% by default), described above • A searchable reference inside the app, listing every key alongside the exact escape sequence and hex bytes it sends • 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 — 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 — code-server, Jupyter and the like — 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 — sysadmins, developers, and anyone tired of missing Ctrl+C.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Shell Keyboard at 100% against Binarrator's 0%. Shell Keyboard also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.0) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). Binarrator's advantage is price ($0.99 vs $1.99). On ratings volume, 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
Binarrator costs $0.99 and Shell Keyboard $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Shell Keyboard holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Binarrator's written reviews are positive against 100% of Shell Keyboard's.
Binarrator ships an update every 2 months, Shell Keyboard fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Binarrator | Shell Keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 3.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #132 | #4 — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ludvig Valdemar Soerensen | Nguyen Nguyen |
Customer experience
Binarrator
Shell Keyboard
In-app purchases
Binarrator
No in-app purchases
Shell Keyboard
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Binarrator free?
Is Shell Keyboard free?
Which has better reviews, Binarrator or Shell Keyboard?
Do Binarrator or Shell Keyboard have ads?
Which is updated more often, Binarrator or Shell Keyboard?
Which is more popular, Binarrator or Shell Keyboard?
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