ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal vs DraftCode
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal
A professional SSH and Mosh terminal application offering robust features like xterm compatibility, secure authentication via keys and certificates, and smart port forwarding. It includes a code snippet library for batch execution and background connection monitoring.
- Full-featured SSH terminal
- xterm compatibility
- tmux support
- Secure authentication (keys, certs)
- Smart port forwarding
- Code snippet library
- Background connection monitoring
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ShadowTerm is a full-featured SSH and Mosh terminal for iPhone and iPad. Keep tmux and herdr alive across networks, with a desktop-quality terminal and keyboards built for the job. KEY FEATURES Connections that survive - SSH with passwords and keys. Secure Enclave keys sign with Face ID and never leave the device - Jump hosts (Connect Via), one hop. Mosh does not run through a jump - Mosh survives network drops, backgrounding, and sleep - Local and remote port forwarding. SSH agent forwarding (SSH only), confirmed each use - Auto-connect and geofence auto-connect. Background monitoring, notifications, and Live Activities - Handoff a saved host to another Apple device - Picture in Picture. Stopping it does not disconnect Terminal - 256-color support - tmux, GNU screen, and herdr, detected automatically - Mouse mode: tap to left-click, long-press to right-click, scroll to navigate. Mouse off: long-press or double-tap to paste - Tap a path to open that file. A wrapped link opens as one URL - Multi-window on iPad: Terminal, Files, Monitor, Markdown, or Text Editor - App themes include Sci-Fi, Glass, Midnight, Matrix, and more. Glass chrome is transparent. The terminal stays solid - Terminal colors include Dracula, Nord, Gruvbox, Solarized, Monokai, and others - Pinch-to-zoom. Disconnect All from Control Center Keyboards - 15 layouts: Tmux, Herdr, Screen, Files, OpenCode, Productivity, DevOps, Git, Kubernetes, Python, Node.js, macOS, Database, Security, Terminal Classic - Editable keys, snippets, and sticky modifiers. Auto-switch per process. Mic voice entry Files - SFTP with multi-select and bulk copy, move, and delete. Paste a screenshot or file to upload it - Dual-pane copy between hosts, and Files app access (Premium) - Editor with syntax highlighting. Markdown preview, including Mermaid. Startup snippets per host AI, on your keys - OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Grok, Ollama, OpenRouter, or any OpenAI-compatible server - Blocks fork bombs, rm -rf /, and similar patterns on the device - Inline assistant in the editor Hermes, T3, and agents - Hermes for your own hermes-webui: sessions, chat, Tasks, Kanban, and skills. Console layout, voice listen, and read-aloud. Scheduled tasks notify you when you are away - T3 for a self-hosted T3 Code server: chat, plan, implement, a branch picker, and photo attachments - AI Agents for herdr and tmux. A pane is a full terminal. Claude Code, questions, and Hermes actions share one approval card. Face ID can be required to approve - Your own ntfy server. Many channels. Link a host to a channel - Approve or deny Claude Code from the phone, including always-allow and accept-edits. Session templates for repeatable workflows - MCP server (Premium): open sessions, run commands, read output, and check hosts. Risky commands stay approval-gated, with per-host always-allow. Siri and Shortcuts. Agents can edit your keyboards over MCP Monitor - CPU, memory, network, filesystem, disk I/O, and Nvidia GPU when present - Ping, port scan, DNS, TLS probe, Wake-on-LAN, Bonjour, and SSH preflight Also - Snippets with variables, including secrets. Widgets for hosts and AI Agents: Lock Screen, StandBy, CarPlay, and Control Center - Searchable Settings. Universal clipboard sync. Demo Privacy Mode scrambles the terminal while you record. Face ID to turn it off - iCloud sync for machines, identities, snippets, port forwards, keyboards, and settings. Credentials in the Keychain - Your API keys, or fully local with Ollama. No telemetry, no analytics, no data collection ShadowTerm is built by a developer who lives in tmux on iPad. If mobile SSH apps disconnect, lose your prompt, or feel cramped, this one will feel different. mosh ;) Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://shadowterm.app/privacy
DraftCode
A free, offline code, text, and Markdown editor for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Offers syntax highlighting for over 60 languages, powerful find and replace, and project management. Ideal for developers and writers seeking a focused editing environment.
- Syntax highlighting for 60+ languages
- Offline functionality
- Live Markdown preview
- Pro-grade find & replace
- Project file tree management
- Command Palette for quick access
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DraftCode is a private code, text and Markdown editor for Mac, iPhone and iPad. Open local files or folders, start typing immediately and keep your work in standard file formats. One-time purchase: no ads, account, tracking, subscription or in-app purchase. EDIT CODE AND TEXT • Syntax highlighting and language detection for 57 languages • Tabs, split editing, line numbers, minimap, bookmarks and code snippets • Multi-cursor editing and select next or all matching occurrences • Auto-indent, bracket pairing, comments and a scrollable code-key toolbar • Code folding with bracket and HTML/XML tag matching • Open files and project folders through Apple system pickers LANGUAGES AND THEMES • Built-in engines for Swift, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Rust and more • Import TextMate grammars, language configuration, syntax themes and file-icon themes • Enable, disable, replace or remove packs, with a safe return to built-in defaults SEARCH AND NAVIGATE • Plain text, escaped and regular-expression search • Find and replace across a selected project folder • Command palette, quick open, outline and TODO navigation FORMAT LOCALLY • JSON, JSON5, HTML, CSS, SVG, SQL, YAML, TOML and plist • JavaScript, TypeScript, JSX and TSX format and compress on device • Full file or selection, with undo, error locations and large-file protection REMOTE WORKSPACES • Connect to FTP, explicit FTPS and SFTP servers • Browse folders, download text files on demand and upload saved changes • Keep passwords in Keychain, detect server-side conflicts and reconnect automatically SOURCE CONTROL • Clone Git repositories over HTTPS or SSH into a folder you choose • Stage, commit, branch, merge, fetch, pull and push on this device • Store passwords, tokens and pasted SSH private keys in Keychain; confirm the host fingerprint before saving it. On Mac, authorize local SSH files instead — those private keys are not copied into Keychain OPTIONAL AI EDITING • Off by default. Prefers on-device Apple models; otherwise your HTTPS endpoint receives only the current selection when you invoke it • Failures never change the document MARKDOWN • Local preview with tables, task lists, code, Mermaid and math • Side-by-side editing on supported layouts • HTML export on Apple platforms and PDF export on Mac Local documents are never uploaded automatically. Remote transfers go only to a server you explicitly configure. DraftCode does not collect personal data.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal at Free against DraftCode's $1.99. ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal also leads on ratings volume (17 vs 3). DraftCode's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 63%) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). On update cadence, ads, monetization model 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
ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal is free to download; DraftCode costs $1.99 up front. ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. DraftCode asks for nothing beyond the download.
DraftCode holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal has 17 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal's written reviews are positive against 100% of DraftCode's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal | DraftCode |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.3 (17 ratings) | 4.7 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 17 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 115 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Carlos Savcic | 献慧 陈 |
Customer experience
ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal
DraftCode
In-app purchases
ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal
- ShadowTerm Premium Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- ShadowTerm Premium Yearly$19.991 Year
- Lifetime Premium$29.99
DraftCode
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is ShadowTerm ssh & mosh Terminal free?
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