rootshell vs QuickTUI
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
rootshell
This app provides a powerful, desktop-class terminal emulator with GPU acceleration and native support for SSH, Mosh, and tssh. It offers features like system-wide VPN over SSH, native Git integration, and AI assistance for hands-free command execution and web searches.
- GPU-accelerated terminal
- Native SSH and Mosh support
- System-wide VPN over SSH
- Native Git client
- AI voice and text agents
- Cloud and Kubernetes integration
- Hardware security key support
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rootshell is a desktop-class terminal emulator built on libghostty — the GPU-accelerated engine behind the Ghostty desktop terminal. A local shell on every platform, Mac screen sharing, native SSH, mosh-compatible roaming, tssh, system-wide VPN, native git, and Metal rendering in a single app. NEW: SCREEN SHARING Reach your Mac's screen, not just its shell, from your iPhone or iPad. High Performance mode streams up to 4K at 60 FPS, fully encrypted. Match Client sizing spins up a virtual display sized exactly to your device: no panning, no letterboxing, with remote system audio. Standard VNC mode covers Linux and headless machines, and tunnels over SSH jump hosts. Nothing to install on the Mac — turn on Screen Sharing and connect. Touch, trackpad, hardware keyboard, and two-way clipboard all work, in tabs, splits, or full screen. METAL-ACCELERATED TERMINAL Built on libghostty's Zig core with direct Metal rendering. Smooth scrolling, zero-flicker synchronized output, and full mouse capture for tmux, vim, and zellij. Tabs, split panes, and persistent scrollback across app restarts. THREE REMOTE PROTOCOLS, ONE APP • SSH — Native Swift SSH client with Ed25519, ECDSA, RSA, and post-quantum ML-KEM + ML-DSA. Jump hosts, port and agent forwarding, and Keychain password storage. • Rootshell Roam — Mosh-compatible sessions survive network changes and app restarts. Multipath TCP bonds WiFi and cellular. Predictive local echo keeps typing responsive. STUN-based NAT traversal punches through firewalls. • tssh with QUIC (TLS 1.3) and KCP transport for lower latency, full native scrollback, and session resumption. NATIVE TMUX INTEGRATION Attach in control mode (tmux -CC) and tmux windows become native tabs, panes become real splits — copy, search, and scroll with native gestures. A dashboard shows live window previews, and tabs survive restarts over tssh. SSH VPN Turn any SSH or tssh session into a system-wide VPN. Route all device traffic through your remote server. No extra software on the server — if you can SSH to it, you can VPN through it. NATIVE GIT Clone, commit, diff, log, blame, rebase, cherry-pick, and worktree — in native Swift with SSH transport. Syntax-highlighted pager output and optional AI-generated commit messages. VOICE AI AGENT Talk to an always-on assistant over Gemini Live. It reads scrollback, runs SSH commands hands-free, searches the web, and asks permission before anything risky. OPTIONAL TEXT AI Chat with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or 400+ models via OpenRouter. Bring your own API key. HARDWARE SECURITY KEYS Private keys never leave hardware. FIDO2/WebAuthn authentication with touch-to-sign. SANDBOXED LOCAL SHELL A full local shell with vim 9.1, Helix, SFTP, SCP, curl, jq, mtr, and standard Unix utilities. The rf browser offers yazi-style miller columns with image previews and git indicators. croc peer-to-peer file transfer, flag-aware tab completion, and prompt themes. CLOUD & KUBERNETES Connect to AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, Akamai (Linode), and Tailscale. Browse instances, access serial consoles, generate EKS kubeconfigs, and debug Kubernetes nodes with ephemeral pods. 450+ THEMES & VISUAL EFFECTS Over 450 color themes with location-based day/night switching. Animated backgrounds — solar, ocean waves, starfields, fireflies — plus Shadertoy-compatible shaders and custom fonts. CUSTOMIZABLE TOOLBAR Drag, reorder, and hide 45+ built-in keys. Create custom keys that send text, key combos, or sequences. Sticky modifiers with tap and double-tap lock. Separate iPhone and iPad layouts. CONNECTION MANAGEMENT Save profiles with folders, tags, and iCloud sync. Quick Connect autocompletes from history and cloud instances. Background SSH tunnels with auto-start. Siri Shortcuts integration. KEYBOARD POWER FEATURES QMK-style mod-tap keys, dictation and CJK input, customizable shortcuts, and Option key as Alt for international layouts.
QuickTUI
Control your AI coding agents and terminal sessions from any screen. Get notified when your agents need input, chat with them directly, and launch them with a single tap. Manage files, ports, and previews all within the app.
- AI agent notifications
- Chat mode with Markdown
- One-tap agent launching
- Session status overview
- Remote access from anywhere
- Terminal customization
- File browsing and transfer
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Your AI coding agents, within reach of any screen. QuickTUI is the iPhone and iPad app for your own computer or server. Kick off Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, or any long-running terminal job — then walk away. Your session stays live on your machine, and your phone tells you the moment an agent needs you. Free for one server, with a direct connection by default — your code never touches our servers. KNOW WHEN AN AGENT NEEDS YOU — NEW Get notified as soon as an agent asks for approval or has a question. Choose which notifications you get and what they show. CHAT WITH YOUR AGENTS — NEW A full chat mode with Markdown rendering. Approve actions and answer questions without opening the terminal, and filter sessions by status. LAUNCH ANY AGENT IN ONE TAP The Agent Wizard starts Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Grok, Gemini, Cursor, Kimi, Qoder, or Pi in the folder you pick, with saved model and effort presets. EVERY SESSION AT A GLANCE One tree of workspaces, windows, and panes, with each agent's live status: working, idle, blocked, or done. Works with tmux or Herdr on Mac and Linux, and with Herdr on Windows. REACH IN FROM ANYWHERE Your agent hit a confirm prompt while you're on the subway. Attach, approve, detach — 10 seconds. No public IP or port forwarding? Connect through QuickTUI Cloud, with a free monthly data allowance for every account. BUILT FOR THE TERMINAL Up to three shortcut bars, a movable D-pad, and a command palette with ready-made commands for popular agents, git, and tmux. Attach images, search your clipboard history, pinch to zoom, and select and copy with ease. VoiceOver can read the terminal. FILES, PORTS, AND PREVIEWS Browse, preview, and transfer files. Forward a listening port in a tap and check your dev server in the built-in browser. Previews open in floating windows. The file browser stays off until you enable it; on macOS the server may then need Files & Folders or Full Disk Access. 50 TERMINAL THEMES Catppuccin, Tokyo Night, Gruvbox, Dracula, Nord, Rose Pine, and more, with separate light and dark themes that follow your system. SETUP IN MINUTES Connect over SSH and QuickTUI installs its server and pairs for you, with a password or an SSH key. Or install the server with one line from https://quicktui.ai, then scan the QR code or paste the pairing text. Direct SSH profiles work with no server at all. FREE TO USE, PRO FOR MORE Free for one server, with every feature included. QuickTUI Pro, a one-time purchase, unlocks unlimited server profiles. QuickTUI Cloud is optional. Bought the app before it became free? You're already Pro — tap Restore Purchase. YOUR SERVER, YOUR DATA Each device pairs with its own key, stored in the iOS Keychain. Your code, keys, and API quotas stay on your machine. Direct connections need no account. No telemetry. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: rootshell at none against QuickTUI's 10. rootshell also leads on ratings volume (53 vs 2). QuickTUI's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly) and review sentiment (100% vs 91%). On price, rating, ads 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
Both are free to download. QuickTUI sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. rootshell asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for rootshell against 5.0 for QuickTUI. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: rootshell has 53 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 91% of rootshell's written reviews are positive against 100% of QuickTUI's.
rootshell ships an update fortnightly, QuickTUI weekly. Both last shipped on November 9, 2026.
| Parameter | rootshell | QuickTUI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (53 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 91.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 53 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 376 MB | 74 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rootshell LLC | 宇雷 廖 |
Customer experience
rootshell
QuickTUI
In-app purchases
rootshell
No in-app purchases
QuickTUI
- Cloud Basic China$0.991 Month
- Cloud Plus China$2.991 Month
- Cloud Basic$6.991 Month
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- Cloud Basic China Annual$9.991 Year
- Cloud Plus$14.991 Month
- Cloud Plus China Annual$29.991 Year
- Cloud Basic Annual$69.991 Year
- Cloud Plus Annual$149.991 Year
- QuickTUI App Icon Pack$9.99
- QuickTUI Pro Lifetime$39.99









