Comparison

rootshell vs WLOC

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Read full description

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.

About

WLOC

This app assists QA teams, developers, and testers in preparing for location testing. It allows for the creation of coordinate profiles, parsing of map links, route previews, and running diagnostics for service reachability and configuration.

Highlights
  • Create local coordinate profiles
  • Parse map links into test targets
  • Preview routes
  • Run service reachability diagnostics
  • Check device bridge status
  • Manage local favorites and route data
Features
Read full description

WLOC is a location changer for iPhone built for QA teams, developers, researchers, and authorized testers. It helps you prepare a chosen coordinate, verify the setup with diagnostics, save the target to your device through a supported network-location test path, check fresh request and result evidence, and restore normal location behavior. AUTHORIZED TESTING PURPOSE AND BOUNDARY WLOC exists for one purpose: testing location-dependent behavior in software that you own or are explicitly authorized to test. Use it only with devices, apps, accounts, networks, and environments that you own or have written permission to test. It is not for deceiving other people or services, interfering with workplace or school check-ins, gaining an unfair advantage in games, evading service rules, or falsifying production location data. WLOC is not a VPN, does not rewrite the iPhone GPS receiver, and does not promise to override every app. WHAT IT DOES Start with one public, low-risk test point. Paste an Apple Maps, Google Maps, Amap, or Baidu Maps link, or enter coordinates directly. WLOC normalizes the target, guides you through one compatible client, checks the service and device-side path, and makes the next action clear. With WLOC you can: - choose, parse, and save repeatable test locations; - save a static test target to the device after diagnostics pass; - see actionable diagnostics for setup, request, result, and cache conditions; - preview and run routes for authorized movement-state QA; - restore pass-through behavior after testing; - keep favorites, routes, settings, and diagnostics on the device by default. WHAT IT CANNOT DO A supported network-location test additionally requires a compatible third-party client on a device you control. GPS, Location Services permission, app cache, account rules, network behavior, and server-side checks can affect what a target app shows, so the result is not guaranteed in every app. iOS 27 beta 6 and later are currently unusable. Starting with iOS 27 beta 6, Apple added additional certificate restrictions that currently block the location-testing workflow. This is a system-level change, not a setup issue on your side. There is no available workaround at this time. If you need to continue testing location features, we recommend staying on iOS 27 beta 5 or earlier, and not upgrading to beta 6 or later. We'll post an update as soon as a compatible path is available. CLOUD AND PRO WLOC Pro and Cloud are sold only through Apple in-app purchase inside the iOS app. The web dashboard and this App Store page are not purchase channels and cannot sell or activate Pro. Downloading the app, signing in, or holding an App Store receipt does not by itself unlock Pro: only a verified Apple-signed purchase bound to your account unlocks it. Restore Purchases is always available and is never blocked by account state. One complete static test remains available before an upgrade is required, and eligible App Store accounts can receive the introductory offer shown in the app. Existing Lifetime Access owners keep their purchased access and can restore it with the same Apple Account. PRIVACY AND DATA BOUNDARY Target coordinates, routes, favorites, settings, and diagnostic results stay on your device by default. WLOC does not sell your location data and does not share it with third parties for advertising. If you sign in to the Cloud dashboard, your account email and entitlement records are stored only to bind a verified purchase to your account, and you can export or delete your data at any time. Privacy, Terms, How-to, and Support: - https://wloc.app/privacy - https://wloc.app/terms - https://wloc.app/how-it-works - https://wloc.app/support - support@wloc.app

Screenshots

rootshell4 screens
WLOC3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: rootshell at 91% against WLOC's 30%. rootshell also leads on rating (4.9 vs 1.0) and ratings volume (53 vs 5). WLOC's advantage is chart position (#90 vs unranked). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

rootshell holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: rootshell has 53 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of rootshell's written reviews are positive against 30% of WLOC's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

rootshell ships an update fortnightly, WLOC monthly. Both last shipped on November 5, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
rootshell versus WLOC: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterrootshellWLOC
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (53 ratings) — better1.0 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews91.3% of reviews — better30.0% of reviews
Number of ratings53 — better5
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank—#90 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size376 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRootshell LLC就洪 邓

Customer experience

rootshell

All ratings50 ratings
Positive96.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive91.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.7%

WLOC

All ratings4 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive30.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative70.0%

In-app purchases

None

rootshell

No in-app purchases

None

WLOC

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is rootshell free?
rootshell is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is WLOC free?
WLOC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, rootshell or WLOC?
rootshell is rated higher. rootshell averages 4.9 out of 5 from 53 ratings, while WLOC averages 1.0 from 5 ratings.
Do rootshell or WLOC have ads?
Neither rootshell nor WLOC shows ads.
Which is updated more often, rootshell or WLOC?
rootshell ships an update fortnightly, and WLOC monthly. Most recently, rootshell was updated on November 5, 2026 and WLOC on November 5, 2026.

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