Comparison

Lua for Games vs Shell Keyboard

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

Head to head
About

Lua for Games

Features
Read full description

Learn Lua is a structured learning app designed to help you explore Lua programming, understand essential concepts, and build your knowledge step by step. From understanding what Lua is to writing your first program, Learn Lua brings lessons, quizzes, code practice, and learning progress together in one convenient place. EXPLORE LUA PROGRAMMING Discover Lua through organized lessons covering introductory concepts and practical programming topics. Explore topics such as: • What Is Lua? History and Use Cases • Installing Lua and Setting Up the Environment • Running Lua Scripts (Interpreter & Files) • Lua Syntax Basics • Keywords and Identifiers • Comments and Code Readability • First Lua Program (Hello World) Each topic is presented as part of a structured learning experience, helping you follow your lessons in a clear sequence. STRUCTURED LESSONS Browse organized chapters and individual lessons as you explore Lua programming. View lesson titles, reading-time information, quiz counts, and completion indicators to understand your learning journey. Continue reading lessons you have started and easily identify completed lessons. QUIZZES FOR PRACTICE Review your understanding through quizzes connected to your lessons. Use quiz questions to revisit programming concepts and reinforce what you have learned. CODE EDITOR Explore programming concepts through the app's code editor. Keep code-related learning alongside your lessons as you work through Lua programming topics. TAKE LEARNING NOTES Use the Take Notes feature to record important information while studying. Keep track of concepts, explanations, and programming details you want to revisit. TRACK YOUR LEARNING PROGRESS Follow your progress as you complete lessons and work through chapters. View learning information such as: • Completed lessons • Chapter completion percentages • Lesson progress indicators • Reading-time information • Quiz information See which lessons you have completed and which topics remain in your learning journey. SEARCH LEARNING CONTENT Use the search feature to find relevant learning content and navigate to topics you want to study. DAILY LEARNING HABIT Organize your learning around a daily study habit and maintain a consistent approach to your lessons. A CLEAR LEARNING EXPERIENCE Learn Lua brings together structured programming content and practical learning tools in an organized interface. Whether you are exploring Lua for the first time or reviewing programming fundamentals, you can move through topics at your own pace. Start learning Lua and build your programming knowledge one lesson at a time.

About

Shell Keyboard

This custom keyboard provides essential terminal keys like Ctrl, Esc, and arrow keys that are missing from the default iOS keyboard. It offers customizable layouts for iPad and iPhone Duo, ensuring precise control for terminal applications.

Highlights
  • Dedicated terminal layer with Ctrl, Esc, Tab, arrows
  • Ctrl and Alt as proper modifiers
  • Full function-key layer (F1-F12)
  • Customizable arrow key behavior
  • Return/Enter key options
  • Plain QWERTY and symbol layers
  • Seven themes with light/dark modes
  • 60% and 75% layouts for iPad/iPhone Duo
Features
Read full description

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: IPHONE DUO Shell Keyboard supports iPhone Duo. Open it, and the keyboard spreads out into the same 60% and 75% layouts as iPad, 75% by default. Close it, and it's the iPhone keyboard again. It switches as you fold and unfold. A REAL KEYBOARD ON IPAD AND IPHONE DUO 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 and an open iPhone Duo, 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 60% and 75% layouts) for Haptic feedback, Theme, Appearance and, on iPad and an open iPhone Duo, 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

Lua for Games4 screens
Shell Keyboard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Shell Keyboard at every 2 weeks against Lua for Games's every 10 months. Shell Keyboard also leads on chart position (#8 vs unranked) and price ($1.99 vs $2.99). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Lua for Games costs $2.99 and Shell Keyboard $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lua for Games ships an update every 10 months, Shell Keyboard every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Lua for Games versus Shell Keyboard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLua for GamesShell Keyboard
Price$2.99$1.99 — better
Rating—4.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Paid
Best chart rank—#8 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size75 MB3 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperMuhammad UmairNguyen Nguyen

In-app purchases

None

Lua for Games

No in-app purchases

None

Shell Keyboard

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lua for Games free?
Lua for Games costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shell Keyboard free?
Shell Keyboard costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Lua for Games or Shell Keyboard have ads?
Neither Lua for Games nor Shell Keyboard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lua for Games or Shell Keyboard?
Lua for Games ships an update every 10 months, and Shell Keyboard every 2 weeks. Most recently, Lua for Games was updated on November 9, 2026 and Shell Keyboard on November 10, 2026.

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