Comparison

Unofficial Claude Code Client vs Cortex Relay

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

Head to head
About

Unofficial Claude Code Client

Features
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Made this app for myself initially, decided to make it free for everyone. Do not use this for serious projects, keep it mostly for inconsequential hobby work. You will need to register an account with Anthropic and configure Claude Code on your machine, I am not affiliated with them in any way. I was tired of using SSH clients to check on Claude Code sessions, so I decided to make an app that interfaces a little more cleanly. It hooks onto pre-existing tmux sessions (or you can start a fresh one into any directory) and checks for an Claude Code session that was happening in that path, then it picks up from there. There might be bugs here and there, feel free to report them in the support page, I'll try and get around to them. Bear in mind, Claude Code sessions used from the app will always have what's equivalent to the `--dangerously-skip-permissions` flag, so keep regular backups alongside kind of git history going.

About

Cortex Relay

Access powerful AI agents like Claude Code from your iPhone via a chat interface or a full SSH terminal. Features include on-device voice input, persistent sessions, and secure credential management. Customize your terminal experience with various themes and font sizes.

Highlights
  • AI agent chat interface
  • Full SSH terminal access
  • On-device voice input
  • Persistent tmux sessions
  • Secure SSH key management
  • Customizable terminal themes
Read full description

Run Claude Code (or Codex and any other AI agent) from your iPhone. Cortex Relay gives you two ways to work with Claude Code on a remote machine — a friendly chat UI and a full-blown SSH terminal. Pick the right tool for the moment. THE CHAT Speak or type a prompt. Claude Code runs on your server, and the response streams back as a clean conversation with tool activity, cost breakdowns, and one-tap shortcuts for common tasks like committing, reviewing branches, or checking status. Upload photos from your camera roll and Claude can see them too. THE TERMINAL A real SSH terminal session. Cortex Relay renders the full CLI experience — interactive permission prompts, slash commands, MCP integrations, vim, git, whatever you need. Seven color themes from Nord to Dracula, pinch to resize, and a shortcut bar for /compact, /clear, /model, /status, and /cost. VOICE INPUT On-device speech recognition powered by OpenAI's Whisper. Pick a model size (tiny, base, small) and language (English or multilingual). Runs entirely on your phone — no server round-trip, works offline. Apple's built-in speech engine is available by default too. SESSIONS THAT SURVIVE Every terminal session runs inside tmux. Background the app, lose WiFi, switch to a call — your session keeps running on the server. Come back and everything is exactly where you left off. No reconnect dance. NOTIFICATIONS Get a push when Claude finishes a long task or needs your approval. The chat sends these automatically. For terminal sessions, drop a one-line webhook into your project's CLAUDE.md and Claude does the rest. SECURE BY DEFAULT Generate ed25519 SSH keys directly in the app or import your existing ones. Keys live in the iOS Keychain, optionally locked behind Face ID or Touch ID. Password auth is supported too, with the same biometric protection. Your credentials never leave the device. ORGANIZED Create named servers with saved directories. Spin up Chat or Terminal connections to any project on any machine. Each connection remembers its own dictation preferences. One server, many projects, zero re-entering credentials. YOUR TERMINAL, YOUR WAY Navy, Homebrew, Nord, Dracula, Solarized Dark, One Dark, Pure Black — pick a theme, see it applied instantly. Pinch to zoom the font size. It sticks between sessions. WHAT STAYS ON YOUR PHONE - SSH keys and passwords in iOS Keychain with biometric lock - Whisper speech recognition runs on-device only - No credentials sent to our servers - Push relay handles notification delivery — nothing else

Screenshots

Unofficial Claude Code Client4 screens
Cortex Relay4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Cortex Relay at 17.0 against Unofficial Claude Code Client's 26.2. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Unofficial Claude Code Client versus Cortex Relay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUnofficial Claude Code ClientCortex Relay
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequency—Every 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.217.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB14 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperSultan AlrashedMaksim Mikheev

In-app purchases

None

Unofficial Claude Code Client

No in-app purchases

None

Cortex Relay

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Unofficial Claude Code Client free?
Unofficial Claude Code Client is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cortex Relay free?
Cortex Relay is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Unofficial Claude Code Client or Cortex Relay have ads?
Neither Unofficial Claude Code Client nor Cortex Relay shows ads.

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