AFK vs Cortex Relay
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AFK
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Move your AI coding sessions from desktop to phone without SSH, VPNs, or exposing your computer to the internet. AFK streams your live terminal session to your iPhone over outbound WebSockets, so it works in most restricted networks where inbound SSH or remote desktop setups are blocked. Use Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, or any terminal command on your computer. When you step away, AFK keeps the same session in your pocket so you can monitor progress, approve prompts, type replies, and steer the work from anywhere. Try AFK instantly with the free live demo, or connect your own machine in minutes. WHY DEVELOPERS USE AFK AI coding agents can work for hours, but they still need you for tool approvals, error decisions, direction changes, and quick replies. AFK keeps your agent moving without keeping you at your desk. - Start work on desktop and continue from iPhone - Watch terminal sessions live with GPU-accelerated rendering - Approve prompts and tool calls remotely - Type commands or use precision voice input - Get mobile alerts when your agent needs attention - Works without SSH, VPNs, port forwarding, or remote desktop HOW IT WORKS 1. Install the AFK CLI on your machine 2. Run your agent or terminal command with AFK 3. Open the iPhone app 4. Monitor, approve, and respond from anywhere AFK uses outbound WebSocket streaming, so your computer does not need to accept inbound connections. No router changes. No public ports. No messy network setup. BUILT FOR AI CODING WORKFLOWS AFK works with any terminal command, and is designed for modern AI-assisted development: - Claude Code - OpenAI Codex - Gemini CLI - OpenCode - Custom scripts and long-running CLI tools REAL-TIME TERMINAL STREAMING - Low-latency WebSocket streaming - GPU-accelerated terminal rendering with Metal - Full bidirectional I/O - Automatic terminal resize - Push notifications for agent activity - Smooth terminal experience on mobile SECURE BY DESIGN Your terminal data is end-to-end encrypted. The backend acts as a relay and cannot read your session contents. - End-to-end encrypted terminal streams - X25519 key exchange - AES-256-GCM encryption - TLS 1.3 for transport security FREE TO START Free: - 2 concurrent sessions - End-to-end encryption - 20 voice commands per month Pro: - Unlimited sessions - Unlimited precision voice input - Push notifications when your AI agent needs input - Priority support Start with a 7-day free Pro trial. Refer 3 friends to earn a free month of Pro. AFK is built by Thaker Innovations. Website: https://getafk.dev Support: https://getafk.dev/support Privacy Policy: https://getafk.dev/legal/privacy Terms of Service: https://getafk.dev/legal/terms
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.
- AI agent chat interface
- Full SSH terminal access
- On-device voice input
- Persistent tmux sessions
- Secure SSH key management
- Customizable terminal themes
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: AFK at fortnightly against Cortex Relay's every 2 months. 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
AFK ships an update fortnightly, Cortex Relay every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AFK | Cortex Relay |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tapan Thaker | Maksim Mikheev |
In-app purchases
AFK
No in-app purchases
Cortex Relay
No in-app purchases









