Comparison

TermOnMac vs Pulse

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

Head to head
About

TermOnMac

Features
Read full description

TermOnMac puts your Mac terminal on your iPhone and iPad — through a built-in relay server, zero setup, end-to-end encrypted. FREE TO GET STARTED The free plan lets you connect up to 4 Macs with 4 sessions — perfect for checking builds, running quick commands, and trying out the full experience. VIBE CODING FROM ANYWHERE — JUST $0.99/MO Run Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor sessions for hours from your iPhone or iPad. Pro at $0.99/month gives you the headroom for real AI coding workflows. Heavy users: Premium at $2.99/month is still cheaper than a coffee. SIMPLE, TRANSPARENT PRICING Usage is measured by relay traffic — data sent through the relay including commands, output, heartbeats, and system requests. No hidden fees. You only pay for what you use. RELAY SERVER — WORKS BEHIND ANY FIREWALL No SSH keys. No Tailscale. No port forwarding. No public IP needed. Install the Mac agent, scan a QR code on your iPhone or iPad, and you're connected — even behind corporate firewalls, NATs, or VPNs. BUILT FOR AI CODING AGENTS TermOnMac is a relay terminal — bring your own AI. Run Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, or any terminal-based tool on your Mac, then control it remotely from your iPhone or iPad. No vendor lock-in, no extra cost — just your tools, from anywhere. NEVER LOSE YOUR SESSION Network switches, device sleep, subway tunnels — your session stays alive. Auto-reconnect picks up right where you left off. Input is buffered while disconnected. SESSION HANDOFF — IPHONE ↔ IPAD ↔ MAC Start a terminal session on your iPhone, continue on your iPad, and pick it up on your Mac — or any direction. Same session, zero interruption. Like Apple Handoff, but for your terminal. TOUCH KEYBOARD — BUILT FOR TERMINAL A custom toolbar above the on-screen keyboard gives you Ctrl, Esc, Tab, arrow keys, and modifier toggles — the keys iOS doesn't have. Search your shortcuts by name and trigger them with a tap. HARDWARE KEYBOARD — FULL CONTROL Connect a Magic Keyboard or any Bluetooth keyboard to your iPad. 12 dedicated shortcuts (⌘⌥ prefix): toggle sidebar, switch sessions, run builds, and more. Full terminal control without touching the screen. CUSTOM SHORTCUTS Create reusable commands as one-tap shortcuts. Build your own mobile developer toolbar. Export as JSON for backup or sharing with teammates. END-TO-END ENCRYPTED Curve25519 key exchange, AES-256-GCM encryption, ephemeral keys for forward secrecy. The relay only forwards ciphertext — it cannot read your terminal content. PLANS • Free — 4 Macs, generous daily usage • Pro ($0.99/mo) — 32 Macs, higher usage limits • Premium ($2.99/mo) — 32 Macs, maximum usage limits Payment is charged to your Apple ID. Subscriptions auto-renew unless canceled 24 hours before the current period ends. REQUIREMENTS • iOS/iPadOS 17.0 or later • TermOnMac Agent on Mac (macOS 13+) LEARN MORE • Documentation: https://termonmac.com/docs • How It Works: https://termonmac.com/how-it-works • Engineering Blog: https://termonmac.com/blog Privacy: https://termonmac.com/privacy Terms: https://termonmac.com/terms

About

Pulse

Monitor your device's performance, network activity, and data privacy. Securely store sensitive information, inspect app privacy reports, and perform advanced network diagnostics. Includes a Python IDE and SSH client for comprehensive system management.

Highlights
  • Live device performance monitoring (CPU, RAM, Battery)
  • Extensive network diagnostic tools (15+)
  • Zero-knowledge secrets vault with TOTP authenticator
  • On-device privacy report analysis
  • Security posture assessment with AI advisor
  • SSH, SFTP, and FTP client
  • On-device Python IDE
Features
Read full description

Pulse answers every question about your iPhone or iPad: how it performs, what your network is doing, who is watching your data, and whether your device and secrets are safe. No faked numbers. No ads. No account. No in-app purchases. Every feature on first launch. DEVICE MONITOR Live CPU with per-core breakdown across performance and efficiency cores. RAM in real time: wired, active, inactive, available. Battery level, charge state, and a live discharge graph. Storage with one-tap cache clear. Thermal state. Device Health Score: a 0 to 100 gauge across CPU, RAM, storage, battery, and uptime. NETWORK WORKBENCH (15 tools) Ping, traceroute with geo path, DNS across 9 record types, port scanner, LAN scanner, Bonjour, Whois, SSL inspector, TLS scanner, speed test, API Request, WebSocket tester, subnet calculator, Wake on LAN, QR codes, and a raw TCP, UDP, and TLS socket client. Live traffic by interface, the routing table, a Wi-Fi toolkit, and Wi-Fi sharing by QR and NFC. SECRETS VAULT AND AUTHENTICATOR A zero knowledge password vault with envelope encryption (AES-256-GCM). Unrecoverable by design: no server, no backdoor. Unlock with a PIN or Face ID. Organize logins, cards, and notes in nested folders. A built in TOTP authenticator and AES file and text encryption. Optional auto lock, clipboard auto clear, and erase after ten failed attempts. iOS AutoFill fills saved logins into other apps and Safari, gated behind Face ID. PRIVACY INSPECTOR Import your iOS App Privacy Report and Pulse parses it on your device. Nothing leaves your phone. See which apps used your location, camera, microphone, contacts, photos, and calendar over the last 7 days, with a heatmap of when. Every domain each app contacted is classified and risk scored against a bundled tracker list. SECURITY CENTER Nine on-device checks produce a 0 to 100 posture score: Passcode, Biometrics, Data Protection, Screen Privacy, Sandbox Integrity, Debugger detection, VPN, HTTP Proxy, and Low Power Mode. Each links to the right iOS Settings page, and an on-device AI advisor tells you what to fix. SSH, SFTP, AND FTP CLIENT Connect over SSH with password, key, or two factor auth, with ProxyJump. Generate Ed25519, RSA, and ECDSA keys on device. Upload, download, and manage files over SFTP. A separate FTP and FTPS manager, and an in app terminal with 59 commands. ON-DEVICE PYTHON IDE Run real Python on your phone, fully offline. Multi-file projects with working imports, a code editor, and a Run console. ADVANCED TOOLS NFC Toolkit: read, write, and inspect NDEF tags (MIFARE, NTAG, ISO14443, ISO15693). BLE Explorer: scan peripherals, browse the GATT tree, and read, write, and subscribe to characteristics. Storage Scanner: find duplicate photos, large videos, screenshots, and cache. Sizes come from system metadata, so iCloud originals are never downloaded. Dev Toolbox: SHA-256 and SHA-512 hashing, Base64, JWT decode, regex tester, UUID and password generators, and Unix epoch converter. SENSORS (23 hardware tests) Motion (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer), GPS and compass, proximity, NFC, Bluetooth, UWB, Face ID, microphone, speaker, haptics, every camera, LiDAR, torch, multi-touch, and a display color test. Exportable as timestamped CSV. WIDGETS, AI, AND SHORTCUTS Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets plus a RAM Live Activity in the Dynamic Island. On iOS 26 with Apple Intelligence, an on-device AI explains your Health Score and security posture, with no API key and no network call, and all generated text is labelled. Ask Siri to check battery, storage, or network, and find SSH hosts in Spotlight. 10 LANGUAGES English, Arabic (RTL), Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Korean. DATA INTEGRITY Every value comes from a real iOS API or is clearly labelled. Values Apple does not expose, like battery cycle count and Wi-Fi signal strength, are never faked. What you see is what the device reports.

Screenshots

TermOnMac4 screens
Pulse4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pulse at none against TermOnMac's 4. Pulse also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads, 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

Both are free to download. TermOnMac sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Pulse asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TermOnMac ships an update every 2 weeks, Pulse every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
TermOnMac versus Pulse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTermOnMacPulse
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB100 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChun-Pai YangMarwan Aljasmi

In-app purchases

4 purchases

TermOnMac

Subscriptions4
  • Pro Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly$8.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium Yearly$29.991 Year
None

Pulse

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is TermOnMac free?
TermOnMac is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pulse free?
Pulse is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do TermOnMac or Pulse have ads?
Neither TermOnMac nor Pulse shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TermOnMac or Pulse?
TermOnMac ships an update every 2 weeks, and Pulse every 5 days. Most recently, TermOnMac was updated on October 5, 2026 and Pulse on October 7, 2026.

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