Comparison

Ash vs Fold Commander

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

Head to head
About

Ash

Features
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Native SSH client for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Open a shell, push files over SFTP, forward a port, monitor a server. Terminal β€” multiple sessions, configurable shell, fonts, theme. Hold-and-drag cursor scrub, two-finger paste, pinch zoom. ⌘T / ⌘W / ⌘1-9 on iPad and Mac. SFTP β€” browse, upload, download, edit text files inline. Save with sudo when needed. Drag-and-drop from Files or Finder. Server Dashboard β€” live CPU, RAM, disk, latency. OS, kernel, uptime. Port Forwarding β€” local (-L) and remote (-R) tunnels, multiple per host. SSH Keys β€” generate Ed25519 or RSA on-device. Import from Files or clipboard. Stored in iOS Keychain. Face ID / Touch ID lock. Connections survive the lock screen. Keepalive defeats NAT timeouts. Auto-reconnect on Wi-Fi / cellular handoff. No telemetry. No analytics. No ads. Host configs sync only via your private iCloud, opt-in.

About

Fold Commander

Features
Read full description

A two-panel file manager in the style of the classic desktop commanders. Two folders side by side, function keys at the bottom: F5 copies from one panel to the other, F6 moves, F7 makes a folder, F2 renames, F4 edits, F8 deletes. Free, no ads, no account. TWO PANELS β€’ Browse your iPhone or iPad storage, iCloud Drive, folders of other apps, USB drives and network shares added in Files β€’ Tap a row to open it, tap its icon to mark it β€” marked files turn red β€’ Sort by name, extension, size or date; show or hide hidden files β€’ Tabs in each panel, each remembering its folder, sorting and marks β€’ Drag a row to the other panel or onto a folder, then choose Copy or Move β€’ Swap panels, open the same folder on the other side, preview anything with Quick Look, share files COPY THE WAY YOU EXPECT β€’ Names already there? Choose once: replace, skip or keep both β€’ Progress with a Cancel button; cancelling leaves no half-written files behind EDIT TEXT (F4) β€’ Edit configs, notes and scripts right in the panel β€” on the device or straight on a server β€’ Keeps the file's encoding (UTF-8, UTF-16, Cyrillic and Western code pages) and its line endings β€’ Find and replace, a warning before closing unsaved changes, and before overwriting a file changed elsewhere SERVERS β€’ SFTP with password or SSH private key (ed25519, RSA), host key fingerprint check β€’ FTP with passive mode and anonymous login β€’ WebDAV over HTTPS or HTTP: your NAS, cloud storage or own web server β€’ Servers appear as places in a panel: copy and move between your device and a server, or between two servers β€’ Passwords and keys are stored in the Keychain on this device only ARCHIVES β€’ Pack marked files into a ZIP in the other panel β€’ Unpack to the same or the other panel; names in old non-Unicode archives are decoded correctly SELECT, FIND, COMPARE β€’ Select by mask: *.jpg *.png, exclusions after |, folders with a trailing / β€’ Select all, invert, clear β€’ Compare folders: marks what is missing or newer on each side, optionally byte by byte β€’ Find files by name or mask, with text inside, through all subfolders β€’ Folder sizes shown right in the size column IPAD AND KEYBOARD β€’ Panels side by side in any orientation, in Split View and Stage Manager of any width β€’ Keys as on the desktop: arrows and Page Up/Down move the cursor, Tab switches panels, Space marks, Enter opens, Backspace goes up, F2–F8 run the commands; hold ⌘ to see them all β€’ Works with a keyboard connected to iPhone too; on iPad the pointer highlights rows THEMES β€’ Classic grey with a blue path bar, Dark, and Blue in the spirit of DOS commanders β€” or follow the system IPHONE DUO β€’ Unfolded like a book β€” one panel on each screen, keys split under each panel, nothing on the fold β€’ Unfolded like a laptop β€” one panel on top, the other panel and keys below β€’ Folded or on any other iPhone β€” panels stacked Works on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later. English and Russian.

Screenshots

Ash4 screens
Fold Commander4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Fold Commander at fortnightly against Ash's every 3 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ash ships an update every 3 months, Fold Commander fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
Ash versus Fold Commander: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAshFold Commander
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size12 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperArtem SharifullinViktar Babkin

In-app purchases

None

Ash

No in-app purchases

None

Fold Commander

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Ash free?
Ash is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Fold Commander free?
Fold Commander is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Ash or Fold Commander have ads?
Neither Ash nor Fold Commander shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ash or Fold Commander?
Ash ships an update every 3 months, and Fold Commander fortnightly. Most recently, Ash was updated on November 9, 2026 and Fold Commander on November 10, 2026.

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