Ash vs Fold Commander
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
Ash
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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. βT / βW / β1-9 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.
Fold Commander
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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, F2βF8 run the commands; hold β 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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Ash ships an update every 3 months, Fold Commander fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ash | Fold Commander |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Fortnightly β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Artem Sharifullin | Viktar Babkin |
In-app purchases
Ash
No in-app purchases
Fold Commander
No in-app purchases









