Comparison

Cortex Relay vs Perchoir

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

Head to head
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

About

Perchoir

Features
Read full description

Perchoir reconnects your iPhone to the agent sessions (Claude Code, Codex and others) that Fauconnier opened on your computer. Nothing runs on the phone: your agents stay on the computer, in tmux sessions that survive closing the app. • Reattach to a session in one gesture and find the buffer exactly as you left it. • Follow several agents at once — Canvas mode on iPad and large screens. • Dictate your instructions by voice, holding the orb. • Send a screenshot or a file to an agent. • Get a notification when an agent needs you. Direct SSH connection to your computer, on your own network. Private keys stay in the device keychain, never backed up to iCloud. Requires Fauconnier and Remote Login enabled on the host computer.

Screenshots

Cortex Relay4 screens
Perchoir4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Perchoir at every 4 days 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cortex Relay ships an update every 2 months, Perchoir every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Cortex Relay versus Perchoir: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCortex RelayPerchoir
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMaksim MikheevGabriel Turpin

In-app purchases

None

Cortex Relay

No in-app purchases

None

Perchoir

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Cortex Relay free?
Cortex Relay is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Perchoir free?
Perchoir is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Cortex Relay or Perchoir have ads?
Neither Cortex Relay nor Perchoir shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cortex Relay or Perchoir?
Cortex Relay ships an update every 2 months, and Perchoir every 4 days. Most recently, Cortex Relay was updated on October 5, 2026 and Perchoir on October 7, 2026.

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