DNP Remote vs Clayshell
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
DNP Remote
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DNP Remote -Your Mac Dev Environment, Right in Your Pocket. Turn your iPhone into a powerful remote control for your Mac development workflow. DNP Remote connects directly to your Mac via local network or Tailscale VPN, giving you full control over AI coding agents, Xcode builds, and your entire development environment - from anywhere. - Chat with AI Coding Agents - Send prompts and receive real-time streaming responses from Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, and OpenAI Codex all running natively on your Mac. - Switch between agents instantly with a single tap. - Build, Run & Debug Xcode Projects - Browse your Mac's projects, select schemes and simulators, then build and run directly from your iPhone. View real-time build logs, catch errors instantly, and stop builds on the fly - no need to sit at your desk. - Screen Mirror with Touch Control - Mirror your Mac screen in real-time and interact with it using an intuitive trackpad overlay. Move the cursor, click, scroll, type, and use gestures - as if you were sitting right in front of your Mac. - Secure Device Pairing - Pair your iPhone to your Mac with a simple QR code scan. All communication stays direct between your devices - no cloud servers, no data collection, no accounts required. Your code never leaves your network. Works Everywhere Connect over your local WiFi network for instant, low-latency control. Or use Tailscale VPN to securely access your Mac from anywhere in the world coffee shop, couch, or commute. ⢠Multi-agent support: Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Codex ⢠Real-time streaming chat with code highlighting ⢠Xcode build/run/stop with live build logs ⢠Screen mirroring with mouse, keyboard & gesture control ⢠Project browser with file navigation ⢠Voice-to-text input for hands-free prompting ⢠Image attachments for visual AI analysis ⢠Session management with chat history ⢠Home Screen widget for quick status & actions ⢠Dark mode with Liquid Glass design ⢠Zero-config Bonjour discovery ⢠Tailscale VPN support for remote access Privacy First DNP Remote communicates directly with your Mac peer-to-peer. No cloud relay, no analytics, no tracking. Your code, your conversations, and your data stay entirely on your devices. Requirements: ⢠Mac running DNP Mac Bridge (free companion app) ⢠iOS 17.0 or later ⢠Same WiFi network or Tailscale VPN
Clayshell
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Clayshell is an SSH server manager for people who run their own servers. Add a server once, then do the daily work without leaving the app. TERMINAL A real terminal with full colour, in tabs. Your own shell, as many sessions as you need. FILES Browse the server over SFTP. Upload, download, rename, delete, make files and folders, and preview text files. EDITOR WITH A BACKUP Open a file on the server, edit it and save. Before every save the previous version is kept next to it as a .bak file, and one tap puts it back. If the file changed on the server while you were editing, Clayshell tells you instead of overwriting it. MONITOR CPU, memory, disk, load, uptime and the busiest processes, live, for Linux servers. PM2 See your PM2 processes, start, stop and restart them, and follow their logs. ALERTS Be told when a disk fills up, when CPU or memory stays high, when a PM2 process goes down, or when a server cannot be reached. On the Mac, Clayshell can watch your servers from the menu bar. A small script can also be installed on the server itself, so alerts reach Telegram, ntfy or a webhook even when your devices are asleep. MORE SSH Jump hosts. Import from your SSH config. Port forwarding. Ed25519, ECDSA and RSA keys, or a password. YOUR DATA STAYS WITH YOU ⢠No account, no analytics, no tracking. Nothing is sent to us. ⢠Passwords and keys are kept in the Keychain on your device. ⢠Clayshell only talks to the servers you add. ⢠It asks before trusting a new server, and stops if a server's key changes. ⢠An optional lock with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Clayshell has a day and a night look, and works on Mac and iPhone. Monitoring needs a Linux server. The PM2 screen needs PM2 on the server. Server alerts need curl and cron on the server. An RSA key protected by a passphrase is not supported yet.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Clayshell at none against DNP Remote's 3. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. DNP Remote sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Clayshell asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | DNP Remote | Clayshell |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No ā better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 ā better | 18.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rotem Dadon | Arvind Kumar |
In-app purchases
DNP Remote
- Small Coffee$2.99
- Buy Me a Large Coffee$5.99
- Buy Me a Medium Coffee$12.99
Clayshell
No in-app purchases









