Comparison

Age Vault vs Pockterm

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

Head to head
About

Age Vault

Features
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ENCRYPT WITHOUT TRUSTING ANYONE. Age Vault is a modern, on-device encryption app for iOS. It implements the open age specification โ€” the same cryptography used by security professionals as a simpler, more auditable alternative to PGP. No servers. No accounts. No analytics. Your private key is generated on your iPhone and never leaves it. โ€” WHAT YOU CAN DO โ€” โ€ข Generate an X25519 keypair, locked behind Face ID โ€ข Encrypt text messages to anyone whose public key you have โ€ข Decrypt messages sent to you with a tap โ€ข Save recipient public keys as named contacts โ€ข Encrypt files โ€” photos, documents, archives, anything โ€ข Send the same encrypted payload to multiple recipients at once โ€ข Export and back up your keypair through the iOS Share Sheet โ€” HOW IT WORKS โ€” Age Vault uses the open age encryption format: โ€ข X25519 elliptic-curve key exchange โ€ข ChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated stream encryption โ€ข HKDF-SHA256 key derivation Encrypted output is the standard age format, interoperable with the reference age CLI on macOS, Linux, and Windows. You are not locked into our app. โ€” PRIVACY POSTURE โ€” โ€ข Zero data collection. No analytics SDKs, no crash reporting off-device, no advertising IDs. โ€ข No backend. The app has no server it talks to. โ€ข Keys live in the iOS Keychain. We have no copy and no recovery โ€” by design. โ€ข Face ID authentication is handled by Apple's LocalAuthentication framework. Your biometric data never enters our code. โ€ข In-app purchase is processed by Apple's StoreKit. We see only a confirmation that a valid purchase exists. Full privacy policy: https://dolucid.com/age-vault/privacy.html โ€” FREE vs. PREMIUM โ€” The free tier is fully usable for encrypted messaging: โ€ข Generate keypair โ€ข Encrypt and decrypt text messages โ€ข View your public key A one-time $2.99 unlock adds: โ€ข File encryption (any file type) โ€ข Contacts vault โ€” save recipient keys with names โ€ข Multi-recipient encryption โ€” encrypt once, share with many No subscription. No recurring billing. One purchase, yours forever, restorable on any device signed into your Apple ID. โ€” WHY AGE? โ€” PGP is powerful but notoriously difficult โ€” long key IDs, web-of-trust ceremony, dozens of legacy options that hide footguns. Age was designed by security researchers as a modern replacement: small key format, no configuration, no algorithm choices to get wrong. โ€” OPEN SPECIFICATION โ€” The age format is published, peer-reviewed, and implemented in multiple languages. Anything Age Vault encrypts can be decrypted by the reference age tool on a desktop. You own your data and your encryption keys, in a portable format.

About

Pockterm

Features
Read full description

Pockterm is a native SSH and SFTP client built for iPhone. Free and open source. CONNECT - SSH into your servers with passwords or Ed25519/RSA keys - Trusted host-key verification warns you if a server's key ever changes - Multiple live sessions; minimize one and pick it back up from the tab bar BIG SCREEN - Plug in video glasses like VITURE, or a monitor or TV, and the terminal fills that screen - Your phone keeps the keyboard and key bar, and shows the session's files where the terminal was - Its own text size for the glasses, a Paste button, and PgUp/PgDn through the scrollback MANAGE - Organize hosts into groups - Save reusable command snippets - Generate and store SSH keys in the iOS Keychain - Set up local and remote port forwards TRANSFER - Browse, upload, and download files over SFTP - Upload from Files, iCloud Drive or your photo library, several files at once AI ASSISTANT (optional) - Ask an AI assistant about terminal output and get suggested commands - Bring your own API key: Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, or Hugging Face - Off by default; you're told which provider receives data before anything is sent PRIVACY - No account, no Pockterm servers, no tracking or analytics - Credentials and keys live in the iOS Keychain - Your connection data stays on your device OPEN SOURCE - The full source is on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 licence: github.com/jhancock1975/pockterm

Screenshots

Age Vault4 screens
Pockterm4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pockterm at none against Age Vault's 1. Age Vault's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Age Vault sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Pockterm asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Age Vault ships an update every 3 weeks, Pockterm every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Age Vault versus Pockterm: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAge VaultPockterm
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 9 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPod โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 โ€” better18.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size24 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSabri BASOGLUJohn Hancock

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Age Vault

One-time1
  • Age Vault Premium$3.99
None

Pockterm

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Age Vault free?
Age Vault is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pockterm free?
Pockterm is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Age Vault or Pockterm have ads?
Neither Age Vault nor Pockterm shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Age Vault or Pockterm?
Age Vault ships an update every 3 weeks, and Pockterm every 9 days. Most recently, Age Vault was updated on November 11, 2026 and Pockterm on November 10, 2026.

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