Comparison

JS Shell vs OrbitSSH

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

Head to head
About

JS Shell

Features
Read full description

JS Shell is a pocket-sized developer console that lets you write, run, and test web code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) directly on iOS and macOS. No Xcode, no laptop, no remote server. Paste a page in, tap run, and it loads in a real WKWebView served from a local HTTP origin. A real secure-context origin on iOS, so modern web APIs — from WebRTC to Geolocation — behave the way they should. KEY FEATURES Local HTTP server. An in-process server bound to the loopback interface. Provides a real secure-context origin so modern Web APIs work out of the box. Not reachable from outside the device. JavaScript REPL. A full JavaScript runtime backed by JavaScriptCore. Type js to enter the REPL. console.log, fetch, setTimeout, setInterval, Promises, and async await are all available. Real Promises, real microtasks, real JSON parsing, real URL parsing. Geolocation support. Test navigator.geolocation on a real iOS device. Permissions are handled by the system, just like Safari. Useful for validating location-based web features without deploying to a server. Persistent file system. Files you paste live in your Documents directory and survive app restarts. Each downloaded package gets its own directory. iCloud backup picks them up like any other app data. SQLite key-value store. A real B-tree on disk via SQLite. Read and write from your pages with same-origin fetch. No CORS configuration required. curl. A subset of curl built on URLSession. The flags X, H, d, i, I, o, A, m, v are supported. Pretty-prints JSON responses and saves binary blobs to the virtual filesystem. Archive extraction. In-process tar, tar.gz, tgz, gz, and zip extraction. No shelling out. Download a release tarball with curl, extract it, and run it immediately. Voice commands. Tap the mic, speak a command. Apple Speech framework converts speech to text. Auto-submits on detected silence. Voice commands are saved to the scripts list for one-tap re-run. Saved scripts. Save any sequence of commands as a named script. One-tap to re-run later. Voice-recognized commands are auto-saved to the scripts list for instant replay. Mac Catalyst support. Runs natively on macOS as a Mac Catalyst app. Multi-window, resizable, fullscreen-capable. The same code that runs on your iPhone runs on your Mac. DESIGNED FOR DEVELOPERS JS Shell is a tool for people who want to test web code on a real iOS device without installing Xcode, syncing files, or setting up a tunnel. It is especially useful for: Testing geolocation, camera, and microphone permission flows on iOS. Validating fetch, CORS, and cookie behavior on a real iPhone. Building small offline web tools that need persistent state. Running JavaScript snippets without opening Safari Inspector. Debugging mobile rendering edge cases on the device itself. PRIVACY JS Shell does not collect any user data. There is no telemetry, no ads, no analytics, no third-party SDKs, no remote configuration. Everything you type, paste, or download stays on your device. The local HTTP server only listens on the loopback interface and is not reachable from any network. The app forwards camera, microphone, speech recognition, and location permissions to web pages you load, exactly like Safari does on macOS. The first time a page tries to use them, iOS shows the standard system permission prompt. The first time a page tries to use them, iOS shows the standard system permission prompt.

About

OrbitSSH

Features
Read full description

OrbitSSH is a modern SSH and SFTP client for iPhone and iPad. Connect directly to the servers you manage and work from a focused mobile terminal. TERMINAL WORKFLOW • Open SSH sessions in tabs or Split View • Use tmux sessions and terminal tools built for touch • Save server groups, startup directories, commands, and snippets FILES AND SERVER INSIGHT • Browse and manage remote files over SFTP • Monitor server metrics and view containers • Keep several servers organized in one place PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Connections go directly from your device to your servers • Passwords and private keys stay in the iOS Keychain • Host-key changes are detected and shown to you • Optional Face ID app lock protects saved servers • Voice input and smart formatting use on-device Apple features OrbitSSH has no account, no ads, and no tracking. Use it with your compatible SSH servers. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

JS Shell3 screens
OrbitSSH4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: JS Shell at none against OrbitSSH's 2. 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

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

Both are free to download. OrbitSSH sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $99.99 per year. JS Shell asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference Ā· 4 level
JS Shell versus OrbitSSH: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJS ShellOrbitSSH
PriceFreeFree
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB18 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperJowb Inc.Daniel Dobrowolski

In-app purchases

None

JS Shell

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

OrbitSSH

Subscriptions1
  • OrbitSSH Pro Annual14 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time1
  • OrbitSSH Pro Lifetime$499.99

Questions

Is JS Shell free?
JS Shell is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is OrbitSSH free?
OrbitSSH is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do JS Shell or OrbitSSH have ads?
Neither JS Shell nor OrbitSSH shows ads.

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