Comparison

Hermex vs Helmrig Shell

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

Head to head
About

Hermex

This app provides a native mobile interface for interacting with your self-hosted Hermes Agent server. It allows you to manage conversations, control agent settings, and access workspace files directly from your iPhone.

Highlights
  • Connect to your own Hermes server
  • Manage existing and start new conversations
  • Control models, profiles, and reasoning
  • Attach files and photos
  • Browse workspace files
  • Offline read-only viewing of recent sessions
Features
Read full description

Hermex is a native iPhone and iPad client for your self-hosted Hermes agent. Connect to a reachable Hermes Web UI server, or enable the optional Bot Mode beta to connect directly to a Hermes agent host. Open existing sessions, start conversations, and follow streamed responses, tools, and reasoning as they arrive. Queue, steer, or stop an active run. Review file edits as diffs, browse workspace files, send photos and files, and dictate messages. Manage Kanban boards and cards, browse Tasks, Skills, Memory, and Usage, and choose models, profiles, and reasoning settings. Bot Mode adds a Bots inbox, Desktop sections, reactions, quick replies, approvals, questions, and group rooms. Live Activities keep working runs visible on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Optional notifications let you know when work finishes or needs your attention. The share extension stages content from other apps for you to review and send. Agent execution happens on your configured server, not on the iPhone. Your server owns your conversations, tools, and workspace. Recent sessions and messages may be cached locally for read-only offline viewing; clear that cache from Settings. There is no Hermex-hosted agent backend, tracking, or analytics service. Optional push notifications use an open-source, self-hostable relay. Message previews are encrypted on your Hermes host and decrypted on your iPhone; the relay handles device tokens, notification metadata, and ciphertext, never message text, server URLs, or Hermes server credentials. Push is off until enabled. Hermex has no in-app account creation or in-app purchases. You need your own reachable Hermes server. Not affiliated with Nous Research.

About

Helmrig Shell

Features
Read full description

The terminal from your desk, now on iPhone and iPad. Helmrig Shell is a native terminal — btop, tmux, vim, true color, ligatures, full escape-sequence support, rendered natively. Not a web view, not a cut-down mobile shell. A real desktop terminal that feels like the one you already use. Your sessions run on your own Mac or server. The iPad or iPhone is just the window — so they never drop. Lock the screen, lose signal, switch to another app, come back hours later: every tab, every running process, your full scrollback, exactly where you left it. No reconnect dance, no lost output. Drop a file onto the terminal and it uploads to your machine, with the full path dropped straight into your command line. Hand a screenshot to a CLI tool, attach a file to a running command — it just works, as if the file were already there. Built on libghostty for the rendering you'd expect from a desktop terminal. Hardware keyboard shortcuts, split panes, tabs that name themselves after what's running. Designed for iPad first, not ported from somewhere else. Works anywhere over an end-to-end encrypted connection — at your desk, on the couch, or across the world. Not limited to your local network. Helmrig Shell requires a subscription to use. A free trial is available, after which continued access requires Helmrig Shell Pro at $8.99/month. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. WHAT IT IS A window into your own machine. Your shell, your tools, your environment — running where they always have, now reachable from your iPad. WHAT IT NEEDS A Mac or Linux machine you control, running the Helmrig server. Setup takes one command. PRIVACY No third-party SDKs. No analytics. No crash reporting. Helmrig Shell servers never see terminal output. Full policy at helmrig.app/shell-privacy.html CONTACT hi@helmrig.app Support Link: https://helmrig.app/support Privacy Policy: https://helmrig.app/shell-privacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://helmrig.app/shell-terms.html

Screenshots

Hermex4 screens
Helmrig Shell4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: Hermex at #30 against Helmrig Shell's unranked. Hermex also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Hermex ships an update weekly, Helmrig Shell every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Hermex versus Helmrig Shell: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHermexHelmrig Shell
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (135 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews85.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings135 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
Best chart rank#30 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size72 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperUzair AnsarNikita Kislitsin

In-app purchases

None

Hermex

No in-app purchases

None

Helmrig Shell

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hermex free?
Hermex is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Helmrig Shell free?
Helmrig Shell is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Hermex or Helmrig Shell have ads?
Neither Hermex nor Helmrig Shell shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hermex or Helmrig Shell?
Hermex ships an update weekly, and Helmrig Shell every 2 weeks. Most recently, Hermex was updated on October 14, 2026 and Helmrig Shell on September 30, 2026.

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