Comparison

Shellton vs afk

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

Head to head
About

Shellton

Features
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Shellton is a native ACP cockpit and persistent SSH/Mosh terminal for developers who want to run coding agents from iPhone without moving their work into a proprietary cloud relay. RUN CLAUDE AND CODEX ON YOUR HOSTS. Connect to a saved SSH or Mosh host, choose Claude or Codex, and start or resume an agent session in the directory where your code already lives. Shellton launches the official Agent Client Protocol adapter on demand and carries the session over your existing encrypted connectionβ€”no Shellton account, relay server, or host daemon. AN AGENT INTERFACE BUILT FOR MOBILE. Follow live transcripts, reasoning, tool activity, and plans without squeezing a desktop terminal onto your phone. Approve or deny tool requests, send the next instruction by keyboard or voice, switch between conversations, and hand control back to tmux when you return to a computer. EVERY DROPPED SESSION IS A BUG. Shellton tries Mosh first on every connection. Mosh survives Wi-Fi handoffs, dead zones, and locked-screen suspends. If the server does not have mosh-server installed, Shellton transparently falls back to SSH. VOICE INPUT, ON-DEVICE. Tap the mic and dictate agent prompts or terminal commands. Supported speech engines run on your device; your audio is never sent to Shellton. KEYBOARD THAT WORKS FOR DEVELOPERS. Use a configurable accessory bar with modifier keys, arrows, and custom escape sequences. Build bars in the app or author them in YAML and import them from Files. Hyper, Meh, Kitty keyboard protocol, and tmux prefix shortcuts are supported. FULL-SCREEN TERMINAL. Use a true-color SwiftTerm terminal with Nerd Font glyphs, themes, snippets, per-host history, SSH key management, host-key verification, Live Activities, and tmux-aware navigation. YOUR DATA STAYS YOUR OWN. Shellton uses privacy-preserving product analytics for feature adoption and connection reliability. Analytics never include hostnames, addresses, usernames, commands, terminal text, credentials, voice audio, transcripts, or raw errors, and can be disabled in Settings. There is no advertising or cross-app tracking. SSH keys live in the iOS Keychain, app data remains local, and accessory-bar configuration can sync through your private iCloud container. KEY FEATURES β€’ Native ACP conversations with Claude and Codex β€’ Live transcripts, plans, tool activity, and permission approvals β€’ Direct operation over your SSH or Mosh hosts; no proprietary relay β€’ Auto Mosh-to-SSH fallback per host β€’ On-device voice input β€’ Customizable accessory bar with YAML import/export β€’ Live Activities for active sessions β€’ Ed25519 and ECDSA SSH key generation and import β€’ Optional Face ID protection for stored credentials β€’ Trust-On-First-Use host-key verification β€’ Anonymous, opt-out product analytics; no tracking or ads CONVERSATION REQUIREMENTS β€’ A saved SSH-accessible host with Node.js 22 or later and npm β€’ Authentication with the selected agent provider when prompted β€’ Shellton resolves the official ACP adapter through npx on demand; users do not install a separate Shellton daemon or generic ACP service TERMINAL REQUIREMENTS β€’ iOS 17.0 or later β€’ An SSH server you can connect to β€’ mosh-server on the remote host for persistent Mosh sessions (optional) SHELLTON PRO An optional auto-renewable subscription unlocks voice input, agent conversations, custom accessory bars, and session-continuity tools. Payment is charged to your Apple ID; the subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://datons.github.io/shellton-site/privacy/

About

afk

Features
Read full description

Keep coding where you already do. "afk" connects the AI coding agents running in your existing setup β€” Claude Code, Codex, and more β€” to your phone. No new IDE. No new workflow. Keep using your editor and terminal as usual, and use "afk" when you step away. - Get notified when your AI finishes, fails, or needs your input. - Approve requests and answer questions from your phone. - Check active sessions and see what your AI is working on. - Send new tasks remotely and review the results. - Stay connected to your computer wherever you are. Your tools and code stay on your computer. "afk" simply gives you a way to stay in control from your phone. Install "afk" on your computer and pair your phone to get started: afkremote.com/install

Screenshots

Shellton4 screens
afk4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: afk at 15.0 against Shellton's 17.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

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

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

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

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shellton ships an update every 2 weeks, afk every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
Shellton versus afk: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShelltonafk
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 6 days β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod β€” better
Requires iOS17.015.0 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size46 MB7 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperJesus LopezSu Il Lee

In-app purchases

None

Shellton

No in-app purchases

None

afk

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Shellton free?
Shellton is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is afk free?
afk is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Shellton or afk have ads?
Neither Shellton nor afk shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Shellton or afk?
Shellton ships an update every 2 weeks, and afk every 6 days. Most recently, Shellton was updated on November 10, 2026 and afk on November 13, 2026.

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