Comparison

TermBridge vs PureTerm

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

Head to head
About

TermBridge

Control and observe any terminal on your Mac from your phone, anywhere. Dictate commands, attach files, and sync clipboards. Securely manage your development workflow remotely.

Highlights
  • Remote terminal control
  • Live agent monitoring
  • Push notifications for agent prompts
  • Voice command dictation
  • File and image attachment
  • Two-way clipboard sync
  • End-to-end encryption
Features
Read full description

Control and observe any terminal on your Mac from your phone — from anywhere. TermBridge attaches at the shell layer, so it works across every terminal you already use: iTerm2, Terminal.app, the integrated terminals in VS Code, Zed, and Cursor, plus tmux. There's no new terminal app to live in and nothing to reconfigure. The exact shell you're already typing in simply shows up on your phone, live. VIBE CODING, UNTETHERED Start a long Claude Code or Codex run on your Mac, then walk away. TermBridge keeps you in the loop from wherever you are. • Answer the agent from your phone: Allow, Always allow, Deny, or Deny with a note. Answer Claude's questions too, including ones with several picks. • Get a push the moment an agent needs you. Approve right from the notification, or tap to land on the request. • See every agent across all of your Macs in one place: needs you, running, finished. • Watch any agent run live, character by character, exactly as it appears on your Mac. DO REAL WORK FROM YOUR PHONE TermBridge is built to get things done, not just watch. • Dictate commands and prompts by voice, with a live waveform so you know it's listening. • Attach a file or image from your phone. It uploads to your Mac and the path drops into the terminal, ready to run or hand to your agent. • Browse your Mac's files, and preview what the agent touched — Markdown and READMEs rendered, and the local servers running on your Mac, open right on your phone. • Two-way clipboard sync: copy on your Mac, paste on your phone, and back. WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT Most remote-terminal apps only see sessions they created, on a server you SSH into. TermBridge is the opposite. • Attach to the terminals you're ALREADY in — not just sessions this app spawned. • See your editor's integrated terminals (VS Code, Zed, Cursor) on your phone. • Spawn a fresh shell on your Mac from your phone, on demand. • Pair multiple devices (iPhone + iPad) to one Mac, and switch between Macs instantly — each keeps its own live connection, so an offline Mac never drops the one you're using. MADE YOURS • Themes and fonts to match your setup. • A custom on-screen key row and macros for the keys you actually use. • A full-color terminal with deep scrollback on iPhone, and a 3-panel layout on iPad. • A touch keyboard bar with Tab, Esc, Ctrl-C, arrows, and the modifiers a terminal needs. SECURE BY DESIGN Your terminal is sensitive. TermBridge treats it that way. • End-to-end encrypted with X25519 + AES-256-GCM — the relay only ever sees ciphertext. • Forward secrecy: fresh keys every session, so a future compromise can't unlock past ones. • Zero-knowledge relay — your secrets never touch a server, and no inbound port is opened on your Mac. • QR-code pairing, approved right on your Mac, with a fingerprint you can verify. RELIABLE • Reconnects the instant your network changes or your phone comes back online. • Sessions keep running when you step away — pick up exactly where you left off. • Missed output replays on attach, so you never lose what happened while you were gone. PERMISSIONS — ONLY WHEN YOU USE THE FEATURE • Notifications — to alert you when an agent on your Mac is waiting; tap to jump into that terminal. • Camera — to scan the QR code that pairs your phone with your Mac. • Microphone & Speech Recognition — only when you dictate by voice; transcription runs on-device. • Photos — only if you choose to attach an image to send to your Mac. GETTING STARTED Install the free TermBridge menu-bar app on your Mac, scan the QR code once, approve on the Mac, and your terminals are with you everywhere. No SSH keys, no ports to forward, no servers to rent. Learn more at https://termbridge.clovinyx.io Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

PureTerm

Features
Read full description

PureTerm is a real terminal for your iPhone and iPad: connect to your own servers over SSH or Telnet and work as if you were sitting at the console. FREE TRIAL: try the yearly plan free for 3 days. After the trial it renews at the yearly price unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the trial ends. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID settings. A REAL TERMINAL Full PTY with xterm-256color emulation. vim, htop, nano, colors, mouse modes and live window resizing behave the way they should — this is not a fake command box. SSH DONE RIGHT - Log in with a password or an SSH key - Generate modern ed25519 keys directly on your device (Pro) - Import existing OpenSSH private keys — ed25519 or RSA, passphrase supported (Pro) - Passwords and private keys are stored in the iOS Keychain, on this device only TELNET TOO Network gear, retro machines, BBS and MUD servers: plain Telnet is one tap away, with correct option negotiation and window-size support. YOUR CREDENTIALS STAY YOURS PureTerm has no account, no sign-up, no analytics and no servers of its own. The app connects only to the hosts you add yourself. Nothing about you or your servers is uploaded anywhere. SAVED HOSTS Keep each machine as a profile — name, address, port, username, auth method — and connect with a tap. FREE AND PRO Free: 1 saved host and sessions up to 60 seconds — enough to check a service or fix a config line. PureTerm Pro unlocks unlimited hosts, unlimited session length and SSH key management, from $0.99/month (yearly and lifetime options available). WHO IT'S FOR - Developers and sysadmins who need a quick shell from anywhere - Homelab owners with a Raspberry Pi or NAS in the closet - Anyone who loves a proper terminal — including the retro Telnet corners of the internet No ads, no tracking, no dark patterns. Just a clean, fast terminal in your pocket. Note: features listed under PRO require a separate purchase — an auto-renewable subscription (monthly or yearly) or a one-time Lifetime unlock. ——— Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://hdappstudio.com/pureterm/privacy/

Screenshots

TermBridge4 screens
PureTerm4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: TermBridge at weekly against PureTerm's every 2 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. TermBridge sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and PureTerm sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TermBridge ships an update weekly, PureTerm every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
TermBridge versus PureTerm: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTermBridgePureTerm
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size53 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperClovinyxHD YAPIMCILIK VE TEKNOLOJI ITHALAT IHRACAT TICARET LIMITED SIRKETI

In-app purchases

3 purchases

TermBridge

Subscriptions2
  • TermBridge Pro$3.991 Month
  • TermBridge Pro$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • TermBridge Pro Lifetime$79.99
3 purchases

PureTerm

Subscriptions2
  • PureTerm Pro — Monthly$0.991 Month
  • PureTerm Pro — Yearly$5.991 Year
One-time1
  • PureTerm Pro — Lifetime$14.99

Questions

Is TermBridge free?
TermBridge is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PureTerm free?
PureTerm is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do TermBridge or PureTerm have ads?
Neither TermBridge nor PureTerm shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TermBridge or PureTerm?
TermBridge ships an update weekly, and PureTerm every 2 months. Most recently, TermBridge was updated on October 11, 2026 and PureTerm on October 15, 2026.

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