Comparison

a+Terminal vs 42 Editor

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

Head to head
About

a+Terminal

This app provides a privacy-focused SSH terminal for remote machine access on your iPhone. It integrates with tmux and CLI AI coding agents, offering features like push-to-talk dictation and live session monitoring.

Highlights
  • Privacy-first SSH terminal
  • tmux and CLI AI agent integration
  • Push-to-talk dictation
  • Live Activities for session monitoring
  • Dev server port preview
  • Mac screen sharing (VNC)
Features
Read full description

a+Terminal is a privacy-first SSH terminal for working on your own machines from your iPhone — built around tmux and CLI AI coding agents. It's agent-agnostic: run any CLI coding agent, with plug-and-play profiles you can extend yourself. SCROLLING THAT ACTUALLY WORKS Swipes become real mouse-wheel events, so tmux and your agent's output scroll natively, with momentum — no more fighting copy-mode. SPEAK YOUR PROMPTS Push-to-talk dictation inserts straight into the terminal. Recognition runs entirely on your iPhone; audio never leaves the device. NEVER LOSE YOUR SESSION Live Activities and the Dynamic Island show your active sessions at a glance. Tap to jump back in — a+Terminal reconnects and re-attaches your session multiplexer (tmux, zellij, and more) automatically. PREVIEW YOUR DEV SERVER Start a dev server on the machine you're connected to and a+Terminal spots the port — from the URL your framework prints, or from the machine's own listener table. Tap it and the page opens over the SSH connection you already have. It renders in a viewer built for exactly one thing: the single port you forwarded. Every other address is refused, nothing it loads is kept, and it is not a web browser. Reload with a tap, and switch between the mobile and desktop layout to check both. MONITOR YOUR MAC Add a Monitor (VNC) session to watch your own computer's screen sharing right from your phone. Sign in with your macOS account and you land straight on the desktop; pinch to zoom and pan. Pop the screen out into a floating Picture-in-Picture window to keep an eye on it while you use other apps. Turn on Control to tap, drag, and type — enough to unlock a locked Mac and take over. It stays view-only until you do, and it connects only to the machine you enter. (Beta.) ZERO DATA COLLECTION No analytics, no accounts, no crash SDKs, no servers of ours. The App Privacy label says "Data Not Collected" because there is nothing to collect it with. The only network traffic is your own connections to machines you configure. SUPPORT THE APP An optional tip jar lets you support a+Terminal's development. Tips are one-time and unlock nothing — every feature is always available. • ed25519 keys generated on-device, stored in the Keychain (never exportable, never in backups) • Password authentication option, stored in the Keychain only • Trust-on-first-use host key pinning with hard mismatch failures • Sticky Ctrl and C-b (tmux prefix) keys, Esc/Tab/arrows accessory bar • Attach an image or file from your phone over the existing SSH connection • Plug-and-play agent & multiplexer profiles — any CLI agent, tmux, zellij, screen — or define your own, no update required • Multiple simultaneous sessions with server groups • Preview a dev server running on the far end, over the SSH connection you already have — port detection and a single-port viewer • Monitor (VNC): view-only screen sharing for your own Mac, with a floating Picture-in-Picture window and optional touch & keyboard control (beta) • Light, dark, and follow-system themes Privacy Policy: https://aaroncx.github.io/a-plus-terminal/privacy

About

42 Editor

Features
Read full description

42 Editor is a code and text editor for iPhone and iPad. It opens the files you already have, in the Files app, iCloud Drive, Working Copy, Dropbox or any other file provider, and saves your changes back to the same file. There is nothing to sign in to and nothing is uploaded. Sometimes the file that needs fixing is a config file, a script or a spreadsheet export, and the only device to hand is a phone. 42 Editor is made for those moments. EDIT IN PLACE • Open a file or a whole folder from any provider in the Files app. Your changes go back to the original. • Opened folders are remembered: create, rename, duplicate and delete files and folders inside them. • Recent files reopen with one tap. • Open in 42 Editor from the Files app and the share sheet. SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING FOR 29 LANGUAGES Python, Swift, JavaScript, TypeScript, C, C++, Objective-C, C#, Java, Kotlin, Go, Rust, PHP, Ruby, Dart, Lua, R, JSON, YAML, TOML, INI, XML, HTML, CSS, Markdown, Shell, SQL, Makefile and Dockerfile, in light and dark. Line numbers with the current line marked, and long lines that wrap or scroll sideways. A KEYBOARD ROW FOR CODE Tab and outdent, a comment toggle, cursor keys, undo and redo, and the brackets and symbols the iOS keyboard hides. Auto-indent, optional closing of brackets and quotes, and tabs or spaces at 2, 4 or 8 wide. FIND, REPLACE AND FORMAT • Find and Replace, Go to Line, toggle comment, and indent or outdent a selection. • Format or minify JSON, keeping the order of the keys. • Markdown and HTML preview, a tap away. CSV AND TSV AS A TABLE A grid with a pinned header row. Edit cell by cell; add, duplicate or delete rows and columns; sort, filter and undo. The raw text is one tap away. CAREFUL SAVING 42 Editor keeps each file's text encoding (UTF-8, UTF-16 or Windows-1252), its line endings and its final newline. It autosaves two seconds after you stop typing, and if another app changed the file in the meantime it stops and asks which version to keep. iPHONE AND iPAD System, light or dark appearance, font size from 9 to 32 pt, and ⌘S to save on a hardware keyboard. PRIVATE No account, no ads and no analytics. Your files stay on your device and in the providers you choose. 42 Editor is an editor, not a place to run code: it doesn't compile or run anything.

Screenshots

a+Terminal4 screens
42 Editor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: 42 Editor at none against a+Terminal's 3. 42 Editor also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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. a+Terminal sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. 42 Editor asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
a+Terminal versus 42 Editor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parametera+Terminal42 Editor
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAaron CharacterMohammed Shehada

In-app purchases

3 purchases

a+Terminal

One-time3
  • Small Tip$1.99
  • Medium Tip$4.99
  • Large Tip$9.99
None

42 Editor

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is a+Terminal free?
a+Terminal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is 42 Editor free?
42 Editor is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do a+Terminal or 42 Editor have ads?
Neither a+Terminal nor 42 Editor shows ads.

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