Conduit vs Shellter
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Conduit
Connect to your servers, workstations, and development environments from your iPhone using SSH, Mosh, and SFTP. Offers local credential storage, hardware security key support, and tmux integration without requiring an account or subscription.
- SSH terminal sessions
- Password, private key, and hardware security key authentication
- SFTP file browsing and export
- Saved machine profiles with tags
- Local credential storage
- Tabbed terminal workspace
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Conduit is a local-first SSH, Mosh, and SFTP client for iPhone. It is built for people who need to reach real machines from a phone without creating an account, syncing credentials through a service, or paying a subscription just to open a shell. Use Conduit to connect to your own servers, workstations, homelab machines, VPS instances, and development environments from a mobile terminal. Features: • SSH terminal sessions • Password, private key, and hardware security key (FIDO2) authentication • Hardware security key auth over NFC, tested with YubiKey • SSH agent forwarding to reach further hosts from a machine you connect to • Per-host tmux integration with auto attach/create, start directories, prefix key selection, action shortcuts, and scrollback mode. • Experimental Mosh roaming for unreliable mobile networks • SFTP file browsing and export • Saved machine profiles with tags and search • Local credential and trusted host key storage • Trusted host key prompts and key management • Optional app lock with device authentication • Tabbed terminal workspace • Mobile-friendly modifier, navigation, and function keys • Fullscreen terminal mode • Built-in terminal themes With SSH agent forwarding, a host you connect to can use your key to authenticate onward to other machines, without copying private keys to the server. Forwarded hardware keys stay protected: every onward signature still requires your PIN and a physical tap. Conduit does not require a Conduit account and does not use a Conduit sync service. Saved connection profiles, credentials, and trusted host keys are stored on your device using platform secure storage. Conduit is free and open-source software licensed under the Apache License 2.0. Source code is available at github.com/gwitko/Conduit. Mosh requires mosh-server on the remote host and reachable UDP ports. Predictive echo is marked as experimental. You can support the project here: https://ko-fi.com/gwitko
Shellter
A local-only client for SSH, SFTP, and FTP connections. It offers a real terminal experience, secure file management, and robust host key verification, all without requiring accounts or sending user data.
- Real interactive terminal with xterm rendering
- SFTP/FTP file browsing, upload, and download
- Host key pinning for secure SSH connections
- Secure storage of passwords and private keys
- Local-only operation with no account needed
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Shellter is an SSH, SFTP and FTP client that keeps everything on your phone. There is no account to create, nothing syncs, and the app sends no telemetry. It opens connections to the servers you type in, and makes no other network request. That is the whole product. A REAL TERMINAL — An interactive shell rendered with xterm, not a toy console. It follows the keyboard, resizes the remote PTY when you rotate the phone, and keeps 10,000 lines of scrollback FILES WITHOUT A SECOND LOGIN — Browse, upload, download, rename, delete and create folders over SFTP or FTP. Open the file browser from inside a live SSH session and it reuses that connection instead of opening another one. A download never silently overwrites a file you already have. HOST KEYS, PINNED AND CHECKED — The server's host key is pinned the first time you connect and compared on every reconnect. If it does not match, the connection stops BEFORE authentication — your password is never sent to a server that failed the check. WHERE YOUR SECRETS LIVE — Passwords and private keys go into the iOS Keychain, hardware-backed where supported, stored "this device only" so they cannot be restored onto another phone. HONEST ABOUT PROTOCOLS — SSH and SFTP are verified by host-key pinning. FTPS is encrypted but does not verify the certificate. FTP is cleartext. Prefer SFTP.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Conduit at 13.0 against Shellter's 15.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Conduit | Shellter |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Grzegorz Witkowski | Blocify LLC |
Customer experience
Conduit
Shellter
In-app purchases
Conduit
No in-app purchases
Shellter
No in-app purchases









