Comparison

Lochan vs Whip Herd

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

Head to head
About

Lochan

Features
Read full description

Your coding agents keep working when you step away. Lochan is how you keep up with them, calmly. When Claude Code, Codex or any other agent on your computer stops to ask a question, open its real terminal on your phone, read what it did, and answer. Then get back to your walk. A CALM VIEW OF A BUSY HERD Every agent on the machine at a glance, with a line on where each one left off. The ones waiting on you always come first. - Tiles: the whole herd as a grid that moves as your agents do - Board: Blocked, Working, Done and Idle as columns you swipe through - Projects: agents grouped by the project they are working in ASK THE SHEPHERD One question, the whole herd. The Shepherd is an agent on your computer that reads every other pane. Ask it what needs you, what changed or whether anything is stuck, and it answers from what is on the screens, with a link to each pane it mentions. It runs Claude Code by default, or Codex, Pi, OpenCode or Grok. ANY AGENT CAN JOIN THE HERD Lochan does not plug into your agent. It opens the terminal the agent is already running in, so it works with Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Grok, OpenCode, Aider and anything else with a prompt. A new agent works the day it ships. A REAL TERMINAL, IN YOUR POCKET Tap any agent for the actual session: full output, scrollback and a keyboard. MAKE THE KEYS YOUR OWN Two rows of keys sit above the terminal. Drag any key to either row, switch off the ones you never use, and add your own: - Text keys for the commands you repeat, like /compact, /usage or /model sonnet - Chord keys for Ctrl, Option and Shift combos, like your tmux prefix or Ctrl-R SHARE A SCREENSHOT WITH YOUR AGENT Pick a photo, take one of the screen in front of you, or send a file. It lands on your computer and its path goes into the prompt, ready for you to finish and send. SAY IT. CHECK IT. SEND IT. Dictate a long instruction, read the transcript, and send it only when it reads right. Or write it in a real text box, with a draft that waits if you get pulled away. RUN THE HERD FROM YOUR PHONE Start a new agent in any project, rename it, and close it when it is done. BUILT FOR A PHONE Lochan tells each agent it is being driven from a phone, so it leads with the answer, keeps replies short and batches its questions. PAIRED IN ONE SCAN Run one line on your Mac or Linux machine, then scan the code it shows. Your phone makes its own key, and it stays in the phone's Keychain. Nothing to type, no private key to copy. Save every machine you own and switch between them from the title bar. No account, and no Lochan server in between: your phone talks to your computers over SSH. Away from home you need a route to them, and Tailscale is the two-minute version. ALSO IN LOCHAN: A PRIVATE AI CHAT Chat with Apple's on-device model, open models downloaded to your phone, or cloud models with your own API key. Conversations branch instead of overwriting, and you can share one with a link we cannot read. Lochan works with Herdr, the terminal workspace for AI coding agents, on the computers you own.

About

Whip Herd

Access your remote development environment from your mobile device. Connect via SSH, manage files, and interact with your servers and coding agents on the go.

Highlights
  • Secure SSH connections
  • Full interactive terminal
  • Remote file browser
  • Herdr workspace overview
  • Access to terminal-based tools
  • Mobile-optimized dark interface
Features
Read full description

Your agents stay on your computer. You stay in control. Whip is a Herdr and SSH client for iPhone and iPad. Connect to your home computer or server over SSH, follow your coding agents, and give them the next instruction wherever you are. SUPERVISE YOUR AGENTS See the agents across your connected hosts and Herdr spaces in one attention queue. Follow Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode conversations, check their progress, and return to the sessions that need you. CHAT FROM YOUR PHONE Read agent responses in native Chat View. Write your next instruction with the message composer, dictate text, or attach images. Expand tool results and code changes without working through a tiny terminal transcript. KEEP YOUR TERMINAL CLOSE Open interactive SSH terminals with mobile keyboard controls and independent shell tabs. Plain SSH hosts work without Herdr, too. REVIEW REMOTE WORK Browse files over SFTP, inspect Git changes and diffs, and open remote files. Use the built-in browser for websites and development previews reached through your SSH connection. CONNECT TO YOUR OWN MACHINES Manage saved SSH hosts and keys, pair supported hosts by QR code, and use the connections you already trust. Whip connects to your machines; the coding agents run there, not on your phone. No extra Whip server is required on a Herdr host. Core SSH, SFTP, terminal, and Herdr workflows are free. The optional Rancher in-app purchase adds appearance options such as glass, custom backgrounds, and full-screen layouts. Your computer or server must be reachable over SSH. Herdr is required for the integrated agent and workspace features; ordinary SSH and SFTP connections do not require it. Agent software and any model-provider accounts are configured on your remote machine. Whip is an independent app and is not developed, maintained, or endorsed by the Herdr project or the supported agent providers.

Screenshots

Lochan4 screens
Whip Herd4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Lochan at none against Whip Herd's 2. Whip Herd's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs fortnightly) and iOS requirement (16.4 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. Whip Herd sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Lochan asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lochan ships an update fortnightly, Whip Herd every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Lochan versus Whip Herd: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLochanWhip Herd
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size63 MB144 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperPurplecones, LLCKANGCHENG CHEN

In-app purchases

None

Lochan

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Whip Herd

One-time2
  • Support Whip$5.00
  • Whip Rancher — Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is Lochan free?
Lochan is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Whip Herd free?
Whip Herd is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Lochan or Whip Herd have ads?
Neither Lochan nor Whip Herd shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lochan or Whip Herd?
Lochan ships an update fortnightly, and Whip Herd every 6 days. Most recently, Lochan was updated on November 1, 2026 and Whip Herd on October 29, 2026.

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