pmosh vs Pier Shell

pmosh is an SSH terminal for iPhone and iPad that attaches to a tmux session on your own server using tmux's control mode, so the terminal you see on your phone is the same session running on your machine. It's built for developers who run tmux, shells, and command-line tools — including agentic coding tools like Claude Code — on servers or machines they already own and administer. pmosh doesn't provide any of that for you; it's a client that connects to infrastructure you already have. pmosh only connects to servers you configure. On first launch it generates an ed25519 SSH keypair on your device, stored in the iOS Keychain, and shows you the public key so you can add it to authorized_keys on your own server. You type in your host and username; nothing is pre-filled or bundled. There is no server component, no bundled credentials, and no third-party service in between. Features: - Attaches to a remote tmux session over SSH using tmux's control mode (tmux -CC), so output and session state stay in sync with the server - On-device ed25519 key generation — a unique keypair per install, kept in the iOS Keychain - Optional pmosh account: Sign in with Apple and your host, key rows, settings and SSH key follow you to your other iPhones and iPads through your own iCloud (key-value storage for settings, iCloud Keychain for the key). No pmosh server is involved, and nothing requires an account - Two rows of on-screen keys above the keyboard with what terminal work needs but iOS doesn't have: Esc, Ctrl-C, Enter, arrow keys (hold to repeat), Tab / Shift-Tab, and scrollback paging — both rows customizable in Settings, including keys that type your own text - Claude Code transcript view: the conversation in a Claude Code pane — prompts, replies and tool calls — rendered as a native list that scrolls on the phone, read from the session log over the same SSH connection; plus smooth, momentum-based scrolling inside full-screen terminal apps - Works with an external hardware keyboard if you use one - Multiple tabs, each its own tmux session - No account required; free tier with one tab, pmosh Pro for unlimited tabs Privacy: pmosh does not collect analytics or usage data, and does not talk to any server other than the one you enter in setup. No data is sent to the developer or any third party; the optional account syncs through your own iCloud, which we cannot read. The only network connection the app itself makes is the SSH connection to your own server. Requirements: pmosh needs an SSH server you control, reachable from your device, with tmux installed on it. It is not a hosting service and does not include a server — you connect it to a server you already run.

No separate account required Pier works with your existing iCloud account to keep supported data synchronized across your Apple devices. There’s no Pier registration, username, or password to manage. Pier is a native SSH and SFTP client built for developers who want a simple, fast way to access their servers from iPhone and Mac. Add your hosts once and keep them synced privately through iCloud. Connect to production, staging, personal servers, Raspberry Pis, and more without rebuilding your setup on every device. Pier is designed to feel at home on Apple platforms, with a clean native interface, fast terminal performance, and secure key handling.