Shellter vs CekTerm
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Shellter
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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 ā 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 ā 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 ā 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 ā your password is never sent to a server that failed the check. WHERE YOUR SECRETS LIVE ā 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 ā SSH and SFTP are verified by host-key pinning. FTPS is encrypted but does not verify the certificate. FTP is cleartext. Prefer SFTP.
CekTerm
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Carry your remote tmux session in your pocket. Close the app; the work keeps running. CekTerm is an SSH terminal for iPhone and iPad. It never owns your work ā the real thing is the tmux session on the remote host, and the app is just a client you can throw away and reattach at any time. So switching apps, running out of battery, losing signal underground, even swiping the app out of the multitasking list: that build, training run, deploy or AI agent is still going. Open it again and the screen picks up exactly where you left off. Features ⢠Sessions live in remote tmux Disconnects, app switches and dead batteries do not matter ā come back, attach to the same session, and the half-finished work is still there. ⢠Local scrollback, scrolling never hits the network tmux control mode returns a linear output stream, so history is stored on the phone and scrolling back feels like scrolling any other page. ⢠Session names stay on the phone If the remote tmux session is gone, its entry remains in the list ā one tap rebuilds it with the same name and settings. ⢠Keys are generated on the device Ed25519 or ECDSA, straight into the Keychain ā no copying a private key across machines, which is where keys usually leak. ⢠Input built for a phone A dedicated row for Ctrl/Alt/arrows, frequent commands as reorderable tabs, and floating Enter and clear buttons you can drag anywhere. ⢠An exit key that reads the context It asks the remote what is running first: q for less, Ctrl-D for python, Ctrl-C twice for an agent ā and for vim it asks whether to save. ⢠Pick the remote folder and shell Browse the remote directory tree while creating a session; the shell list is read from that host, so you do not have to remember paths. ⢠Upload files over SFTP Send several files at once to any remote folder and leave the page while it transfers. The file only appears at its final path once complete, so an interruption never leaves half a file behind. ⢠Voice input Speak a line, get text, review it before sending ā or run it straight away. Long commands are painful to type on a phone. ⢠Six interface languages and multiple themes The interface language is independent of the system setting, and the terminal has six colour schemes of its own. Security ⢠Private keys, passphrases and passwords live in the Keychain, readable only after the device is unlocked, and never leave this device via iCloud Keychain or encrypted backups. ⢠Host keys use TOFU: the key is recorded on first connect and must match exactly every time after; a mismatch aborts the connection and shows both fingerprints. ⢠Biometric lock: protect the app with Face ID or Touch ID and lock it the moment it goes to the background. ⢠Remote clipboard reads are refused: OSC 52 is implemented for writing only and never answers a read query. ⢠Settings export contains no private keys or passwords ā those stay in the Keychain. What you need A remote host you are authorised to log into, with tmux installed (Linux or macOS). Please use Ed25519 keys: RSA private keys can no longer authenticate against OpenSSH 8.8 and later. This app does not try to be a full SFTP browser or a port-forwarding tool ā a desktop SSH client is better at those. It focuses on one thing: watching a long-running session from a phone.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Shellter at none against CekTerm's shown. Shellter also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Shellter | CekTerm |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | ā | Daily |
| Ads | No ā better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod ā better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 ā better | 17.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Blocify LLC | å¼µ ęå± |
In-app purchases
Shellter
No in-app purchases
CekTerm
No in-app purchases









