ShellDiver vs Termalin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
ShellDiver
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With software, free is usually a question rather than an answer. Here it is arithmetic: no server of ours, no accounts, no analytics ā nothing for a subscription to pay for. Sync, startup commands, port forwarding: all of it is in the app. WHERE YOUR KEYS LIVE In your device's keychain. ShellDiver has no account and no sign-in ā there is simply nowhere on our side for anything of yours to sit. An Ed25519 key either travels with you through iCloud Keychain, end-to-end encrypted, or stays on this device behind Face ID. A Secure Enclave key is created inside the security chip. It cannot be read out ā not even by ShellDiver ā never leaves the device, and will ask for Face ID on every sign-in if you want it to. THE VAULT Instead of iCloud you can take syncing into your own hands: an encrypted file in a place you choose. A USB stick, a cloud folder, or your own WebDAV server, so Nextcloud, ownCloud, a Synology, an Apache with mod_dav. It works across different Apple IDs and carries the secrets with it: saved server passwords and private keys. Only your devices encrypt and decrypt. Whoever runs the storage location sees nothing but unreadable files. You add a second device with a QR code, without typing your passphrase there. THE TERMINAL It does not hang up because you looked somewhere else for a minute: the connection belongs to the session, not to the screen. The running build and the half-typed line are still there when you come back. Up to 20 sessions as tabs, terminals and files mixed. Real xterm emulation: colour, UTF-8, resizing that works ā htop, vim and colourful logs look the way you expect. Plus search through the scrollback, your choice of monospaced font including Nerd Fonts, and five colour schemes. On iPhone there is a row above the keyboard with esc, ctrl, tab, arrows and a paste key, because a phone has no āV. When the link drops, ShellDiver notices through keepalives and rebuilds it by itself. This is SSH, not Mosh: the new shell starts fresh. SIGNING IN WITHOUT GUESSING ShellDiver asks the server which methods it offers and works through whatever it holds credentials for. That covers publickey followed by keyboard-interactive ā 2FA after the key ā and equally a server that only offers keyboard-interactive while the host is saved as "password". One-time codes are never pre-filled and never stored. You confirm a host key once, by its fingerprint. Every connection after that checks it, and a key that has changed is refused rather than waved through. THROUGH A JUMP HOST When a server is only open on the inside, you give it a jump host ā OpenSSH's ProxyJump. The jump host then forwards nothing but encrypted bytes and cannot read along; both sign-ins are signed on this device. So your key does not have to sit on the machine in between, and a Secure Enclave key works here too. FILES AND TUNNELS The SFTP browser downloads and uploads, whole folders included, renames, and deletes recursively. Local port forwarding brings a database or an admin interface onto this device. It listens on 127.0.0.1 only and cannot be reached from outside; each rule holds its own connection, so a tunnel does not fall with a terminal. WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE Your ~/.ssh/config is imported, with each IdentityFile matched against the keys you have and any ProxyJump resolved; so is known_hosts, hashed entries as far as they can be matched. Keys come in as Ed25519, RSA or ECDSA ā from the OpenSSH container, from PuTTY's .ppk (v2 and v3), and from the PEM family. A passphrase on the file is used once during import and not kept. Snippets are also the buttons above the keyboard ā global or bound to one host, with a confirmation step if you want one. One per host runs by itself as soon as the shell is open. The backup is a JSON file you can read ā secrets sit inside an encrypted block under a passphrase you choose. Without it nobody gets at them, us included.
Termalin
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Termalin is a fast, no-nonsense SSH client built for people who live in the terminal ā and for working on servers from a phone, including with AI coding agents like Claude Code. A TERMINAL THAT WORKS FROM A PHONE ⢠Real SSH terminal (xterm-256color) with tabs ⢠Key row above the keyboard: Esc, Tab, Ctrl, Alt, Enter, Shift+Tab, arrows, Backspace, Delete, F1āF12, paste ā keys repeat when held, Ctrl and Alt lock with a second tap ⢠Message box: write a command or a message to Claude Code like a chat message ā dictation, autocorrect, cursor ā and send it with Enter in one tap ⢠Slide on the space bar to move the cursor, pinch to change the font size, swipe between sessions ⢠Live server stats while you're connected: CPU, memory, disk, load, network ā right above the terminal ⢠Watch grid: keep several servers on screen at once, and send a command to all of them ⢠Snippets with variables, command history and inline suggestions ⢠Remote desktops over RDP and VNC, made for touch AI ASSISTANT, ON YOUR TERMS ⢠Ask for a command in plain words ā it is typed at the cursor, never run for you ⢠Explain selected output: what it means, the likely cause, what to do ⢠Summarize a recorded session: what was done, what went wrong, what is left ⢠Works with the built-in model, your own Anthropic key, or any compatible chat-completions endpoint ā including a local model, where nothing leaves your network ⢠Nothing is sent until you allow it, and Termalin does not store what you send CONNECT WITHOUT COPYING KEYS AROUND ⢠Install the Termalin Connector on a server once (one command, from the app) ā then connect from any of your devices with no keys on the phone at all ⢠Works behind firewalls and NAT: the server connects out, nothing to open ⢠Or use classic SSH keys: generate, import, sync. Jump hosts and port forwarding included FILES AND DATA ⢠SFTP file manager: browse, upload, download, edit ⢠Built-in editor with syntax highlighting, word wrap and full-screen mode ⢠FTP and S3 buckets ⢠Database client for PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, ClickHouse and more ā directly or through a Connector, with a structure view and query export YOUR SECRETS STAY YOURS ⢠Hosts, keys and snippets are end-to-end encrypted with your master password before they ever leave the device ⢠We can't read your data ā and that's the point ⢠Face ID / Touch ID unlock, two-factor sign-in, recovery codes, sign out a lost device remotely KEEP WATCH FROM THE HOME SCREEN AND YOUR WRIST ⢠Server stats widget: CPU, memory and disk for your servers at a glance ⢠Dynamic Island shows your active SSH sessions ⢠Apple Watch app: your servers and their stats on the wrist WORKS EVERYWHERE ⢠iPhone and iPad (with a full desktop-style layout), plus desktop apps for macOS, Windows and Linux and a web cabinet at termal.in ⢠Sign in with email, Google, GitHub or Apple ⢠Free to use as a local SSH client. Termalin Pro adds cloud sync across devices, Connectors, session recordings and a monthly AI allowance. Questions? hello@termal.in ā we read everything. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://termal.in/privacy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ShellDiver at none against Termalin's 2. Termalin's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Termalin sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. ShellDiver asks for nothing beyond the download.
ShellDiver ships an update weekly, Termalin every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ShellDiver | Termalin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Weekly ā better | Every 10 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No ā better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch ā better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 130 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mathias Oysmueller | Sviatoslav Pavlov |
In-app purchases
ShellDiver
No in-app purchases
Termalin
- Termalin Pro$9.991 Month
- Termalin Pro (Annual)$99.991 Year









