Astra Shell vs Remote Terminal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Astra Shell
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Astra Shell is a native terminal client designed for persistent remote work. Traditional remote terminals are tied to the current device and network. When a client restarts, the network disconnects, or you switch devices, you often need to reconnect and find your place again. Astra Shell keeps shells running on a remote host you control, so your Mac, iPhone, and iPad can return to the same terminal and continue from the existing context. Key features: ⢠Persistent remote shells Remote shells and their tasks continue running after the client disconnects. Reconnect to return to an existing terminal. ⢠Continue across devices Open the same shell from Mac, iPhone, or iPad to keep viewing and entering commands. ⢠Native terminal experience Supports common terminal modes, colors, wide characters, alternate screens, mouse input, paged history, and copy and paste. ⢠Remote files Browse remote directories, upload and download files, preview text, view transfer progress, and inspect Git status. ⢠Astra and SSH hosts Connect to a self-hosted Astra service over QUIC/TLS, or use standalone SSH/SFTP mode with a standard server. ⢠Private-key security SSH private keys are stored in Keychain. Host configurations and credentials can synchronize through iCloud Keychain when enabled. Astra mode requires the open-source astrad service on a host you own or manage, with an authorized public key configured. Standard SSH hosts do not require astrad. Installation instructions are available on the support website. Astra Shell contains no advertising or behavioral analytics. It does not send terminal commands, remote files, or SSH private keys to the developer.
Remote Terminal
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Your servers, and the AI agents working on them, in your pocket. Remote Terminal is a full SSH client for iPhone and iPad: a real terminal emulator, deep tmux integration, a remote file browser, and a dashboard that shows what every terminal-based AI coding agent is doing ā including which one is waiting for your approval. Start Claude Code, Codex or another terminal agent inside tmux on your server, lock your phone, switch from Wi-Fi to cellular, and come back later. The agent keeps working on the server, and Remote Terminal reconnects and reattaches so you can see exactly what it did while you were away. AN AGENT COMMAND CENTRE ⢠Every agent, on every server, on one screen ⢠At a glance: which one is thinking, editing files, running a command ā or waiting for you ⢠Tap an agent to drop straight into its terminal ⢠A per-agent timeline, with tools used, commands run and files touched A REAL TERMINAL ⢠Complete emulation: 256 and true colour, alternate screen, full-screen TUIs, mouse reporting, hyperlinks ⢠A keyboard built for a terminal: Esc, Tab, Ctrl, Alt, arrows, Home, End, Page Up/Down, function keys ā hardware keyboards too ⢠Search your scrollback, copy any region, paste with bracketed paste ⢠Text reflows when you rotate the device instead of scrambling DEEP TMUX INTEGRATION ⢠Create, attach, rename and kill sessions; add windows, split and close panes ⢠Preview any pane without attaching to it ⢠Attach automatically on connect, and reattach after a dropped connection MANY SERVERS AT ONCE ⢠Production, staging and your GPU box connected simultaneously ⢠Switch instantly, with favourites, search and colour tags ⢠Per-server themes, font sizes, startup commands and tmux behaviour RESILIENT BY DESIGN ⢠Automatic reconnection with backoff, so a flaky network does not hammer your server ⢠Instant reconnection when the network comes back, rather than waiting out a timer ⢠A connection state you can read, with errors that say what to do next REMOTE FILES ⢠Browse, read and edit files on your server, with syntax highlighting for 19 language families ⢠Upload and download over the SSH connection you already have ⢠Confirmation before anything destructive VOICE AND IMAGES ⢠Dictate a command or a message for an agent, review the text, then send it ⢠Anything that looks destructive has to be confirmed, because dictation mishears ⢠Photograph an error on another screen and hand the image to an agent BUILT ON KEYCHAIN SECURITY ⢠Passwords, private keys and passphrases live in the iOS Keychain, on this device only, excluded from backups ⢠Optional Face ID or Touch ID for saved credentials, and an App Lock for the app itself ⢠Proper SSH host key verification: a changed key is never accepted silently ⢠Ed25519 and ECDSA keys, including passphrase-protected OpenSSH keys PRIVATE BY CONSTRUCTION No account, no Remote Terminal server, no analytics SDK. Your connections go from your device straight to your machines, and your credentials, commands, output and files never go anywhere except the server you connected to. REMOTE TERMINAL PRO Connecting to your own servers is part of Remote Terminal Pro, with the agent dashboard, file transfer, voice and image input, notifications and insights. It starts with a 3-day free trial; the price and renewal terms are shown before you subscribe, and you can cancel any time in your Apple Account settings. Want to look around first? Turn on Demo Mode in Settings: sample servers that cannot be reached, every screen unlocked, and no connection ever opened. TERMS AND PRIVACY Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Full terms: https://edgemarket.app/remote_terminal#terms Privacy Policy: https://edgemarket.app/remote_terminal#privacy Contacts: info@edgemarket.app
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Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Astra Shell at none against Remote Terminal's 1. 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. Remote Terminal sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per month. Astra Shell asks for nothing beyond the download.
Astra Shell ships an update every 4 weeks, Remote Terminal every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Astra Shell | Remote Terminal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks ā better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No ā better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 ā better | 18.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ē„ ē | Danjel Durmo |
In-app purchases
Astra Shell
No in-app purchases
Remote Terminal
- Remote Terminal Pro Monthly3 Days trial$9.991 Month
Questions
Is Astra Shell free?
Is Remote Terminal free?
Do Astra Shell or Remote Terminal have ads?
Which is updated more often, Astra Shell or Remote Terminal?
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