v1.0 · Coming soon

Your terminal,
in your pocket.

A real SSH client for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android. Free. Fast. Built by someone who actually uses it every day.

No account, no email, no waitlist. Drop on the stores when it's done.

The why

Yet another SSH client?

JuiceSSH died in 2021 and left a hole on Android that nobody really filled. Termius works on both platforms but tucks SFTP, snippets and tunnels behind its Pro plan. Other modern alternatives exist — but mostly only on Android.

ShellPhone is the SSH client I wanted to use myself.

Free. On every device — iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android. With the features I actually use every day — multi-tab terminal, SFTP, tunnels, snippets, biometrics — and nothing that I don't. A couple of optional one-time packs at €1.99 each (or €3.49 for both) for power-user comfort, if you want to throw something my way. No subscription. No tracking. No cloud.

— Built in Madrid with love. Tested around the world for you.

What's inside

Every feature, done right.

  1. 01

    Multi-tab terminal

    Reorderable tabs and independent sessions. Keep htop running on one tab while you edit a file on another. Real xterm-256color, true colour, UTF-8.

    SSH-2 (RFC 4251) xterm-256color · true color UTF-8 + combining mouse SGR / X10 SIGWINCH on rotate session resume after background
  2. 02

    SFTP — downloads always free

    Browse and pull files from your server with biometric auth. Downloads are free forever; uploads live in the Power user pack.

    SFTP v3 over SSH iOS Files / macOS Finder / SAF pause & resume transfers biometric per-action text + image preview free downloads · paid uploads
  3. 03

    Tunnels — local forward & SOCKS5

    Hit your private Postgres from a laptop on tethering. Run a SOCKS5 proxy through your phone. Tunnels run free; saving them is in the Power user pack.

    LOCAL forward (-L) SOCKS5 dynamic (-D) multi-port concurrent auto-reconnect on drop IPv4 + IPv6 background-tolerant
  4. 04

    Snippets with variables

    Long commands with placeholders. Tap the snippet, fill in the gaps, send. Running snippets is free; saving your own is in the Power user pack.

    {{placeholders}} types: text · password · choice shell-safe single-quote escape run free · save with pack JSON export / import common library bundled
  5. 05

    Termux-style keyboard

    Ctrl, Esc, Tab, arrows and pipe always one tap away. Bye to fighting the iOS keyboard for a single backtick.

    Ctrl · Esc · Tab · Alt arrows · pipe · ~ · / · $ chord combos (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-D…) sticky modifiers (tap-and-hold) 10k–100k scrollback copy on selection
  6. 06

    Native auth, native security

    Face ID / Touch ID / fingerprint to unlock. Keys live in the OS keychain — never in app storage, never in the cloud.

    ed25519 (preferred) RSA 2048+ · 3072 · 4096 ECDSA p256 · p384 · p521 biometric · TOFU host-key agent forwarding · per-tap known_hosts SHA256 · strict
  7. 07

    Saved connectionsPersonalization pack

    Bookmark every host with name, user, port, key and tags. Open from a list, sorted or searched. Stored in encrypted local SQLite, never synced anywhere.

    encrypted SQLite name · user · port · key tags & full-text search biometric on open no cloud sync ordered & favourited
  8. 08

    Theme, font & language persistencePersonalization pack

    Pick your terminal theme, monospace font and UI language once. The app remembers across launches, updates and reboots.

    6 themes included JetBrains Mono · IBM Plex SF Mono · Fira Code 9 UI languages respects system dark/light per-device store
  9. 09

    ~/.ssh/config importPersonalization pack

    Drop your existing ssh_config and ShellPhone parses Host blocks into saved connections. Bring 30 hosts in 5 seconds — no manual re-typing.

    OpenSSH-compatible parser Host · HostName · User · Port IdentityFile · ProxyCommand * wildcards · Match Include directives batch import + dedupe
  10. 10

    Quick Connect

    Type user@host, port and a key. Three taps from launch to a remote prompt. Connection isn't saved unless you have the Personalization pack.

    user@host syntax port · password · key no signup · no account 3-tap path to prompt session-only (free) saved with Personalization
  11. 11

    Natural-language snippet search

    Type compress folder and get tar -czvf. Powered by community shell snippets via cht.sh. No API key, no account, anonymous lookup.

    cht.sh integration 1k+ topics indexed anonymous queries no API key required no per-query fee tap to copy or insert
  12. 12

    Command history

    Every command typed is searchable, per session and globally. Find that long awk one-liner from three days ago without scrolling forever.

    per-session + global full-text search encrypted on device preserved across closes configurable depth tap to re-run
  13. 13

    Hardware keyboard shortcutsPersonalization pack

    iPad and Mac get the full treatment. ⌘T new tab, ⌘W close, ⌘1–⌘9 switch, ⌘[ ⌘] prev/next, ⌘K command search, ⌘/ snippets, ⌘, settings.

    ⌘T · ⌘W · ⌘1–⌘9 ⌘K · ⌘/ · ⌘, ⌘[ · ⌘] (prev/next) iPad + macOS only Smart Keyboard / Magic external Bluetooth
  14. 14

    iTerm2 theme importPersonalization pack

    Drop in any .itermcolors file from iterm2colorschemes.com. Hundreds of themes parsed and stored as ARGB locally. Preview before saving.

    .itermcolors XML plist ARGB color storage iterm2colorschemes.com drop-in import preview before save JSON export
  15. 15

    Multi-window on iPadPersonalization pack

    Drag a tab out into its own window. Run two servers side-by-side in Stage Manager or Split View. Each window gets its own scene and history.

    drag-out tabs Stage Manager support Split View Slide Over scene-aware iPad + macOS only
  16. 16

    ProxyJump / bastion hopsPower user pack

    Real ssh -J chaining. Pick a saved connection as the jump host and we tunnel through it. No port-forward dance, no workarounds — actual ProxyJump.

    ssh -J equivalent multi-hop chains forwardLocal under hood credential per hop saved jump targets auto-reconnect on hop drop
  17. 17

    Telnet protocolPower user pack

    For legacy network gear that only speaks Telnet — switches, routers, ancient terminal servers. Tiny IAC-aware client, refuses option negotiations, shows a loud cleartext warning.

    RFC 854 IAC parsing refuses negotiations cleartext warning (loud) for legacy switches telnet:// URLs no encryption (by design)
  18. 18

    Wi-Fi triggersPower user pack

    Join the office Wi-Fi, get a one-tap suggestion to open prod-bastion. Match SSIDs to saved connections. iOS asks once for location-when-in-use; Android reads SSID passively.

    SSID-based detection auto-suggest on connect match per connection no location stored iOS NSLocation prompt Android passive SSID
  19. 19

    Pubkey agent (in-memory)Power user pack

    Decrypt your keys once per app session, cached in RAM. Skip the unlock prompt on every connection. Cleared on app restart, lockable on demand.

    RAM-only cache session-scoped cleared on restart biometric to unlock once agent-style flow explicit lock available
  20. 20

    Strict SSH key validationPersonalization pack

    When you save a key for a connection, ShellPhone parses the PEM strictly first. Stray BOM bytes, mixed line endings, truncated content — all caught before anything is stored. You get a clear error in your language, and your key list never ends up with half-written entries.

    strict PEM parser BOM stripped · CRLF→LF whitespace trimmed PKCS#1 · PKCS#8 · OpenSSH localised error message nothing saved on failure

Tech specs

Under the hood.

Standard SSH-2 protocols, native crypto APIs and the platform's secure storage. Nothing exotic, nothing rolled by hand.

SSH

  • SSH-2 (RFC 4251-4254)
  • zlib@openssh compression
  • keepalive + auto-reconnect
  • LOCAL · SOCKS5 · ProxyJump
  • Telnet (legacy fallback)
  • multi-session FDs

Auth

  • ed25519 (preferred)
  • RSA 2048-4096 · ECDSA p256/384/521
  • password · keyboard-interactive
  • TOFU host-key trust
  • in-memory pubkey agent
  • strict PEM parse on import

Storage

  • iOS / iPadOS / macOS: Keychain
  • Android: encrypted prefs
  • biometric-gated access
  • local DB, encrypted
  • optional iCloud / Google sync
  • no telemetry · no SDKs

Terminal

  • xterm-256color
  • true color (24-bit RGB)
  • UTF-8 + combining
  • mouse passthrough (SGR/X10)
  • SIGWINCH on rotate
  • scrollback 10k–100k

SFTP

  • SFTP v3 over SSH
  • browse · sort · search
  • pause / resume transfers
  • iOS Files / macOS Finder / SAF
  • text + image preview
  • conflict-aware overwrite

Platforms

  • iOS 12+ (iPhone)
  • iPadOS 12+ (iPad · multi-window)
  • macOS 11+ (menu bar · shortcuts)
  • Android 5+ (API 21+ · phones & tablets)
  • native UX per platform
  • 9 languages built in

Pricing

Free, plus optional packs from €1.99.

The whole app is usable for free. The packs are one-time purchases, no subscription, no auto-renewal.

Universal Purchase. Buy a pack once on any of your devices and the unlock follows you everywhere — iPhone, iPad and Mac on the same Apple ID, and every Android signed into the same Google Play account.

The whole app

Free

€0 forever
  • Quick Connect (no signup)
  • Multi-tab terminal · true colour · UTF-8
  • SFTP downloads
  • Run tunnels & snippets (LOCAL + SOCKS5)
  • Command history search
  • Natural-language snippet search (cht.sh)
  • SSH key import (encrypted)
  • Host-key trust (TOFU)
  • App lock with biometrics
  • Termux-style keyboard · 5 themes · 9 languages

Everything you need to actually SSH from your phone.

Optional · one-time

Personalization

€1.99
  • Save your SSH connections
  • Persist theme, font & language
  • Bulk-import from ~/.ssh/config
  • Hardware keyboard shortcuts (⌘T, ⌘W, ⌘1–⌘9…)
  • iTerm2 .itermcolors theme import
  • Multi-window on iPad (Stage Manager)
  • Strict SSH key validation on import (clear errors)
  • Universal Purchase — same on all your devices

Comfort layer for daily use.

Optional · one-time

Power user

€1.99
  • Save SSH tunnels (LOCAL + SOCKS5)
  • Save snippets with variables
  • SFTP file uploads (downloads stay free)
  • ProxyJump / bastion hops
  • Telnet protocol (legacy gear)
  • Wi-Fi triggers (auto-suggest by SSID)
  • Pubkey agent (in-memory)
  • Universal Purchase — same on all your devices

For people who actually live in a terminal.

Best value · save €0.49

Both packs

€3.49
  • Everything in Personalization
  • Everything in Power user
  • Saves €0.49 vs buying separately
  • Universal Purchase — same on all your devices

The full kit, in one tap.

Privacy

No cloud. No tracking. No nonsense.

Your servers, your keys, your traffic. The app talks to your machines and to nobody else.

  • Storage Connections, snippets and tunnels live on your device. Optional sync to your own iCloud or Google account, off by default. There is no account on our end.
  • Keys Stored in the OS keychain. Unlocked with biometrics. Never copied to the cloud.
  • Network The app speaks SSH to your servers. Other outbound traffic: receipt validation when you buy a pack, and — only if you enable it — sync to your own iCloud or Google account.
  • Telemetry None. No analytics SDK, no crash reporter that ships data home.