I generally use iSH[1] for my iPhone to Linux needs. Specifically, I like it because it's a standard Linux distribution with OpenSSH. Meaning all the things work like sftp, ssh, tunnels, and local clients like `mysql` tunneled through ssh
I use iSH too and love that I have all my standard CLI tools available, or can just install ones I want.
But using the ssh client in iSH to interact with TUI interfaces is a less than optimal experience. Many nice UI affordances that something like Terminus provides are lacking. Like using swipes as input, key management tools, or using location monitoring as a trick to keep it running in the background. Definitely excited to check out this new Echo client.
I also love iSH. However, I haven't been able to run agents directly from my phone on it like I would hope.
I spent a few hours trying to get GitHub Copilot CLI or Claude Code installed only to discover that the version of Node is pegged to 14, which prohibits installation of several of these tools via NPM.
Has anyone had success with this? I'd love to see the packages updated to support later versions
This is pretty awesome, and at a $3 price point is an auto purchase for me!
As someone else said though, hardware keyboard support on iOS is something that I would really want as I regularly use ShellFish on my iPhone with a USB-C keyboard.
Something that actually matters more to me is font support. I use nerd fonts for my zsh prompt, so an app that doesn't support them is a hard sell. Are custom fonts supported, or at least on the roadmap?
Additionally I just want clarification on your business model. Once I pay now I will get all future updates for free or might I have to pay for them?
EDIT: (Since Ghostty supports it) Does this also support showing images in the terminal via the kitty protocol?
Neat, it's staggering that there hasn't been a good non-subscription option for a simple utility like this for iOS. I've used Termius for a while, but it pushes a subscription and AI features pretty hard.
I think this really needs the ability to generate SSH keys on the secure enclave, like Secretive[1] does on macOS.
There used to be a couple non-subscription ones. I’m still using Prompt 2, but of course it’s been superseded by the subscription-bound Prompt 3 on the App Store for some time now.
+1 in the same boat here. Only subscription I'm paying now is Signal backups, I simply can't justify the one-time price of 100$ they charge for Prompt 3
I'd love the ability to run a command on connection to a server (like "tmux attach -t main") and also a way to create my own buttons in the UI to send things like tmux commands (next window, create window, etc) to make it easier use from my phone.
Also, and I'll probably just buy it to test, but how does it handle copy/paste and STT? Especially with coding agents I use speech-to-text to explain something and that's always hit or miss in terminal apps on iOS in my experience.
Oh, very interesting, I wasn't even aware this was a thing. I mean, I guess it's obvious but after trying third-party keyboards years ago (and finding them too buggy) I never really kept up with them. I'll check that out!
- I want my iPhone terminal to be built for use w/ external keyboard.
- While I really like pay-once a use-often app like a terminal you really want to try before you buy. But maybe Apples general refund-if-not-satisfied is still a thing and enough?
In the App Store it says it requires iOS 26.2 or later. Any reason it couldn't be made to run on iOS 18?
I only ask because I don't wanna upgrade to Liquid Glass!
I will give it a spin on my Apple Vision Pro.
Have been trying ttyd, which could really be great as is it browser based and hence I can have as many windows as I want, but a safari bug on iOS/ipados/visionos is a showstopper: specifically, safari sends keycode 13 events (enter key) when pressing ctrl-c on a hardware keyboard. So emacs, interrupting fg processes etc are problematic.
- In Secure Shellfish, I love that if iOS suspends it and I reopen it, it just does `tmux attach` on the last host automatically. Echo has the "startup command", but seems I still have to manually click on the last host I used to resume. Perhaps we can get an option to auto-reconnect to the last host? (My work firewall blocks Mosh so I need to do the ssh-and-attach dance when iOS kills the app.)
- When using Emacs on iOS, it would be great to be able to save keychords like `C-x C-s` or `M-x` somewhere, for example on the virtual keyboard top row. (I would be ecstatic if I could use the volume buttons as Ctrl and Meta, but I guess that’s more complicated to do.)
thanks that's great feedback. currently thinking and working right now on the best way to handle customisability of the keyboard (without making it a chore to configure or a horrendous ui). hadn't considered "chords" yet but it's one we'll consider as we approach this
Very cool! I've been using Termius for a while. Overall positive, but my one complaint is that the interactions can be pretty tedious using it with TUIs like Claude Code. I like the gesture-based movement, excited to try that in practice.
I use Tailscale SSH, so one very small bit of feedback is that it took me a second to realize I just needed to put a dummy password in to actually get to the connection.
How does it compare to the (extremely expensive) Prompt 3 app? I'm still stuck with Prompt 2 which I now don't even see on the App store anymore. Been waiting for a decent non-subscription based alternative
Does it allow truly persistent mosh connections? I can't remember which iOS client it was, but I've used one which forgot I was connected if I left the app for long enough. The mosh process was still running on the server, but my iPad had forgotten how to talk to it.
Does it have the same issue with key repeat? It's a long standing iOS bug, but some apps seem to fix it (somehow). Without the fix, vim ends up being essentially unusable since I can't press and hold on the cursor movement keys. iSH, for example, hits the bug and it severely limits the usefulness of the app.
Most iOS SSH clients feel like afterthoughts with janky keyboard handling. Curious how you're dealing with the input layer, that's always been the hardest part to get right on iOS
Really nice! I really enjoy it. The only thing I notice is when I'm using Claude code via SSH, the app hangs itself up once the conversation gets longer.
Very nice! But, looking at the keyboard, there is a bunch of wasted space above the top row of keys that I just don’t understand how Apple put there. When you’re working with tiny text in a terminal every little bit of space matters and on tiny phone screens it’s crazy they would do something so strange. Does anyone know if it’s possible to remove that top bit of wasted space from the keyboard on iOS 26?
Any real different than Terminus? That seemed to be the latest and greatest last I was shopping for an iOS SSH client.
Also, maybe just because its new (I dont realy know how App Store search works) but searching "Echo" and "Echo SSH" returned way too many Amazon/Alexa related apps, and then many other terminals before yours.
Not saying there aren't things the dev could do to improve that situation, but I experienced the same thing and was confused before I scrolled back up to see that the app store "helpfully" displayed: "showing results for echo show, search for echo ssh instead?"
Terminus was a sledgehammer for the small, neat little app I wanted to build (though I'm sure it's great). Plus a big driver was the ability to use Ghostty's engine. I'm not familiar with what Terminus use under the hood.
Hm I feel gypped with the mosh aspect. I was expecting to be able to mosh into a server, context switch, and resume the same session later. It doesn't resume, it just requires you establish a new session. Meh.
Nice job! Purchased. Would love to be able to make the font much smaller. It says "10pt font" but it is still larger than I need and would love the extra real estate.
Would be great to see some more ssh key features from Termius implemented: generating new keys, including keys that are stored in the Secure Enclave, exporting keys to hosts directly via the app
figured it out. in the connection box just append :port-number to the hostname/ip address, e.g. user@server:7 to have it try port 7. you should see it reflected in the connection detail text below the box
Well, the app description does say "modern". No modern app should be using rsa keys. ssh-rsa was deprecated in OpenSSH in 2020 https://www.openssh.org/txt/release-8.2
Nice. Hopefully it will evolve into something as good as termux on android. It won't ever be as good, because ios is a toy with rubber on all corners.
Love that they copied the bar above the keyboard. Even with android custom keyboard that was a great feature, on IOS that's essential.
oh, it's closed source. and lazygit (the least terminal based of all cli tools) being their inapiration doesn't inspire much confidence in long term :(
I’ve been using blink on ios for years it’s opensource and works pretty well for me.
I actually kinda like working on my ipad this way (ssh’d into dev box) it’s not really distracting somehow and not having full jetbrains etc makes for a different kinda session.