Looking for a good SSH apps for iPhone

I have been using a free SSH app on my phone for a little while but stopped because using VIM mostly broke it. Now after some updates I seems to have a limited number of key strokes before it expires. So now seems like a good time to shop around.

There are the requirements:

  • Can emulate color
  • Can run VIM, though being able to run EMACS would be cool too.
  • It does not have to be free.
  • it must run on a non jail broken phone.

What is everyone else using? What do you suggest?


Solution 1:

Being the fanboy that I am, I completely admit that I am absolutely in love with Prompt (by Panic). It's already come a long way since it's initial release, and here's a few wonderful features;

  1. It's not cluttered. They provided an app that offers what you need out of an SSH client and added a few bonuses that make it so much more worthwhile.

  2. Command, and parameter, auto-completion. (Oh my god this is amazing.)

  3. Public/Private key authentication support. Well documented, and also quite improved in recent versions with regard to how to load the actual key.

  4. Leveraging the amount of free space in the meta key bar, you can assign 4 "favorite special character keys", so pick the ones you use most often so you rarely have to hit the 123 keyboard key, or worse, the #+= key. I currently have /\.- chosen.

Prompt is $8 (universal app!) on the iTunes App Store.

Solution 2:

I've been using Panic's Prompt. It does color, SSH keys (including PEMs, if you've got a need to work with EC2), runs Vim and Emacs just fine, and most definitely works beautifully on a non-jailbroken phone. The soft keyboard also provides convenient access to escape, tab, and other keys that you need frequently when you're working with a terminal. Properly configured, Prompt also provides superb auto-complete that actually makes using a terminal on an iPhone palatable. Alternatively, Prompt works great with a Bluetooth keyboard--a combination that has proved excellent when I'm on the road and something goes wrong with a server.

Plus, Prompt is a universal app, so if you've got an iPad, you can use the bigger screen when you've got it, and still rely on the iPhone's size when you don't.

My only complaint is that Prompt can be a bit slow. I'm not sure how much of that is Prompt's fault, and how much of that is my cell phone's network not being quite up-to-snuff. But the slowness hasn't honestly

Solution 3:

I like iSSH. It's been around a long time and is a high quality emulator. It's usable on an iPhone screen and quite nice on an iPad screen. It even has a workaround for using the Control key on an external Bluetooth keyboard. I also tried Prompt right when it was released and found it not as solid, although it's had a lot of improvements since then.