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a-Shell

by Nicolas Holzschuch

iPhone · iPad

Active Last checked 31 Jul 2026

Quick verdict

What it is
Store information collected; independent summary not yet available.
At a glance
  • Free to download

Categories and search queries

Official categories

AppCorpus categories

Key functions

Function Availability Access Scope Evidence
Free app Yes Free Store published

Screens

No screenshots collected yet.

Pricing & paywalls

App Store

  • Free

Ratings & reviews

App Store

4.6 535 ratings · App Store

  1. 5/5The notable boundary-pusher of local command line functions on iOS/iPadOS

    There are now quite a few terminal emulator-esque apps on the App Store, but I've been using a-Shell since it was joined only by Blink (from which it was forked) and iSH. As it was then, a-Shell remains the only one of these with which one can actually accomplish command line tasks *locally* beyond screwing around. I am ultimately not a command line native, and I don't have the basic theory beneath my use of Python scripts, yet I've been able to accomplish startlingly powerful things within this app, thanks in large part to gracious and immediately-available support via the project's Discord server. If you've found yourself here by way of a Siri Shortcut's requirement, I would encourage you to take the time to investigate the commands said shortcut(s) run - try running them yourself!

    NeoYokel · 31 Jul 2026

  2. 2/5Seems like just a scam app and a lot of disappointment

    It sure promises a LOT of features I need, but I guess I’ll stick with the Alpine Linux container in iSH, cuz this app won’t even recognize my text inputs. I am not an iOS noob, and my day, I am a systems engineer for a network video company. I NEED these utilities on my iPhone, but not a single item can be used in the full @-shell and the mini is incapable of doing anything from inside the container where it exists. I couldn’t even run a simple SCP, rsync, or even ssh session to try and move files from a remote server. If this app isn’t a scam, it needs a lot of work, cuz I have worked through a whole week worth of remedy attempts, and have tried to reboot, reinstall, even factory reset and restored my iPhone from DFU mode (you read that correctly, I need this badly enough that I went scorched earth and started from scratch, and STILL cannot get this app to respond to my iPhone 13 Pro text inputs from any of my 3 keyboards) 🤦‍♂️ Fix it and I’ll fix my review. PLEASE!!!!

    Stevo3985 · 31 Jul 2026

  3. 5/5a-Shell is a must-have for bringing the full power of a terminal interface to your iOS device.

    a-Shell is an outstanding terminal interface app for iOS, boasting a user-friendly design and powerful features. It supports a wide range of Linux commands, enabling seamless interaction with servers and local files. Its robust performance ensures smooth operation, even with complex scripts, and regular updates enhance its reliability and security. Whether for professional development or personal projects, a-Shell is a must-have for bringing the full power of a terminal interface to your iOS device.

    michexta · 31 Jul 2026

  4. 4/5Pretty cool, but missing some features

    It would be nice to be able to have a bashrc or something that allows you to control prompts, and a ps and kill functionality and screen, etc…. for batch jobs. But the really odd thing is hitting a button (other than space and enter keys for some reason) won’t repeat the character - that’s super annoying in vim for instance, because it means you have to do some funky things just to move the cursor around at any sort of speed. [EDIT: The developer said there’s a setting to use the cap’s lock as an escape key that if you disable, allows you to get this feature. For those who don’t know you can use control-[ to get an escape char too.] But overall really cool/useful. Even with a lack of wget (not a fan of curl), you can do pip install wget then python -m wget and poof.

    RSnake · 31 Jul 2026

  5. 3/5Great app but hamstrung by ios?

    Thanks for creating Carnets and a-shell. They’ve both been essential for iOS programming. However, it seems that every app is restricted to accessing and modifying files that are only within their own respective directories? I can’t seem to cd my way into another folder that resides in the Carnets folder and vice versa (because Carnets doesn’t have its own terminal, for example) And secondly, there seems to be a problem when trying to install sklearn in a-shell. It keeps throwing up the error “setuptools not found” but when I pip install setuptools, it says that “requirement already fulfilled” and I have been able to use setuptools when making packages before so it seems that it is there but I can’t install sklearn? I’m not sure what can be done. Apologies if I’m doing something wrong. Thanks.

    Coffeenobagel · 31 Jul 2026

Privacy & accessibility

App Store

Privacy

  • Data Not Collected Developer declared

Accessibility

  • Dark Interface — SUPPORTED Store published
  • Larger Text — SUPPORTED Store published
  • Sufficient Contrast — SUPPORTED Store published
  • VoiceOver — SUPPORTED Store published

Versions

App Store

  • 1.15.0

    - In-Extension Shortcuts have access to the same information as In-App Shortcuts (bookmarks, Python files, etc) - ffmpeg updated to version 7.0.0 - LLVM/clang updated to version 18.1.5 - webAssembly commands can now use interactive keyboard input - fixed multiple bugs.

  • 1.15.1

    - several bug fixes with WebAssembly execution - added two native viewers for PIL: "view" and "imgcat" - base64 is now a native command, so imgcat is much faster - fixes a bug with the Clang C compiler and setjmp/longjmp - added several precompiled libraries to the C SDK - hardened the "pkg" command to avoid issues with aliases - added the $RANDOM environment variable

  • 1.15.10

    - multiple bug fixes (python, dash, sftp, ssh, curl...) and also everything that was new in 1.15.9, such as: - new h.265 encoder for ffmpeg: activate it with "-c:v libkvazaar -tag:v hvc1" - new HEIF decoder for ImageMagick; you can now edit your iPhone photos - updated bc to 7.0.3, added math extensions for bc

  • 1.15.11

    - add support for alt-delete on external keyboards, - imageMagick now has access to system fonts, - fixed issues for restoring environment and sessions.

  • 1.15.12

    Multiple bug fixes, including: - ssh-copy-id - better rendering of long text containing emojis - autocomplete for bookmarks and directories with spaces in their names - improved responde to ^C for some commands

  • 1.15.2

    - fixes a major issue with f2c (Fortran-to-C compiler) - adds a new WebAssembly interpreter, wasm3 (faster on some commands). - introduces environment variables: APPNAME, APPVERSION and APPBUILDNUMBER, in case you need to check these for behaviour.

  • 1.15.3

    - Fixes a major issue with the "Get File" intent and iOS 18.

  • 1.15.4

    - Fixes a major issue with the "Get File" intent and iOS 18. - fixes a major issue with iOS 18 and clang and TeX

  • 1.15.5

    - Fixes major issues with the Shortcuts Intents and iOS 18: Get File, Put File, Execute Commands.

  • 1.15.6

    - new parameter for the "Get File" Shortcut: get file "as a copy". Use this when you encounter an issue with "Get File" and iOS 18. - ffmpeg can add subtitles to video.

  • 1.15.7

    - fixes an issue with the new (fast) WebAssembly interpreter, wasm3. It can now scan directories. - Both WebAssembly interpreters are now compatible with WebAssembly code generated elsewhere.

  • 1.15.8

    - fixes an issue with dash - fixes issues with webAssembly interpreters

  • 1.15.9

    - new h.265 encoder for ffmpeg: activate it with "-c:v libkvazaar -tag:v hvc1" - new HEIF decoder for ImageMagick; you can now edit your iPhone photos - updated ImageMagick to 7.1.1 - updated bc to 7.0.3, added math extensions for bc - multiple bug fixes in dash, TipKit, lua, bc, ssh...

  • 1.16.0

    We updated the texlive binaries to texlive-2025. You will have to re-download the texlive installation to get version 2025.

  • 1.16.1

    - new command: "repeatCommand" will execute a command at regular intervals. There is one repeating command for each window. "repeatCommand" with no arguments shows the current repeating command, "repeatCommand --stop" will stop the repetition. - added TIFF and XML support to ImageMagick, updated ImageMagick to version 4.7.0 - added libopus support to ffmpeg - fixes one issue with ffmpeg and hardware encoding that happens with iOS 26. - fixed a bug when copying screen content - fixed several issues with wasm3 - fixed an issue with dvipdfmx and user-installed fonts

  • 1.17.0

    - new command: rsync - updated Python to version 3.13 - added scipy, scikit-learn, seaborn... - fixed issues with buttons and iOS 26 - fixed bugs with man, less, nnn, scp...

  • 1.17.2

    Bug fixes for: Python 3.13 (opencv, kiwisolver), openrsync for local folders, ssh-agent, lg2, sha256.

  • 1.17.3

    - bug fix for ssh-agent - bug fix for Python (ctypes and kiwisolver)

  • 1.17.4

    - fixed issues with python, ssh-agent and lg2

  • 1.17.5

    Fixes multiple issues with libgit2. This should fix the case where lg2 crashes randomly.

  • 2.0.0

    - new terminal rendering system (SwiftTerm), much faster than the previous one, but with incompatible changes - better integration with VoiceOver - better autocomplete - new config options, for blinking cursors - multi-arrow buttons on iPhones - better user interface for the internal browser - added Python package: curl-cffi

  • 2.0.1

    - Fixes three bugs that were present in version 2.0.0, plus everything that was already present in version 2.0.0: - new terminal rendering system (SwiftTerm), much faster than the previous one, but with incompatible changes - better integration with VoiceOver - better autocomplete - new config options, for blinking cursors - multi-arrow buttons on iPhones - better user interface for the internal browser - added Python package: curl-cffi

  • 2.0.2

    Multiple improvements over versions 2.0.0 and 2.0.1: - single-arrow buttons by default for iPhones that don't have LiquidGlass (iOS 18 and below) - brought back the ability to have the old toolbar on iPads (a fix for iPads where the standard toolbar does not appear) - fix for pickFolder inside other commands - fix for ffmpeg and control-C - fix for escape sequences (\033) in prompt definitions - several fixes for ssh and ssh-agent inside dash - openurl does not percent-encode urls that are already percent-encoded - openurl checks that is has a valid URL

  • 2.0.3

    - fixed an issue with "cd -" in dash - fixed an issue with Thai keyboards - removed automatic autocomplete after completing a directory

  • 2.1.0 · 1 Jul 2026

    - moved to texlive-2026 - fixed a major cause of crash at startup - $TERM is now xterm-256colors (it enables many more options in curses) - store bookmarks for already accessible directories - get the volume name as a bookmark when you select a mounted device with pickFolder - fixed issues with reloading in internalbrowser - added more optional entitlements for interacting with the system using pyobjc

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Last verified
31 Jul 2026
Sources
App Store

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