a-Shell

Published by: Nicolas Holzschuch

Description

a-Shell is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on your iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. You can work with git repositories using lg2. 
Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with the BSD Unix that powers iOS/iPadOS.
a-Shell includes Python, Lua, Perl, JavaScript, C, C++ for programming and TeX (texlive 2025, with Tikz and LuaTeX) for text processing.
There are also multiple network utilities: nslookup, ping, whois, ifconfig... Type help for help, help -l to get the full list of commands.
a-Shell can be controlled from Shortcuts: run commands in order, process files in a-Shell, get the results as text or files, transfer files to other apps...
a-shell uses iOS 13+ “multiple windows” ability, so you can run multiple shells at the same time, with different commands, in different directories. You can edit a file in one window with vim and process it in the other with python.
Compile your C or C++ programs to webAssembly using clang or clang++, and execute the resulting binary. A complete webAssembly SDK is included (WASI-libc).
a-Shell is the complete version. If you need a smaller app, and you don't need a C compiler, a TeX engine, or numpy and matplotlib, there is a-Shell mini.
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a-Shell FAQ

  • Is a-Shell free?

    Yes, a-Shell is completely free and it doesn't have any in-app purchases or subscriptions.

  • Is a-Shell legit?

    ✅ The a-Shell app appears to be high-quality and legitimate. Users are very satisfied.

    Thanks for the vote

  • How much does a-Shell cost?

    a-Shell is free.

  • What is a-Shell revenue?

    To get estimated revenue of a-Shell app and other AppStore insights you can sign up to AppTail Mobile Analytics Platform.

User Rating

4.61 out of 5

70 ratings in United Kingdom

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Ratings History

a-Shell Reviews

Outstanding tool for advanced users

AO NE on

United Kingdom

I didn’t know such a tool even existed. This takes iOS to new heights. I use this with shortcuts to remux my mkv videos to mp4 to play them using the native player. Literally takes 3 seconds to remux a 2h movie.

Please Work On VoiceOver Support

Sgucukoglu on

United Kingdom

I appreciate the effort and thought you've shown so far, but please try Ish to see exemplary VoiceOver support: announces changes as they arrive, allows input using Braille Screen Input, can reach and use the Control switch (without which, of course, I have to force-kill the app just to get a new prompt). That having been said, great app, I'm using it as a turbo-charged Python interpreter, and this and Ish complement each other for maximum pocket Unix power and awesomeness. So thank you.

the best terminal app

Loa139658 on

United Kingdom

for an ios app this does nearly everything you need, you can use vars, functions (only works on sh shell, type sh) and aliases. Ssh as well and run python code. Comes with vim which is excellent.

Great peace of work

Terryems on

United Kingdom

I enjoy writing code on my iPhone ever since I stumbled upon this app. My recommendation is that Golang should be added to it. Golang compiler please

awesome experience

urbanpl on

United Kingdom

a-shell is really good terminal emulator and environment, it makes an ipad with keyboard a powerful tool 😉

Best of its kind

cheekyjinx on

United Kingdom

This developer is doing us all such a service with these free, functional and fully featured apps. I cannot recommend this enough. If you need a terminal, get downloading! The only feedback I have is there’s an absence of ssh-copy-id at present. Not the end of the world but it would be a nice convenience.

Needs ssh command

prakharthor on

United Kingdom

This app is excellent. Can you please provide a package manager or at least ssh command?

Useful

coys_7 on

United Kingdom

Thank you v v much for the helpful tool!

Excellent

emkay_online on

United Kingdom

What a joy to use. Perfect for those odd bits of script and small tasks that are too complicated to perform any other way on iOS. This app also means I don’t need to ssh to my server as often as I can now do so much locally. The only negative comment is that editing command lines after pasting from the clipboard can be a bit messy. Thanks for a great app, Martin

Review

idontwantanicknamebutokay on

United Kingdom

So far, pretty good. App runs well, I can use python on it (3.9.2+) and it’s one of the best terminal apps on IOS. I’d recommend trying it out! I hope the developer will add the package ‘nano’ in the future, it’s really useful. Apart from that it’s great! Thanks for making such a good app for Apple users! :D

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