by Theodore Dubois
iSH Shell brings the power of a Linux terminal to your iOS device. Edit files, move directories, and execute commands with ease. It's perfect for developers and system administrators who need a portable command-line environment for managing files and testing scripts.
"Great app for running basic Linux commands on the go."
Perfect for: Perfect for developers and sysadmins needing a Linux terminal on their iPad or iPhone.
Track iSH Shell's performance in Developer Tools over the last 30 days
Current Rank
#14
2 from last week
Best Rank
#9
All-time high
Average Rank
#13
30-day average
Absolutely life-saving, mind-blowing piece of engineering. Best way bar none to have a Linux shell environment on the iPad. A must-have for any systems / software engineer who uses the iPad as a serious - or not-so-serious tool. The performance is very acceptable, and you get a full Linux environment, customizable to your heart’s content. Be it system or network utilities, compilers, man pages, editors, shell utilities: all is there and almost everything works. Truly astonishing and insanely useful. Brilliant Absolutely life-saving, mind-blowing piece of engineering. Best way bar none to have a Linux shell environment on the iPad. A must-have for any systems / software engineer who uses the iPad as a serious - or not-so-serious tool. The performance is very acceptable, and you get a full Linux environment, customizable to your heart’s content. Be it system or network utilities, compilers, man pages, editors, shell utilities: all is there and almost everything works. Truly astonishing and insanely useful.
You do have to apk add ffmpeg, and openssh to access these features, but it can do them. It's an emulated alpine linux in your smartphone, google what alpine linux can do and how to add repos, all tutorials apply here since this is alpine linux. This app will not handhold you and the dev has abandoned it (made opensource so anyone can pick it up but he doesnt reccomend it due to his own bad coding practices) SSH, FFMPEG, etc. Alpine on Iphone You do have to apk add ffmpeg, and openssh to access these features, but it can do them. It's an emulated alpine linux in your smartphone, google what alpine linux can do and how to add repos, all tutorials apply here since this is alpine linux. This app will not handhold you and the dev has abandoned it (made opensource so anyone can pick it up but he doesnt reccomend it due to his own bad coding practices)
This is a great alpine based shell for iOS. You can mount your iOS drive in the shell with ‘mnt -t ios . ’. Of course, vi is included…gotta use vi because it’s always in the disto…take that you emacs fans! Jk Great shell for iOS This is a great alpine based shell for iOS. You can mount your iOS drive in the shell with ‘mnt -t ios . ’. Of course, vi is included…gotta use vi because it’s always in the disto…take that you emacs fans! Jk
This is an amazing app, please can you guys keep updating it? it should take more resources and i dont mind paying for it. Possibly make an ubuntu version. Please i love this app and i have been using it to do so much even installed pip, python3 and more on it and it has been amazing. I cannot over emphasize how useful this tool has been and i dont want it to die. Best devops, sys admin, programming and learning tool i have seen for the ipad. Please update and release newer versions and more distros. this is even better than using emulators. Amazing App This is an amazing app, please can you guys keep updating it? it should take more resources and i dont mind paying for it. Possibly make an ubuntu version. Please i love this app and i have been using it to do so much even installed pip, python3 and more on it and it has been amazing. I cannot over emphasize how useful this tool has been and i dont want it to die. Best devops, sys admin, programming and learning tool i have seen for the ipad. Please update and release newer versions and more distros. this is even better than using emulators.
Absolutely love this app. Been using it for a while now and it has served me greatly for a multitude of things. Convenience 100 Absolutely love this app. Been using it for a while now and it has served me greatly for a multitude of things.
Theodore Dubois
8/7/2025