Support & FAQ

The connection drops when my screen locks.

iOS suspends apps in the background, and the SSH connection goes with it. Turn on tmux for that host: the shell then runs inside a tmux session on the server, so it keeps running while the app is suspended, and reconnecting reattaches it where it left off. Shell SSH asks the first time and remembers the answer — per host, or as a default for all of them. Closing a tab closes its tmux session, so nothing is left running unnoticed.

Authentication failed, but my password is right.

When a login is refused, Shell SSH asks the server which authentication methods it accepts and tells you. If it reports that the server does not take passwords, the server wants a key. If it reports that no supported method was offered, the server is most likely asking for keyboard-interactive authentication, which Shell SSH does not support — use a key there too.

Where do I put my public key?

Go to Keys, pick your key, and copy the public key. Append it as one line to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server. You can generate an Ed25519 key on the device, or import an existing Ed25519 or RSA key, including a passphrase-protected one.

“Warning: Server Identity Changed.”

The server is presenting a different host key than the one you trusted before. This is the same warning ssh gives from a desktop, and Shell SSH blocks the connection until you deal with it.

It is usually innocent: the server was rebuilt, reinstalled, or replaced, and got a new key. It is not innocent if nothing about the server changed — that can mean traffic is being intercepted. Check the new fingerprint against the server itself before you accept it. Shell SSH shows fingerprints in the same SHA-256 form ssh-keygen prints, so the two can be compared directly.

To trust a new key deliberately, remove the old fingerprint from the trusted list first, then connect again and verify the new one.

How do I copy text out of the terminal?

Press and hold to select, then tap Copy. Copy All takes the whole scrollback. With a hardware keyboard, Command-C and Command-V work as usual. Pasting several lines at once shows a warning first, because a multi-line paste could run several commands in a row. Copied text can be cleared from the clipboard automatically.

I can’t select text while tmux or vim is running.

When tmux (with mouse on), vim or htop takes the mouse, your touches go to that program, and what it copies stays on the server. From version 1.3 there are two ways round it. Tap Select Text in the toolbar, drag to select, scroll with two fingers, then Copy; the mouse goes back to the program afterwards. Or edit the host and turn on Allow Copy to Clipboard under Clipboard: a copy in tmux or vim then lands on your device’s clipboard, and Shell SSH shows “Copied from” the host each time. It is off for every host until you turn it on, and a host can write to the clipboard but never read it.

How do snippet placeholders work?

There are three forms. {{name}} asks you for a value. {{name?}} is optional and may be left empty. {{name=default}} is prefilled with the default, which you can change.

So a snippet written as tail -n {{lines=100}} {{file}} asks for a file and offers 100 lines, which you can accept or overwrite. About a hundred common commands ship as examples, and the library is searchable and reorderable.

Can I transfer files?

No. There is no SFTP or SCP browser in Shell SSH — it is a terminal, not a file manager. Commands you run on the server, such as scp or rsync between two servers, work as they always do.

The keys I need aren’t on the keyboard.

Shell SSH puts a key row above the keyboard with esc, ctrl, tab, the arrows and common symbols. It can be turned off when a hardware keyboard is attached. For a fuller set — alt, function keys, the whole arrow cluster — and for those keys in other apps as well, see Shell Keyboard, a system-wide keyboard by the same developer.

Does it work on a Mac?

Yes: on a Mac with Apple silicon, Shell SSH runs as the iPad app from the Mac App Store. From version 1.3, Ctrl and Option shortcuts from the Mac’s keyboard reach the shell — Ctrl-C, Ctrl-A, Option-B, Option-Backspace and the rest. Command shortcuts stay with macOS. On a Mac, Option-drag also selects text while a program has the mouse.

Shift+Enter sends my message in the Claude CLI.

From version 1.3, Shift+Enter on a hardware keyboard starts a new line in chat-style command-line tools such as the Claude CLI instead of sending. In a shell, vim or fzf it acts as Escape then Enter, so if that gets in your way, turn it off in Settings → Terminal.

Can I have two terminals at once?

Sessions open as tabs on iPhone, iPhone Duo and iPad. On iPad and an open iPhone Duo, two terminals can sit side by side with a draggable divider; on the Duo’s inner display held upright, they stack, each the full width. Focus mode (Command-Shift-F, or the button in the tab strip) gives one session the whole screen without closing anything; the small pill at the top opens its controls, and the same shortcut brings everything back. Tabs and the split are restored when the app reopens, and the selected tab reconnects immediately.

Does it work on iPhone Duo?

Yes, from version 1.2. Closed, iPhone Duo runs the iPhone app you know. Open it and you get the iPad layout: your hosts beside the terminal, two shells side by side, and focus mode. It switches as you fold and unfold, and your open sessions carry over.

My key isn’t accepted, and it is an ECDSA key.

ECDSA private keys are not supported for login. Ed25519 and RSA are. Generate an Ed25519 key in Shell SSH and add its public half to the server.