a-Shell
Shares rank 28 of 40 terminal emulators by recommenders
A free terminal app for iPad and iPhone that gives a shell with Python, pip packages and Unix utilities, useful for running scripts on iOS. Critics say it is limited next to Termux and feels more like a toy than a tool.
A free terminal app for iPad and iPhone that gives a shell with Python, pip packages and Unix utilities, useful for running scripts on iOS. Critics say it is limited next to Termux and feels more like a toy than a tool.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs Python scripts on iOS
“I already use a-shell to run python scripts that fetch media, news summaries, server dashboards etc.”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “People are using iPad OS features on their iPhones” “It includes a wasm compiled ffmpeg binary and you can install (Python only) pip packages.”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “Today, we hacked what we'd set out to hack: the iPhone” “you can integrate a-Shell[0] with iOS Shortcuts”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “How I am deeply integrating Emacs” Offers Linux-style command line
“iSH and a-shell offer some (emulated, non-JIT) Linux CLI functionality on iPad”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “You will own nothing and be (un)happy” “You can get command-line and unix utils only in virtual machines like a-shell.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Apple helped kill netbooks. Will it bring them back?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Limited compared to real tools
“they don't have GUI capability and are somewhat limited in other ways”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “A CPU that runs entirely on GPU” “I consider it more of a toy than a tool”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “You will own nothing and be (un)happy”
Other terminal emulators people recommend
The four most recommended other terminal emulators, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghostty | 401 | 158 | 72% | 12 | 3 mo22 owners | Approved |
| Termux | 188 | 31 | 86% | 12 | 1 yr6 owners | Approved |
| iTerm2 | 95 | 69 | 58% | 12 | 10 yrs4 owners | — |
| Warp terminal | 84 | 86 | 49% | 11 | 1 yr5 owners | — |
| a-ShellThis page | 8 | 3 | 73% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
10 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It includes a wasm compiled ffmpeg binary and you can install (Python only) pip packages.”
“Both good but nowhere near the termux ecosystem and integration”
“they don't have GUI capability and are somewhat limited in other ways”
“a-Shell looks amazing, thanks for mentioning it”
“can't get the sprites CLI installed on either of them”
“I already use a-shell to run python scripts that fetch media, news summaries, server dashboards etc.”
“You can get command-line and unix utils only in virtual machines like a-shell.”
“I consider it more of a toy than a tool”
“iSH and a-shell offer some (emulated, non-JIT) Linux CLI functionality on iPad”
“you can integrate a-Shell[0] with iOS Shortcuts”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.