Blink Shell
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 10 of 40 terminal emulators by recommenders
An iPhone and iPad terminal with built-in SSH and mosh and good tmux support, which people say works well for remote servers. The main caveat is that it costs money, as a subscription or an upfront price.
An iPhone and iPad terminal with built-in SSH and mosh and good tmux support, which people say works well for remote servers. The main caveat is that it costs money, as a subscription or an upfront price.
56 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 39
- criticize it
- 17
- approval share
- 70%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 39 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 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
Solid built-in mosh and ssh client
“a high quality iOS shell with a mosh and ssh client built right in”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Stop Doom Scrolling, Start Doom Coding: Build via the terminal from your phone” “I have mosh running from Blink on my iPhone to my server”
Comment from 30 Jul 2026 in “Agent-Manager: A Tmux TUI for Running Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode” “I think the ssh/mosh tooling is way more powerful, keyboard config, etc.”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Stop Doom Scrolling, Start Doom Coding: Build via the terminal from your phone” - Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Stop Doom Scrolling, Start Doom Coding: Build via the terminal from your phone”
Works well as an iOS terminal
“Blink is indeed superior in that it actually works”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Stop Doom Scrolling, Start Doom Coding: Build via the terminal from your phone” “my best setup currently is Blink Shell on iOS”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Migrate from OpenClaw” “Blink Shell seems a good fit for your usecase”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Remux – an open-source tmux workspace designed for iPhone” - Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Stop Doom Scrolling, Start Doom Coding: Build via the terminal from your phone”
Session persistence and tmux support
“the persistence of session is a joy”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Remux – an open-source tmux workspace designed for iPhone” “scrolling tmux actually works”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Stop Doom Scrolling, Start Doom Coding: Build via the terminal from your phone” “My mobile experience is acceptable (Blink shell + tmux) but not ideal”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Herdr: One terminal to rule them all” Worth the one-time cost
“blink shell has been well worth the upfront cost to me”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Stop Doom Scrolling, Start Doom Coding: Build via the terminal from your phone” “I paid some set price a few years ago and have not had a subscription for blink, and just use it the same way I would use Ghostty”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Stop Doom Scrolling, Start Doom Coding: Build via the terminal from your phone”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Blink engine controlled by Google
“The only problem with Blink is that it's controlled almost entirely by Google.”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “Say Hi to Kit” “Churn makes it impossible to keep up a fork, Google weaponizes its manpower, making the "open source" argument moot.”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “One year of sponsored Servo development” “Google (an advertising company) can pretty much unilaterally dictate web standards”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Vivaldi 8.0: our biggest design overhaul” - Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “So Long Firefox, Hello Vivaldi”
Mobile use tolerable, not ideal
“It is tolerable on an iPad with Blink with commands to maximise and minimise panes”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “Claude Code On-the-Go” “My mobile experience is acceptable (Blink shell + tmux) but not ideal”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Herdr: One terminal to rule them all”
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 | — |
| Blink ShellThis page | 39 | 17 | 70% | 12 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 70 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“some like "Blink" and "Silence in the Library" stick with you forever”
“many excellent terminal emulators on iPhone (e.g. blink.sh)”
“I'm unaffiliated but satisfied”
“Churn makes it impossible to keep up a fork, Google weaponizes its manpower, making the "open source" argument moot.”
“You just benefit from not having to duplicate work.”
“The best thing for long term browser compatibility is focusing resources into Blink.”
“I can change the text size on the fly, and am very used to typing on the phone keyboard”
“I have mosh running from Blink on my iPhone to my server”
“Blink, which is itself a lovely educational project”
“I'd say blink's behavior is correct but divergent from the Linux it's supposed to be emulating.”
“Blink Shell seems a good fit for your usecase”
“the persistence of session is a joy”
“My mobile experience is acceptable (Blink shell + tmux) but not ideal”
“my best setup currently is Blink Shell on iOS”
“Google (an advertising company) can pretty much unilaterally dictate web standards”
“If it were hardened against attacks by a smart community, it seems really attractive”
“First working prototype I’ve seen from Africa.”
“Of those, Blink is the most featureful.”
“The meta is to ship blink so you only have to support a single version of a single web engine”
“it’s opensource and works pretty well for me”
“I spent a weekend building an alternative using Blink (OSS agent orchestration)”
“it's not just for storing snippets, but for instant recall by meaning”
“Blink is indeed superior in that it actually works”
“I think the ssh/mosh tooling is way more powerful, keyboard config, etc.”
“It is even possible to mount a remote repository (we call it a Bookmark), and edit locally.”
“I paid some set price a few years ago and have not had a subscription for blink, and just use it the same way I would use Ghostty”
“except you have to pay a subscription”
“blink shell has been well worth the upfront cost to me”
“a high quality iOS shell with a mosh and ssh client built right in”
“connect to it with Blink Shell”
“this is literally my setup and it is a game-changer”
“scrolling tmux actually works”
“It is tolerable on an iPad with Blink with commands to maximise and minimise panes”
“No ads, no clickbait — just useful info fast”
“Perfect for entrepreneurs, creators, and dreamers who want to launch MVPs, side hustles, or full-scale SaaS products lightning-fast.”
“I find WebKit intolerable compared with Blink and even Gecko”
“How about a VPS running Emacs + Mosh and Blink?”
“Using Blink isn't good for web diversity.”
“The only problem with Blink is that it's controlled almost entirely by Google.”
“really nice to play around with”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.