Alternative

A free alternative to phone SSH apps

Phone SSH apps like Blink Shell and Termius put a terminal on your phone. They work, but a raw shell on a small screen is hard to use, several charge a subscription or an upfront price, and a shell can't tell you what your computer is actually doing.

Pane takes a different approach. Your phone opens a free, open-source web app that shows your whole computer: every project, every terminal, the files, the dev server, and the status of each coding agent.

When a phone SSH app is the right choice

  • You need to reach servers you don't control, where SSH is the only access.
  • You want Mosh for unstable connections, or a hardware-keyboard-first terminal.

When Pane fits better

  • You're checking on your own computer: a desktop, Mac mini or dev VM.
  • You run coding agents. See at a glance which agent is working, done or waiting for you, and answer it in a tap.
  • You need more than a prompt: browse and edit files, preview images and PDFs, open the dev server in a tab.
  • Free, no store app. It runs in Safari or Chrome and installs to your home screen.

Side by side

Typical phone SSH app vs Pane on your phone
Typical phone SSH appPane on your phone
PriceFree to paid, varies by appFree
Open sourceVariesYes, AGPL-3.0
What you seeOne shell per sessionAll your projects, terminals and agents
FilesSFTP in some appsFile browser, editor and media previews
Dev serversPort forwarding by handOpens in a browser tab
Agent statusNoLive, with needs-input alerts

  • Price

    Typical phone SSH app
    Free to paid, varies by app
    Pane on your phone
    Free

  • Open source

    Typical phone SSH app
    Varies
    Pane on your phone
    Yes, AGPL-3.0

  • What you see

    Typical phone SSH app
    One shell per session
    Pane on your phone
    All your projects, terminals and agents

  • Files

    Typical phone SSH app
    SFTP in some apps
    Pane on your phone
    File browser, editor and media previews

  • Dev servers

    Typical phone SSH app
    Port forwarding by hand
    Pane on your phone
    Opens in a browser tab

  • Agent status

    Typical phone SSH app
    No
    Pane on your phone
    Live, with needs-input alerts

Set it up

  1. Install Pane on your computer and open Settings → Remote Access → Connection codes → Set Up Host. Copy the pane-remote:// code.
  2. Install Tailscale on your phone and sign in with the same account as your computer.
  3. Open runpane.com/app on your phone, paste the code, and add it to your home screen.

Related

Sources

Corrections
If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and update the date at the top. Open an issue on GitHub
Sources
or
Download*
Windows SmartScreen warningDirect downloads can show a SmartScreen warning while Pane is unsigned. Pane is fully open source, so you can audit the code and build from source yourself.1. Click More info2. Click Run anyway3. Continue the installerThe PowerShell install downloads the official release directly and avoids most browser download friction.npm global install
Paste that in PowerShell.Linux

By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. .