I was at a casino in Vegas when I first discovered that it’s nice to have an SSH client at pretty much all times. I got a call from a client I do a little freelance work for (ok, it was my dad) and they needed a fairly minor change to a config file or something. I found an SSH client in the app store, set it up, eeked out a few commands in vim over a noticeably slow EDGE connection and went back to earning free drinks.

I’ve found that I run into problems like this once a month or so. Not emergency situations but times when it’s nice to have a command line in your pants. To this end, I’ve tried just about every SSH client for the iOS and found them all to be good enough but nothing I’d say I enjoy using.

Enter Prompt, a lovely SSH client for all iOS devices, phones, pods and pads, from the good people at Panic1. It’s the first mobile SSH client I’ve enjoyed using and would recommend without reservation. I’ve been beta testing prompt for a few months now and think you’re going to love it.

The thing that makes prompt great is the same as what makes all of Panic’s software great – a fastidious attention to detail and keen understanding of how real people, even geeks who use SSH apps, use computers. The ubernerds at places like Hacker News don’t seem to understand this but they miss the point, spectacularly. Yes, there are other SSH clients in the app store, some of them are even free, but none of them are stylish and well thought out like Prompt.

If it were just a matter of style, I’d still say Prompt is worth picking up. But, much like Transmit for the Mac, Panic gets the nerd parts right, too. It’s got smart shortcut keys to make working in a Unix shell easier. If you’re 1337 enough to use key pairs instead of passwords (you totally should, btw), Prompt has you covered.

Prompt is a niche app to be sure but it’s done better than any of the others I’ve ever tried. Which is exactly what I’d expect from Panic.

I’m fortunate enough to call the folks at Panic friends, including my partner in food and eating, the excellent Mr. Neven Mrgan. I’d still think Prompt is awesome and well worth your five clams even if I’d never met these guys. ↩︎