Frequently asked questions
What PocketCmd is, what it supports, how your data stays yours, and what it costs.
General
What is PocketCmd?
PocketCmd is a native server console for your phone, tablet and desktop. It gives you SSH, Mosh, Eternal Terminal and Telnet sessions, an SFTP file manager, server dashboards, an encrypted vault and live web previews — with a privacy-first architecture where your device connects directly to your servers, with no cloud accounts and no third-party relay in the path.
What platforms does PocketCmd run on?
iOS 15+, Android 7.0+, macOS 13+, Windows 10 and 11, and Linux (x86_64). All five are built from a single codebase — a native C/C++ core — with the same protocols, terminal renderer, SFTP and vault on each. iOS ships through the App Store, Android through Google Play, and the three desktop builds are downloaded from this site.
Does PocketCmd work well on tablets?
Yes. Landscape tablets get the same desktop shell as the Mac, Windows and Linux builds: a sidebar, session tabs, right-click menus and drag-and-drop upload.
Privacy and security
Does PocketCmd send my traffic through a cloud or relay?
No. Your traffic goes directly from your phone to your server — there is no cloud account and no third-party relay in the path. The only hosted infrastructure we run is our license server, which checks your license code to confirm Pro, and a stateless push-notification relay, which forwards notifications without ever seeing your data.
Where are my SSH keys and passwords stored?
In the device platform keychain, sealed under a vault key that lives in secure hardware where the device has it: the Secure Enclave on iOS and macOS, StrongBox or the TEE on Android, and a TPM 2.0 chip on Windows and Linux. The app password is stretched with Argon2id and mixed into that key, so opening the vault needs both the device and the password. Credentials are never written to disk in plain text and are always immediately erased from memory after usage.
Can PocketCmd read my data?
No. Your traffic never touches our servers, and your optional server vaults are zero-knowledge: everything is encrypted on your device under keys held in its secure hardware before it is sent, so your self-hosted server only ever stores opaque blobs it cannot decrypt.
What SSH key formats does PocketCmd support?
RSA, Ed25519, and ECDSA keys, in OpenSSH, PEM, and PKCS#8 formats, including passphrase-encrypted keys. You can also generate keys on the device, import them from a file or your SSH config, and forward an agent to the remote host. PocketCmd uses native libssh2 with an OpenSSL crypto backend for broad key-format compatibility.
Does PocketCmd collect analytics or crash reports?
No. PocketCmd has no usage analytics, no telemetry and no third-party tracking SDKs, and the app does not contain a crash-reporting SDK at all. While this is a big no-go for marketing, it's simply against our key principles to collect any kind of data. There is no account and nothing tied to you. We do not want your data; the only way to keep it safe is to never collect it in the first place.
Features
Does PocketCmd support Mosh and Eternal Terminal?
Yes. PocketCmd includes native Mosh and ET clients written from scratch, so your session survives IP changes, roaming between Wi-Fi and cellular, disconnects and even an app restart. Mosh roams over UDP; Eternal Terminal reconnects over TCP for networks where UDP is blocked. There is also a Telnet client for legacy gear.
Does PocketCmd work with tmux?
Yes, deeply. It auto-discovers and attaches your tmux sessions on connect, models your sessions, windows, and panes as live state, and lets you navigate tmux by touch — a breadcrumb, a window tab strip, a proportional pane map, and swipe navigation. Terminal and tmux themes are fully customizable, and the whole state channel can be switched off if you prefer a plain terminal.
Does PocketCmd support SFTP file transfers?
Yes. It is a full SFTP file manager with POSIX permissions, symlinks, search, bookmarks, a code editor with syntax highlighting, and resumable background transfers verified with SHA-256. Your servers optionally also appear in the system file manager — the iOS Files app, Finder, Windows Explorer and the Android file picker — so other apps can open remote files directly after opting in.
What is a workspace?
A saved server plus one remote folder, opened the way you would open a project. You get a lazy file tree, a tabbed code editor with syntax highlighting, fuzzy quick-open by filename, and a content search that runs grep on the server rather than pulling files down (with a client-side fallback on hosts that only allow SFTP). Saving is atomic: PocketCmd writes a temp file and renames it over the target, checks whether the remote changed while you were editing and offers a diff if it did, and preserves the file's permissions and line endings. “Terminal here” opens a shell already sitting in the workspace root. Unsaved edits are rescued into the encrypted database, never written to disk as plaintext, and nothing outside the workspace root can be touched.
What is the secrets vault?
An encrypted store inside the app for passwords, SSH keys, tokens and notes, personal or shared with a team via your own self-hosted PocketCmd server binary. It is sealed under a key held in your device's secure hardware and unlocked with your app password — or with Face ID, Touch ID or a fingerprint instead of typing it, on phones, tablets and Macs with Touch ID. The Windows and Linux builds ask for the password itself. With the optional server it syncs to your other devices as ciphertext; a new device has to be approved with a code from one you already own, and removing a device re-keys the vault.
My server's IP address changed. Do I have to set it up again?
No. PocketCmd can scan your chosen network and recognize the server by its pinned SSH host key, then update the saved address for you.
Does PocketCmd support jump hosts and port forwarding?
Yes. Multi-hop SSH (ProxyJump) through one or more bastion hosts, with key authentication on every hop, is part of Pro. Local and remote port forwarding, a SOCKS5 dynamic proxy, and two-factor or keyboard-interactive logins with the real prompt from the server are free.
What happens to my session if my network drops or I switch from Wi-Fi to cellular?
It survives. With Mosh or Eternal Terminal your session reconnects or roams automatically, and running your work inside tmux keeps it alive on the server even if the client disconnects entirely.
Teams & the server
Do I need to run a server to use PocketCmd?
No. The app is fully functional on its own — SSH, SFTP, terminals, tmux, and even server dashboards all work over SSH with no server required. The companion server is optional; it adds synchronized vaults, team management, and always-on monitoring with push alerts — all via your self-hosted server.
Can I share access with a team?
Yes. The self-hosted server includes full team management: invite teammates by QR, assign roles, and grant granular per-member permissions. Vaults can be shared with your team — each vault's key is wrapped to each member's device identity, so you grant and revoke access per person and rotate keys when someone leaves. Teams are a Pro feature, so each member needs a Pro license; there are no accounts on our servers, we don't want any.
Is the companion server open-source and self-hosted?
Yes. It is an open-source, single static Go binary you run on your own machine — a VPS, home server, or Raspberry Pi — installed with one command. Your data is yours and lives where you decide.
Can PocketCmd monitor my servers and send alerts?
Yes. You can build dashboards of live metrics over SSH with no server needed. Push alerts while the app is inactive need the self-hosted server: it monitors continuously and pushes you a notification when a threshold trips.
Pricing
How much does PocketCmd cost?
The free tier covers 1 server with no time limit. Pro is $5 a month, $39 a year or $99 once at launch. Anyone who subscribes during the launch keeps that price for as long as they stay subscribed; after the launch new subscriptions pay $6.99 and $49.99, and the lifetime license, while it lasts, $149. Lifetime licenses have limited availability.
Is the lifetime license staying?
No. Lifetime licenses have limited availability: only a set number will be sold, at $99 during the launch and $149 afterwards. Once they are gone, Pro is sold as a monthly or yearly subscription only. A lifetime license you bought stays valid for good, with every update included.
What does the free tier include?
The whole single-device app for 1 saved server, 1 group, 1 dashboard and 1 workspace, with no account and no time limit: all four protocols, unlimited sessions, SFTP and the editor, tmux, port forwarding, every key format and security feature, the encrypted vault with unlimited items and encrypted backup, unlimited snippets, a few themes and the default background, on all five platforms. Install it on as many devices as you like; each install stands on its own.
What does Pro add?
Unlimited servers, groups, workspaces and dashboards; split screen and multi-pane layouts; multi-hop SSH through jump hosts; every terminal theme, the color scheme editor, custom fonts, animated backgrounds, app and tmux themes; and everything the companion server does: pairing, vaults with zero-knowledge sync, always-on metrics, threshold alerts with push, and teams. Plus a few conveniences: switching protocol mid-session, startup commands, LAN rediscovery and compose-bar attachments. Monthly, yearly and lifetime unlock the same set.
What happens if my subscription ends?
Nothing is deleted. You pick one active server, one active dashboard and one active workspace, the rest stay visible and exportable, sync pauses, and Pro looks revert to the defaults. Resubscribe and everything comes back as you left it.
Do you offer licenses for companies?
Yes. For volume licensing, invoicing or procurement, email [email protected] and we will sort it out.
How many devices does one Pro license cover?
Three at once, on any mix of iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and Linux. Pro is a license code you enter in the app; remove a device from the license in the app to free its slot.
Can I cancel Pro?
Yes, at any time. Pro stays until the end of the period you paid for. After that the app returns to the free tier with your servers, keys and vault intact.
Not covered here? The documentation goes deeper, and [email protected] reaches a person who built the app.