Everything in the app's built-in guide, on one page.
Getting Started
Welcome to Pockterm
What Pockterm is and how it's organized
Pockterm is a full-featured SSH client for iPhone. You can connect to servers, run an interactive terminal, transfer files over SFTP, and set up port-forwarding tunnels.
Use the tabs along the bottom to move between Hosts, Snippets, Keychain, and Port Forwarding.
Everything stays on your device — see Your Data & Privacy for details.
Adding a Host
Create a server you can connect to
Create a host
On the Hosts tab, tap +, then New Host.
Enter a Label, the Address (hostname or IP), and the Port (22 by default).
Choose Credentials so Pockterm knows how to sign in. If you don't have any yet, tap New Credentials.
Tap Save.
Host actions
Tap a host to connect.
Swipe left for Edit, Star, or Delete.
Swipe right and tap Files to browse it over SFTP.
Credentials & SSH Keys
How Pockterm signs you in
Credentials are a username plus a way to authenticate — either a password or an SSH key.
Generate a key
On the Keychain tab, tap +, choose Generate Ed25519 Key…, and give the key a label.
Pockterm creates an Ed25519 key pair and stores the private key in the iOS Keychain.
Add the shown public-key line to the server's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file.
Import a key you already have
On the Keychain tab, tap + and choose Import Existing Key…
Paste the whole private key file, including the BEGIN and END lines. Ed25519 and RSA keys in OpenSSH format are supported.
Or tap Choose File… to pick the key out of Files.
If the key has a passphrase, Pockterm asks for it once and stores it in the Keychain alongside the key.
A key that starts -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- is in the older PEM format. Convert it with ssh-keygen -p -f <file> — that rewrites the file in place without changing the key — then import it.
Create credentials
In a host's editor, choose New Credentials.
Enter the username and pick Password or Key.
For Key, select one of your keys.
Using Pockterm
The Terminal
Connecting and working in a session
Tap a host to open a terminal session.
The bar above the keyboard has esc, ctrl, tab, arrow keys, and more.
Open several hosts at once — each session is a tab across the top. Tap its name to switch, or the red ✕ to close it.
Tap the snippet button to run a saved command in the session.
Snippets
Save and run reusable commands
Snippets are commands you use often.
On the Snippets tab, tap + to save a command with a label.
While connected, tap the snippet button in the terminal to run one.
Give a host a Startup Snippet to run it automatically on connect.
Groups, Favorites & Search
Keep a large host list tidy
From the Hosts menu, choose Manage Groups. Groups can be nested, and a group's default credentials and port are inherited by its hosts.
Assign a host to a group in the host editor.
Star a host (swipe left) to pin it to a Favorites section.
Pull down to search by label or address. Hosts you've used recently appear under Recents.
Importing from ssh_config
Bring in existing hosts
From the Hosts menu, choose Import from ssh_config.
Paste your config text, or tap Choose File.
Review the detected hosts, turn off any you don't want, then tap Import.
Pockterm reads the Host, HostName, User, and Port settings. Password credentials are created for each username so you can fill in the secret afterward.
Files & Networking
Transferring Files (SFTP)
Browse, download and upload files
Every host has an SFTP file browser. SFTP runs over the same SSH connection, so there is nothing extra to set up.
Open the browser
Long-press a host and choose Browse Files.
Or set the host's Protocol to SFTP (Files), and tapping it opens the browser instead of a terminal.
Already in a session? Tap the folder button in the terminal's top bar.
Download a file
Long-press the file, then choose Download.
It opens in the share sheet, so you can send it anywhere — choose Save to Files to keep it, including in iCloud Drive.
Upload a file
Tap +, then Upload File.
That opens the iPhone's own file picker, so you can upload straight from iCloud Drive, On My iPhone, or any other Files location.
The file lands in the folder you are currently viewing.
Manage files
Long-press a file to Rename it, change its Permissions, or Delete it.
Tap + to create a folder. Pull down to refresh the listing.
Tap .. at the top to go up a directory.
Transfers are streamed in chunks, so even a large file will not exhaust memory. While one runs, the path bar shows how much has transferred and the total size.
Port Forwarding
Tunnel connections through SSH
Port forwarding routes network connections through an SSH server.
Local — a port on your device forwards to a host the server can reach.
Remote — a port on the server forwards back to your device.
Dynamic — a SOCKS5 proxy on your device sends each connection through the server.
Run a forward
On the Port Forwarding tab, tap + to add one.
Tap a row to edit it.
Tap ▶ to start; the status shows when it's active. Tap ⏹ to stop.
Security & Privacy
Verifying Host Keys
Trusting servers safely
The first time you connect to a server, Pockterm shows its key fingerprint and asks you to accept it. This is called trust on first use.
Accept only if the fingerprint matches what you expect from the server's owner.
Once accepted, the key is remembered and you won't be asked again.
If a server later presents a different key, Pockterm warns you before continuing — this can mean the server was rebuilt, or that something is wrong.
Your Data & Privacy
Where everything is stored
Pockterm has no account, and your connection data stays on your device.
Hosts, groups, snippets, and forwards are stored on your device.
Passwords and private keys are kept in the iOS Keychain.
Trusted host keys are remembered on your device for the warnings described in Verifying Host Keys.
Assistant conversations are kept on your device, one per host, so a chat is still there when you reconnect. Tap the bin in the assistant to delete one.
The AI Assistant is the one exception: when you use it, the relevant terminal output (and any files you attach) is sent to the model provider you configure — Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, or Hugging Face — using your own API key. Nothing is sent until you use the assistant, and your key is stored in the iOS Keychain. Review your provider's privacy policy for how they handle that data.