Mobile terminal

This page explains how to use the mobile terminal on iOS and iPadOS, customize its behavior, and work efficiently on a smaller screen.

Overview

Termius on mobile brings a touch-optimized experience for mobile workflows. It includes features such as gestures, customizable keyboard controls, AI widget, voice typing, snippets, etc.

Interact with the terminal

Gesture actions

The terminal supports a set of touch gestures for moving the cursor, interacting with the output, and sending common keys without a physical keyboard.

Arrows keys

Arrow keys are used to navigate command history (arrow up/down) and move cursor.

To emulate arrows keys:

• Long-press the terminal screen and drag in any direction to move the cursor up, down, left, or right. Holding longer produces a continuous series of keystrokes in the same direction

• Hold the Space key and slide your finger in any direction to send the same arrow key input

The system includes three speeds gears. If you need to move the cursor faster, move your finger in the same direction to increase the speed.

Tab key

The Tab key is used to autocomplete commands, file names, and paths in the terminal, or to indent text in editors.

• Double-tap the terminal screen to send a Tab keystroke

Change the text size

Pinch with two fingers to zoom in or out on the terminal screen to adjust the text size.

Select, copy and paste

Select and Copy

Use the standard iOS touch gestures:

• Select text: Press and hold the word, then release. Selection handles appear at the start and end of the highlighted word. Drag them to extend the selection

• Copy: Once the text is highlighted, tap Copy in the context menu to save it to the iOS clipboard

Selected text can also be used as additional context for the AI widget.

Paste text

• Press and hold, then release. Tap Paste in the context menu

• Tap with three fingers directly on the screen and tap the paste icon

Paste images & files

At the moment, images and files can't be pasted directly into the terminal. Upload it through SFTP first and reference it by path:

1. Open an SFTP tab from the active terminal

2. Upload the image/file, or drag and drop it from your device

3. Copy the image/file path from SFTP

4. Paste the path into the terminal

Volume buttons

The device volume buttons can be assigned to a specific action, providing quick access to frequently used keys, shortcuts, or commands.

To assign an action to a volume button:

1. Open Profile → Settings

1. Scroll to the Volume buttons section and select Volume Up or Volume Down

1. Assign an action or select None to disable

Keyboard add-on

The keyboard add-on displays the three first groups of hotkeys from the extended keyboard. It sits directly above the system keyboard and is always visible while typing.

Keys are organized into groups of four which can be reordered or customized to match individual workflows.

AI widget and Voice typing

The AI widget is a panel above the keyboard. It provides two input modes for the terminal:

• AI mode for generating commands from natural-language prompts

• Paste mode for dictating input using voice typing

The AI widget maintains a history of prompts and generated commands during the session, so earlier results can be revisited and reused.

The AI widget can be hidden when not needed using the Hide the AI widget toggle in Profile → Settings.

AI mode

To generate a command, use AI mode:

1. Switch input to AI mode

1. Type the task in plain text. To add context, select text in the terminal and choose AI in the context menu. It will be passed to the AI widget along with the prompt

1. Tap Enter to generate a command. Then run the generated command, or edit it before execution

Paste mode and voice typing

In Paste mode, prompts are dictated to the AI widget. Spoken text can be run as-is or edited before execution.

To dictate a prompt, use Paste mode:

1. Tap the input field in the AI widget to focus on it

2. Switch the input to Paste mode

3. Tap the microphone icon on the keyboard and start speaking

4. Run the prompt, or edit it before execution

Hide or show the keyboard

The on-screen keyboard appears when the terminal input is focused. If a hardware keyboard is connected, the on-screen keyboard hides.

To hide the keyboard:

1. Open the side panel

1. Tap the keyboard icon

To show keyboard:

• Tap the keyboard icon

Side panel

The side panel provides a set of tabs for quick access to:

• Extended keyboard. Terminal-specific keys and shortcuts

• Snippets. Saved commands and scripts

• Command history. Previously entered commands

• Themes. Terminal appearance options

While on iPhone the side panel sits on top of the system keyboard, on iPad it appears on the right side of the screen.

Extended keyboard

The extended keyboard provides quick access to keys commonly used in terminal workflows but not available on the standard mobile keyboard, including:

• Ctrl, Esc, Tab, and other modifier keys

• Arrow keys

• Function keys

• Common symbols and navigation keys

Keys are organized into groups of four which can be reordered or customized to match individual workflows, and are accessible in two places:

• the keyboard add-on above the system keyboard for quick access

• the extended keyboard for the full list and customization options

Reorder key groups

The order of the groups matters as the first three groups appear in the keyboard add-on.

To reorder key groups:

1. Open the side panel

1. Tap Customize

1. Drag and drop groups to change their order

Customize key groups

Custom groups can be created to organize a personal set of keys for specific workflows.

To add a custom key group:

1. Open the side panel

1. Tap Customize

1. Tap + at the top of the screen

1. Tap the keys to add them to the group

Insert password

A password saved on the current host can be inserted directly from the extended keyboard to avoid manual copy and paste.

To insert a password:

1. Open the side panel

1. Tap Password. The password appears in the terminal input

1. Tap Enter to send it

You can insert password via Autocomplete whenever a password is prompted. To get password suggestions enable autocomplete in Settings → Enable Autocomplete

Snippets

Snippets are saved commands and scripts that can be inserted into the terminal. They're useful for frequently used commands, long or error-prone strings, and reusable templates. Learn more in Snippets.

Snippets can be run immediately, pasted into the terminal without running, or edited directly from the panel.

Run, paste, or edit a snippet

1. Open the side panel

1. Switch to the Snippets tab

To run a snippet:

• Tap a snippet and it will be run immediately in the terminal

To paste a snippet:

1. Long-press a snippet to open the preview and action menu

2. Tap Paste to insert the snippet into the terminal without running it

To edit a snippet:

1. Long-press a snippet to open the preview and action menu

2. Tap Edit. The Edit Snippets screen opens, where you can change the name, script, and other settings

Create a new snippet

A new snippet can be created directly from the Snippets tab:

1. Open the side panel

1. Switch to the Snippets tab

1. Tap Add new snippet at the bottom of the list

1. In the Name field, describe what the snippet does

2. Enter a command or a script in the Script field

3. Save the snippet

Command history

The command history keeps a record of previously used commands. A command can be run immediately, pasted into the terminal without running, or saved as a snippet.

Run, paste, or save as a snippet

1. Open the side panel

1. Switch to the Command history tab

To run a command:

• Tap a command to run it immediately in the terminal

To paste a command:

1. Long-press a command to open the preview and action menu

2. Tap Paste to insert the command into the terminal without running it

To save a command as a snippet:

1. Long-press a command to open the preview and action menu

2. Tap Save as a snippet. The New Snippets screen opens, where you can change the name, script, and other settings

Themes

You can change the terminal appearance — theme, font, and font size — for the current host in the Themes tab. The changes will be saved for that host and will be applied to future sessions.

To change the terminal appearance:

1. Open the side panel

1. Switch to the Themes tab. Change a theme, font, or font size

Input settings

Termius provides a number of input options that go beyond the default keyboard behavior, helping make terminal work on mobile feel closer to desktop.

Hardware keyboard

Termius supports external hardware keyboards on iPad, iPhone, and Android, including Bluetooth keyboards, USB-C keyboards, and Apple's Magic Keyboard and Smart Keyboard for iPad. When a hardware keyboard is connected, the on-screen keyboard and hotkeys bar hides automatically.

Most terminal-specific keys available on a hardware keyboard, such as Ctrl, Alt, Esc, Tab, arrow keys, and function keys (F1–F10) behave as expected.

Keyboard behavior

Some keyboard behaviors can be adjusted in Profile → Settings:

• CJK input in terminal — enables Chinese, Japanese, and Korean input when using a hardware keyboard. Turn this on to enter non-Latin characters in the terminal

• Use Option as meta key — sends Meta-based key combinations when Option is pressed. Use this in environments that rely on Meta-based shortcuts

• Remap Caps Lock — reassigns the Caps Lock key to a different action, such as Esc, Ctrl, or a common shortcut

Cursor speed

Cursor speed controls how quickly the cursor moves during gestures and navigation, such as the Space key cursor gesture or arrow key emulation.

To adjust the cursor speed:

1. Open Profile→Settings

1. Scroll to Cursor speed in the keyboard section

1. Choose the cursor speed