Introducing Echo
10th February 2026
We're thrilled to introduce Echo — a fast, modern SSH client for iOS and iPadOS, built for the new era of rich terminal-based tools and AI coding agents.
Echo is our first brand new app in a while, and it's our first app for iOS and iPadOS. It's a little different from what we've done before, and we'd love to tell you why we built it and what makes it special.
Why build a terminal app?
Something exciting has been happening in the terminal over the last couple of years. There's been an explosion in the TUI space — beautifully crafted, highly complex text-based user interfaces that are pushing the boundaries of what a terminal can do. Tools like lazygit and lazydocker, powered by libraries like Bubbletea, Ink and Textual, have shown that the terminal isn't just for text anymore — it's become a rich, interactive canvas.
At the same time, AI coding agents have completely changed how developers work. Tools like Claude Code, Codex and Amp are running in terminals on remote machines, generating code, running builds, and waiting for human input. Developers increasingly need to check in on these agents from wherever they are — approve a change on the train, monitor a build from the couch, or nudge an agent in the right direction while away from their desk.
And then there's Ghostty. Ghostty is our favourite terminal emulator. It's a terminal built with our own values of performance and true-to-platform native behaviour, as well as being beautiful, fast and flexible. Ghostty's terminal engine is open source and written in a way that can be embedded, which meant we could bring that same level of performance and correctness to iOS.
Over the last twelve months, we've been using all of these tools heavily. How we program has changed dramatically — we spend more time in the terminal than ever, working alongside agents, reviewing their output, and managing remote machines. At some point we realised that the app we kept reaching for on our phones didn't exist yet. So we built it. Echo is that app.
Built for iOS, not ported to it
We didn't want to just wrap a terminal in a WebView and ship it, or use a substandard terminal emulator. Echo is a native app, built from the ground up for iPhone and iPad. That means Metal-accelerated rendering, native Keychain integration for your SSH keys, and Face ID to keep your connections secure.
On iPhone, we spent a lot of time on the keyboard experience. There's a specially designed toolbar above the keyboard with quick keys for common terminal characters, and gesture-based arrow key movement that feels right at home on a touchscreen. It sounds like a small thing, but it makes a huge difference when you're actually trying to get work done on your phone.
On iPad, Echo really shines. Full hardware keyboard support with all the shortcuts you'd expect, Split View and Slide Over for running multiple sessions side by side, and Stage Manager support so you can resize and arrange terminal windows alongside your other apps. It's the kind of experience that makes an iPad with a keyboard feel like a genuinely capable development machine.
Multiple terminal sessions running side by side on iPad with Stage Manager.
A home for agents on the go
One of the things we're most excited about is how well Echo works as an interface for AI coding agents. Echo's minimal, distraction-free UI turns out to be the perfect environment for this — you SSH into your machine, attach to a tmux session, and you're right back where you left off with your agent.
We've been using Echo ourselves to interact with Claude Code, Codex, and others — and it's genuinely changed how we think about those workflows. Being able to approve a file change or review a diff from your phone feels like a superpower. The complex TUI interfaces that these agents present — syntax-highlighted code, interactive diffs, progress indicators — they all render beautifully because of Ghostty's terminal engine underneath.
Interacting with AI coding agents on the go via Echo.
Themes, naturally
If you know us from Sleeve, you know we care about customization. Echo ships with a curated collection of terminal themes so you can make your terminal feel like yours. We've hand-picked some classics and some fresh options, and we'll be adding more over time.
Available now
Echo is available today on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, for a one-time purchase of $2.99. No subscriptions, no in-app purchases — just the way we like it.
This is a really exciting release for us. Echo represents something new for Replay — our first step into iOS, and into a space that's evolving incredibly fast. We have a lot of ideas for where to take Echo next, and we can't wait to share them with you.
If you have any questions, feedback, or just want to say hi, you can always reach us at [email protected]. We'd love to hear what you think.
Al & Hector
Instagram Engineering
Shopify Engineering