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JuiceSSH – Give me my pro features back

161 points

by jandeboevrie

4 hours ago

| past

| 16 comments

| nproject.io

| HN

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tiagod

46 minutes ago

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I've been using this app for years. A couple months I needed to use forwarding, which is a Pro feature.

I thought I already bought it years ago, but the app asked me to pay so I bought it again. It instantly locked me out of the whole app. Later I checked and I had bought pro already in 2014 (for 5€, and I paid 30€ this time). Absolutely no answer to my emails.

Thanks for the instructions.

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Grimblewald

52 minutes ago

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> juice is best ssh for android

I am not contending truth here, but also I have never even tried / considered anything outside of termux + unexpected keyboard, and I can't imagine anything improving my experience.

what makes juicessh so good? I guess I'm asking for a "Convince me to try it" style review of juice.

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cremp

3 hours ago

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This might be a good plug for Morphie or Revanced patches to automate the patch process.

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nfriedly

54 minutes ago

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I'm a big fan of Revanced, but I haven't heard of Morphie - do you have a link for it? (I tried searching, but all I'm coming up with are cosmetics, chargers, and an IRC app.)

Edit: found it: https://morphe.software/ - looks like it's sort of an offshoot of ReVanced that only supports Youtube at the moment.

And, for those who weren't aware of ReVanced, see https://revanced.app/ - it was originally just a tweaked version of the YouTube app called Vanced (an "advanced" YouTube app, but without the "ad"s ;) - but now it's a tool that can patch a bunch of different apps.

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sowbug

3 hours ago

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I haven't used my Pro purchase in years, but if I did want to ssh from my phone today, I'd use the newish Terminal app, available since Android 15. It's a full Debian virtual machine.

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wilsonnb3

2 hours ago

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I don’t think it is that widely available due to Snapdragon chips not supporting some feature it requires.

Good option for Pixel owners or phones with MediaTek chips though.

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fulafel

2 hours ago

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Apparently it's about software, not hardware - Qualcomm recommends running Android under a virtual machine (which lacks nested virtualization support).

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superb_dev

1 hour ago

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Is this for real? Do you have any more info on this? It seems crazy to me given how popular their chips are and how many problems I’d imagine this creates

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asutor

39 minutes ago

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Using an S24 here and yeah, not available with Android 16

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chasil

1 hour ago

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I run LineageOS on both a Pixel 3a XL and a OnePlus 5. Yes, these both run Snapdragons.

The option to install the subsystem is present on both, but I have not attempted it.

I have loaded it onto a Pixel 6a running Graphene.

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preisschild

1 hour ago

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Or termux, which doesnt use a VM

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gruez

1 hour ago

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Yeah, another vote for Termux. The linux VM ends up being a bit laggy because it's actually a webview that renders a terminal, that's connected to the VM. More importantly though, the soft keyboard support is totally broken, so if you try to backspace more characters than you've typed, it won't let you. That sucks if do something like:

1. type some command, hit enter

2. hit up to edit it (because you typoed something)

3. can't backspace because the soft keyboard thinks there's nothing to delete

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sunnyam

3 hours ago

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Do you mean Termux? I can't find any other Terminal app with a similar name

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saidinesh5

3 hours ago

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No Android started bundling a terminal app recently:

https://itsfoss.com/news/google-android-linux-terminal-rollo...

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domh

3 hours ago

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Huh, I did not know this. This is also present on GrapheneOS too! (I'm installing it now)

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fmajid

2 hours ago

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It is extremely flaky on GrapheneOS, at least on my Pixel 8 Pro. Just typing Ctrl-D to exit will corrupt it, requiring a full reinstallation of the Debian VM

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gruez

1 hour ago

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Control-D works fine for me. It just terminates the VM and you can restart.

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simlevesque

3 hours ago

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Enable Developper Options. It should be in the Developer menu. It's a toggle that'll enable this apk.

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ndom91

2 hours ago

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Is this available outside of Pixels? I still can't find it on my OnePlus 13 running Android 16 with Jan security updates

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cmehdy

2 hours ago

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The option exists on Samsung phones but is greyed out and crashes if you force it via adb. It is also marked as experimental.

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yonatan8070

1 hour ago

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I believe it relies on some virtualization extensions Google's CPUs have, which most phone SoCs don't support.

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prmoustache

49 minutes ago

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It is buggy as hell anyway.

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seszett

3 hours ago

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Honestly I don't find it more useful than Termux, especially for being so much heavier.

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cogman10

3 hours ago

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Just because I was curious.

Termux is doing a container. The android terminal is doing a virtual machine. That's the difference.

Termux would definitely be the light weight option, but you will be pinned to whatever version of the kernel your device is shipped with (may be a bit old.)

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yjftsjthsd-h

2 hours ago

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No, termux isn't a container, it's running directly in userspace on the host. The only weird thing is that because it's running directly on the host, it has to be built to use unusual paths, eg. /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash instead of /usr/bin/bash. If it used containers (which IIRC it can't because Android doesn't really support it) that would actually be easier because then it could use a chroot to make the paths look normal.

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cogman10

2 hours ago

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Ah, well that stinks a little. I guess it makes sense, if android doesn't mandate a few kernel settings then working with containers might not be an option.

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saidinesh5

3 hours ago

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Wow. Thanks for this. I haven't logged into Juice SSH in years, but i thought it had all my ssh keys backed up in the cloud.

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znpy

3 hours ago

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I’d start rotating those keys asap… you’re one breach away from a security nightmare

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saidinesh5

1 hour ago

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Yep, just did.. A lot of those devices don't even exist anymore but the keys exist lol.

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graemep

3 hours ago

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You should encrypt your ssh keys anyway, and you should encrypt anything sensitive you are backing up to a cloud.

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trey-jones

2 hours ago

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Private keys should never leave the device where they are created.

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graemep

1 hour ago

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So no backups?

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Tuna-Fish

1 hour ago

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Correct. Private keys should never be backed up. Instead, should you need a backup, you should create a distinct key for that purpose.

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leni536

1 hour ago

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You can have backup private keys, they don't have to be copies of some other private keys.

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9dev

2 hours ago

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Actually, you shouldn’t. You probably use an easy-to-remember password on SSH keys since you have to type them often, but that also means you’re storing one of your (let’s face it, the primary) password you have in a single file, readable to every executable your run under your account. And that means you’re one exfil away from not only getting your SSH keys compromised, but also allowing an attacker to run an offline decryption attack with unlimited attempts. This invariably leads to your main password getting compromised.

Instead, set up SSH certificates, MFA, Yubikey, or TPM/Enclave storage for your private keys.

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yjftsjthsd-h

2 hours ago

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> You probably use an easy-to-remember password on SSH keys since you have to type them often

No, use ssh-agent and decrypt once per boot.

> Instead, set up SSH certificates, MFA, Yubikey, or TPM/Enclave storage for your private keys.

Granted, I agree with this, too.

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nottorp

46 minutes ago

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I believe Google will cut off that avenue soon...

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khanan

3 hours ago

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Replaced JuiceSSH two years ago with ConnectBOT (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.connectbot...) as a "free" alternative. Never looked back.

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genpfault

2 hours ago

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> ConnectBot

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.connectbot/

https://github.com/connectbot/connectbot

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muppetman

3 hours ago

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Not trying to defend the developer here but they went really silent once before like this. Then came out of the gate with a bunch of updates and new features. I'm hoping they've just got really busy with life, I know when I emailed them before they have been responsive and helpful. I mean hell they might have died? Does the Store have a process for this? This app has been around a long time so I don't understand the rugpull comments. Also the syned keys are (supposedly, I guess we don't have the source) encrypted so even if the dev is no longer active that aspect should be secure I hope.

My Pro features still seem to be working for me. EDIT: No, I see now that Cloud Sync isn't a thing anymore. Looks like it's really lost its backend servers.

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josephcsible

1 hour ago

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> I don't understand the rugpull comments.

The article says "the purchase made in 2019 is not recognized anymore". The seller unilaterally taking back something you previously bought, especially without a refund, is a rug pull.

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PortableCode

3 hours ago

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smali code is funny to read, basically an object-oriented assembly language (feels so wrong)

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arendtio

2 hours ago

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Don't let Alan Kay[1] read that...

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=alankay

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esseph

3 hours ago

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Really great terminal app that I used in Android for a very long time with some interesting features.

Also, Mosh shell support for sshing in degraded connection environments!

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JorgeGT

3 hours ago

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Damn. I especially liked the cloud backup & sync. Any good alternatives?

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simlevesque

3 hours ago

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I'm using Termux with aliases. I'll write "c1" and it logs in the machine. I use git to sync and backup from my laptop.

I bought JuiceSSH too but I didn't use it that much. It's a shame they did what they did.

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mystifyingpoi

3 hours ago

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Termux is one of the best apps ever made for Android power users. It literally replaces so much stuff, if you don't care about GUI. No need for SSH app - it has ssh. No need for file sync app - there is rsync. No need for notetaking app, there is your $EDITOR you like. All 100% free. It's amazing.

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epiccoleman

2 hours ago

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+1. Termux absolutely rules and makes the dream of a cyberdeck actually viable. I use it at least once a week for various homelab stuff.

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Zenul_Abidin

3 hours ago

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I too bought JuiceSSH. I can still download and run it on other phones I get in the future, right?

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muppetman

2 hours ago

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Cloud sync seems busted, so not really.

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twosdai

4 hours ago

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Wow nice work. Thanks for doing this and writing it up.

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pelagicAustral

3 hours ago

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> JuiceSSH used to be the best SSH client available on Android until December 2025.

Really? I always gave that award to Termius, which is kind of my second best behind Servercat which I miss very dearly from the iOS environment.

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Arrowmaster

3 hours ago

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One was a one time purchase, the other requires a subscription.... The answer should be clear.

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anonova

2 hours ago

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Local-only usage of Termius is free and doesn't even require logging in to the service. I've been using it like this for years.

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bakugo

3 hours ago

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I just tried to purchase pro from within the app just to see what the price is, and the Google Play purchase popup tells me it's not available. Interesting.

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1f60c

2 hours ago

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This is pretty interesting but why not just pay the 20 bucks?

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blibble

2 hours ago

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I would not use an SSH client written by someone that feels it's OK to break the terms of the contract this way

who knows what's coming next?

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user3939382

1 hour ago

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The SSH deal has been altered. Pray I don’t alter it any further. csshck hoh.

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__float

2 hours ago

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The second paragraph explains this: they already have paid, and some people have paid [again], but their purchase is not accepted.

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dcdc123

2 hours ago

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The issue is people that already paid lost their pro features unless they pay _again_.

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awill

1 hour ago

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There are just fewer highly polished Android apps vs iOS apps, and that's why I switched to iOS.

I bought JuiceSSH years ago on Android and it worked great, but I agree it's degraded, and I couldn't find an equivalent I liked.

iOS has multiple apps that beat JuiceSSH. I use Termix and it's really, really good.