JuiceSSH – Give me my pro features back

[cube00]

Support is unresponsive, this looks like an exit scam.

Finally this is getting traction after leaving many of us out of pocket.

Both developers [1] are working in management at Microsoft and AWS while ignoring emails, leaving JuiceSSH to rot because they couldn't be bothered to wrap up cleanly (refund, release a final update with pro features enabled, release the source code etc.)

Paul Maddox [2]: Director - Cloud & AI Solutions Engineering @ Microsoft - last reposted a month ago

Tom Maddox [3]: Head of AWS Solutions Architecture for Local Markets - last commented two months ago

Don't bother going back to Google either. A Play store "support specialist" just told me:

I tried to create a refund request but its not allowing to create one since the date of the transaction is out of our refund policy as we can only process refunds for up to 120 days only after the transaction was charged.

[1]: https://juicessh.com/about or https://sonelli.com/about

[2]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-maddox

[3]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-maddox-87236b27

[opello]

The about link above gave a Cloudfront-looking failure, but the base domain here worked and is where the app help link takes me, albeit to /faq:

https://sonelli.com/

I reactivated my license a few months ago using the in-app functionality but I'm not quite sure when I'm afraid.

[Zenul_Abidin]

Thinking I'll just create a clone of JuiceSSH myself and make all the stuff FOSS. I don't like developers who fleece me out of my purchases.

[saghm]

> I tried to create a refund r request but its not allowing to create one since the date of the transaction is out of our refund p policy as we can only process refunds for up to 120 days only after the transaction was charged.

In other words, any Google Play app is allowed to just pull the plug on features after four months and pocket the money. Wonderful...

[tiagod]

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.

[smileybarry]

If you haven't already, you can ask Google for a refund on that (the second, recent) in-app purchase:

https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/15574897?hl=en

The policies are "up to 48 hrs after purchase" but I'm sure "purchase does not work at all" is an exception. (It is on iOS)

[TheRoque]

Why would you pay for such feature ? Termux is basically a small Linux in your pocket and has anything you'd ever need regarding SSH

[Grimblewald]

> 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.

[petesoper]

"I guess I'm asking for a "Convince me to try it" style review of juice" Notice this is about juicessh becoming unusable and no longer having any support. That should satisfy you.

[opan]

I used JuiceSSH many years ago, had the Pro version when it was briefly free once. I've used Termux for years now and it seems better to me. You can set up ssh keys and aliases like usual, multihop works. I think I used to use Hacker's Keyboard but now I use AnySoftKeyboard since it had better alt layout support (e.g. Dvorak, Workman). I've got a row at the top with ctrl, tab, arrows, esc... It even works to do C-a, C-c, C-v in other apps. I'd recommend the combo. All available from F-Droid.

[venusenvy47]

I bought Juice pro many years ago and use it daily on my phone and Tablet. I like how it gives my one click access to my handful of servers, and I liked the syncing between devices. I started using Termux last week and it seems like a decent alternative. The copy and paste is nicer on JuiceSSH, and I think it is more immune from getting disconnected if you switch to another app during a session.

[johannes1234321]

I have used neither juice nor termux.

For my few emergencies ConnectBot worked quite well as an ssh client for me, including port forwarding (so i could use VNC sessions to unlock a boot issue in a VM using some VNC app)

[rclkrtrzckr]

I wonder why nobody mentions serverbox

https://f-droid.org/packages/tech.lolli.toolbox

[jojomodding]

For me it's mostly that it just works and was very easy to set up when I first used it.

[ycombinatrix]

It has an SSH focused GUI which can be more convenient

[Lord_Zero]

Can I use that keyboard only with termux?

[khanan]

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

[genpfault]

> ConnectBot

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

https://github.com/connectbot/connectbot

[degamad]

Never used JuiceSSH or Termux, but I've been using Connectbot for years, and it's pretty good.

[sowbug]

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.

[wilsonnb3]

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.

[preisschild]

Or termux, which doesnt use a VM

[sunnyam]

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

[cremp]

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

[nfriedly]

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.

[aposm]

Yikes. I also just noticed that all the plugins (part of the pro feature set) rely on separate apk downloads from the Play Store, which all appear to be dead/delisted. This is really a shame, I too have thought of this as "the best" Android SSH client in the past.

[esseph]

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!

[ggm]

Thank you for reminding me about risks of cloud key storage. I think I better go wipe my .ssh/ states and re-work things to a modern keypair.

I think ed25519 would be both shorter sigs in authorised_keys and definitely NOT what I used "back then"

[saidinesh5]

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.

[znpy]

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

[thih9]

I get it why an article like this is being posted, but I’m also worried that it’s jumping to conclusions.

Devs/support get overwhelmed, apps get buggy. A better course of action to me seems: reporting a broken app, requesting refund, waiting for the fix and switching to an alternative in the meantime.

I also dislike that this behavior could be a reason against sideloading, especially if made more popular.

[BenjiWiebe]

It worked for years with no/few changes. Then the price increases and pro features stop working. I'm not too likely to give the devs the benefit of the doubt. Patch out the 'pro' check and release an update. Or reply to one of the many new 1 star reviews and say you lost access to the source code, if that's what happened.

Complete silence + taking money...

[DeathArrow]

It's nice to see some good old fashioned cracking. It transports me 25 years back in IDA Pro days.

[PortableCode]

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

[arendtio]

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

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

[bakugo]

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.

[nisegami]

After using it for many years, I recently switched from JuiceSSH to Termius (com.server.auditor.ssh.client for disambiguation) after having some issues and seeing the writing on the wall regarding JuiceSSH. It took some customization but I was able to get it set up pretty nice and I'm happy with it.

[gorkish]

Just a cynical observation here, but its funny how the author still hangs onto the notion that it is "the best" despite that it de facto cannot be "the best."

Also, maybe dont rely on a poorly maintained app for making secure connections to your systems? Just me?

[InMice]

I like Termius a lot better than JuiceSSH. Move on, you won't miss it.

[pelagicAustral]

> 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.

[Arrowmaster]

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

[TheRoque]

I quickly dropped JuiceSSH when I discovered Termux. And I also find it way easier to use the way I want to, and flexible.

[stonecharioteer]

Oh boy. I wanted to get a license for this. I waited for the price to drop, and now I'm glad I never did it.

[anta40]

I used the Pro version a few years ago. Now it's delisted from Play Store? Couldn't find it.

[JorgeGT]

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

[simlevesque]

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.

[rclkrtrzckr]

Serverbox on fdroid

[twosdai]

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

[Banditoz]

Could this be considered grounds for a lawsuit?

[kjs3]

In the US, pretty much anything can construed as a grounds for a lawsuit. It's the 'affording the lawsuit' that's the problem.

[imcritic]

Isn't such patching illegal??

[nottorp]

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

[ilvez]

I could not find JuiceSSH in Play store at this point anymore..

[muppetman]

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.

[josephcsible]

> 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.

[dstnn]

Same thing happened to me so I coded my own with claude instead of paying them again

[netsharc]

Next project: Claude-coded SSH server?

[1f60c]

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

[blibble]

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?

[__float]

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

[dcdc123]

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

[awill]

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.

[tssva]

I have been unable to find a SSH app for iOS that I like since I switched from Android. Just one of many reasons I will be switching back to Android for my next phone.