Split Terminal
Split Terminal lets you view two SSH sessions side by side on a single screen. This is available on tablets and foldable phones — devices with enough screen real estate to make a dual-pane layout practical.
Split Terminal is a Pro feature.
Device Requirements
Section titled “Device Requirements”Split Terminal activates only on devices that meet one of these thresholds:
Tablets: the screen’s shortest side must be at least 600dp. This covers iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro, Samsung Galaxy Tab, and most Android tablets in any orientation.
Foldable phones (open mode): both the width and height must be at least 500dp. This detects devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold when fully unfolded (~585 x 841dp) but excludes them when folded (cover screen is too narrow).
Regular phones — even large ones like iPhone 15 Pro Max (430dp wide) or Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra — do not qualify. The split button does not appear in the toolbar on these devices.
Activating Split View
Section titled “Activating Split View”When your device qualifies, a split icon appears in the terminal toolbar (the icon looks like a rectangle divided in half). Tap it to enter split mode. Tap again (or tap the X on the secondary pane’s header bar) to exit.
You need at least one active session for the split button to appear. If only one session is connected, the secondary pane shows a prompt to connect another session.
Layout
Section titled “Layout”The split orientation adapts to screen shape:
- Landscape or near-square screens use a vertical split (top/bottom stacking), giving each pane the full width.
- Tall portrait screens (height >= 1.5x width, common on foldables in tent/tabletop mode) use a horizontal split (side by side), giving each pane the full height.
Draggable Divider
Section titled “Draggable Divider”A thin divider bar sits between the two panes. Drag it to resize the split ratio — anywhere from 20% to 80% of the screen for either pane. Double-tap the divider to reset to a 50/50 split.
The divider changes the mouse cursor to a resize indicator on desktop platforms, and is touch-friendly on mobile with a 12dp hit target.
Session Picker
Section titled “Session Picker”The secondary pane has a small header bar showing:
- An orange dot and the current session label.
- A dropdown to switch between other connected sessions (if more than one is available).
- A swap button to exchange the primary and secondary sessions.
- A close button to exit split mode.
The primary session (in the top or left pane) is always the session you originally connected to. The secondary pane defaults to the next available connected session.
Use Cases
Section titled “Use Cases”- Log tailing + command entry: watch logs in one pane while running commands in the other.
- Multi-server monitoring: keep a production server and staging server visible at the same time.
- Editing + testing: edit a config file in one pane, restart the service in the other.
- Database + application: run SQL queries in one pane, check application behavior in the other.
Limitations
Section titled “Limitations”- Split Terminal is only available on the mobile layout (phones and tablets). On desktop platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux), ZestSSH provides a full tab bar and split-pane system through the Desktop Shell, which supports arbitrary arrangements.
- Both panes run full terminal sessions with independent input and scrollback. Performance on lower-end tablets may be affected when both sessions produce heavy output simultaneously.
- The split ratio is not persisted — it resets to 50/50 each time you enter split mode.