a-shell keeps ios26 and ipad0s26 devices on

[tthkbw]

Since switching to ios26 and ipados26, if a-shell is in the foreground and I set the device aside, the device stays on--that is, the screen does not go blank, I have to manually turn the device off, or switch to another app or the desktop.

Am I missing a setup that enables this? How do I fix it?

[holzschu]

I have no idea what is happening here. I hadn't noticed it on my iOS 26 devices. I'll need to run more tests.

[tthkbw]

Based on your comment, I did a bit more careful research on this issue this morning.

I mostly use a-shell as an ssh client. Turns out, that if you run the ssh client and leave the device alone, it never turns off. If you are just running a-shell locally on the device, it does.

Maybe the ssh client is continually pinging the server and that keeps it alive? I know Blink has a setting that does something to keep from closing the connection when turning off the device.

Anyway, maybe a good place to look. And I don't think previous versions of a-shell did this.

[KrsMt-0113]

same prob, iOS 26.2, it keeps the session even if I exit and restart the app.

[kkebo]

https://github.com/holzschu/a-shell/blob/ef73cea64044ed6afd6e1317622de4007f9801b4/a-Shell/SceneDelegate.swift#L2537_L2550

The ssh command doesn't exit until disconnected from a server, so it might be stuck between these lines. If so, UIApplication.shared.isIdleTimerDisabled = false will never be executed, preventing a device from turning its display off.

[holzschu]

Thank you for the extra information. This issue is indeed connected to the lines pointed by @kkebo.
I added those lines a while ago (1-2 years?), at the request of other users, so that a-Shell does not go to sleep when it's running a long-running command (like curl or ffmpeg). I remember that they didn't work then, so it's reassuring that they're working now.

Now, we need to think about the specific of ssh. Unlike other commands, you want a-Shell to go to sleep while running ssh. I can add a specific case for ssh here. The bad news is that if a-Shell goes to sleep for a long time, it will disconnect to the server. I could also add a line to restart ssh if ssh was running when a-Shell was terminated (this functionality is already present for dash and vim).

[kkebo]

I could also add a line to restart ssh if ssh was running when a-Shell was terminated (this functionality is already present for dash and vim).

If the purpose is to reconnect to the server, I think that's insufficient.

On iOS, TCP/UDP sockets are closed when the device enters sleep mode (≠ screen lock). That's a common issue.

• https://forum.qt.io/topic/77402/ios-network-socket-being-closed-on-sleep

In such situations, since the TCP socket closes while a-Shell remains alive, a-Shell will not attempt to reconnect to the server even if the device is woken from sleep.

It's a very difficult problem.

[kkebo]

I added those lines a while ago (1-2 years?), at the request of other users, so that a-Shell does not go to sleep when it's running a long-running command (like curl or ffmpeg).

Since it only works on iOS 26 and later, this is a future consideration, but if a-Shell can determine in advance that the command that is about to execute will take time, the following API might be a smarter solution than isIdleTimerDisabled.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/backgroundtasks/performing-long-running-tasks-on-ios-and-ipados?language=objc

[saiki-k]

Just want to chip in here... I don't use ssh at all, and what @KrsMt-0113 described:

same prob, iOS 26.2, it keeps the session even if I exit and restart the app.

...happens on my end too. Simple steps to reproduce:

• cd /to/a/path
• ls
• exit
• close a-Shell from the iOS App Switcher
• re-open it, and often times a-Shell renders the past session/history (with output from the above commands)

[likecreep]

Just want to chip in here... I don't use ssh at all, and what @KrsMt-0113 described:

same prob, iOS 26.2, it keeps the session even if I exit and restart the app.

...happens on my end too. Simple steps to reproduce:

• cd /to/a/path
• ls
• exit
• close a-Shell from the iOS App Switcher
• re-open it, and often times a-Shell renders the past session/history (with output from the above commands)

Same here.

[holzschu]

These seem like a different issue. a-Shell saves the content of the session (the text displayed on screen) when it goes to the background, and restores it when it restarts or goes to the foreground. That is by design (and requested by Apple's UX guidelines), but it can be disabled in Settings.
However, since you typed "exit", the content of the screen should be empty, and that's where I have to investigate.