 <p>As you mentioned, <a href="http://code.google.com/p/mobileterminal/" rel="nofollow">MobileTerminal</a> is probably what you're looking for. This project is open-source and you can start of it. AFAIK now it runs only on jailbroken devices, but you can definitely cut out only the terminal emulation (&amp; screen manipulation, handling input and output, ...) and build your project on it.</p> <p>Building a terminal from scratch is quite complicated and complex, so I suggest you start with this or some other open source project.</p> <p>I am not aware of any ready-to-use component, so you'll probably have to put some work into integrating the terminal into your app.</p>