diff --git a/Makefile.dep b/Makefile.dep
index cb186821dc..0ded69d32c 100644
--- a/Makefile.dep
+++ b/Makefile.dep
@@ -1078,6 +1078,12 @@ ifneq (,$(filter ecc_%,$(USEMODULE)))
   USEMODULE += ecc
 endif
 
+ifneq (,$(filter test_utils_interactive_sync,$(USEMODULE)))
+  ifneq (,$(filter shell,$(USEMODULE)))
+    DEFAULT_MODULE += test_utils_interactive_sync_shell
+  endif
+endif
+
 # recursively catch transitive dependencies
 USEMODULE := $(sort $(USEMODULE))
 USEPKG := $(sort $(USEPKG))
@@ -1102,5 +1108,11 @@ else
     USEMODULE += $(filter periph_init_%,$(filter-out $(DISABLE_MODULE),$(DEFAULT_MODULE)))
   endif
 
+  # Add test_utils_interactive_sync_shell
+  ifneq (,$(filter test_utils_interactive_sync,$(USEMODULE)))
+    USEMODULE += $(filter test_utils_interactive_sync_%, \
+      $(filter-out $(DISABLE_MODULE),$(DEFAULT_MODULE)))
+  endif
+
   USEMODULE := $(sort $(USEMODULE))
 endif
diff --git a/dist/pythonlibs/testrunner/spawn.py b/dist/pythonlibs/testrunner/spawn.py
index 1c2008a173..6061141758 100644
--- a/dist/pythonlibs/testrunner/spawn.py
+++ b/dist/pythonlibs/testrunner/spawn.py
@@ -99,9 +99,14 @@ def sync_child(child, env):
     # Do a child synchronization if used by a module
     modules = modules_list()
     if 'test_utils_interactive_sync' in modules:
-        utils.test_utils_interactive_sync(child,
-                                          TEST_INTERACTIVE_RETRIES,
-                                          TEST_INTERACTIVE_DELAY)
+        if 'test_utils_interactive_sync_shell' in modules:
+            utils.test_utils_interactive_sync_shell(child,
+                                                    TEST_INTERACTIVE_RETRIES,
+                                                    TEST_INTERACTIVE_DELAY)
+        else:
+            utils.test_utils_interactive_sync(child,
+                                              TEST_INTERACTIVE_RETRIES,
+                                              TEST_INTERACTIVE_DELAY)
     # If requested also reset after opening the terminal, this should not be used
     # by any application since it breaks the tests for boards that do not support
     # this feature.
diff --git a/dist/pythonlibs/testrunner/utils.py b/dist/pythonlibs/testrunner/utils.py
index 94a9091aeb..5f39f6b9dc 100644
--- a/dist/pythonlibs/testrunner/utils.py
+++ b/dist/pythonlibs/testrunner/utils.py
@@ -9,19 +9,33 @@
 import pexpect
 
 
-def test_utils_interactive_sync(child, retries, delay):
-    """Synchronisation for 'test_utils_interactive_sync' function.
+def _test_utils_interactive_sync(child, retries, delay, ready_cmd='r',
+                                 ready_exp='READY'):
 
-    Interacts through input to wait for node being ready.
-    """
-    for _ in range(0, retries):
-        child.sendline('r')
-        ret = child.expect_exact(['READY', pexpect.TIMEOUT], timeout=delay)
+    for _ in range(retries):
+        child.sendline(ready_cmd)
+        ret = child.expect_exact([ready_exp, pexpect.TIMEOUT], timeout=delay)
         if ret == 0:
             break
     else:
-        # Last call to make it fail her,
-        child.expect_exact('READY', timeout=0)
+        # Last call to make it fail here,
+        child.expect_exact(ready_exp, timeout=0)
 
+
+def test_utils_interactive_sync(child, retries, delay):
+    """Synchronization for 'test_utils_interactive_sync' function
+
+    Interacts through input to wait for node being ready.
+    """
+    _test_utils_interactive_sync(child, retries, delay)
     child.sendline('s')
     child.expect_exact('START')
+
+
+def test_utils_interactive_sync_shell(child, retries, delay):
+    """Synchronization `shell` and `test_utils_interactive_sync` modules are
+    used ('test_utils_interactive_sync' function is not)
+
+    Interacts through input to wait for node being ready.
+    """
+    _test_utils_interactive_sync(child, retries, delay, '\n', '>')
diff --git a/makefiles/pseudomodules.inc.mk b/makefiles/pseudomodules.inc.mk
index 917df3c8df..475c22a7eb 100644
--- a/makefiles/pseudomodules.inc.mk
+++ b/makefiles/pseudomodules.inc.mk
@@ -227,6 +227,9 @@ PSEUDOMODULES += crypto_aes_precalculated
 # This pseudomodule causes a loop in AES to be unrolled (more flash, less CPU)
 PSEUDOMODULES += crypto_aes_unroll
 
+# declare shell version of test_utils_interactive_sync
+PSEUDOMODULES += test_utils_interactive_sync_shell
+
 # All auto_init modules are pseudomodules
 PSEUDOMODULES += auto_init_%
 NO_PSEUDOMODULES += auto_init_can
diff --git a/sys/auto_init/auto_init.c b/sys/auto_init/auto_init.c
index 315ffac856..406b4255b6 100644
--- a/sys/auto_init/auto_init.c
+++ b/sys/auto_init/auto_init.c
@@ -238,8 +238,7 @@ void auto_init(void)
         }
     }
 
-    if (IS_USED(MODULE_TEST_UTILS_INTERACTIVE_SYNC) &&
-        (!IS_USED(MODULE_SHELL_COMMANDS) || !IS_USED(MODULE_SHELL))) {
+    if (IS_USED(MODULE_TEST_UTILS_INTERACTIVE_SYNC) && !IS_USED(MODULE_SHELL)) {
         extern void test_utils_interactive_sync(void);
         test_utils_interactive_sync();
     }
diff --git a/sys/shell/commands/Makefile b/sys/shell/commands/Makefile
index 38104f7efc..d279ecb3a4 100644
--- a/sys/shell/commands/Makefile
+++ b/sys/shell/commands/Makefile
@@ -96,10 +96,6 @@ ifneq (,$(filter nimble_netif,$(USEMODULE)))
   SRC += sc_nimble_netif.c
 endif
 
-ifneq (,$(filter test_utils_interactive_sync,$(USEMODULE)))
-  SRC += sc_interactive_sync.c
-endif
-
 ifneq (,$(filter suit_coap,$(USEMODULE)))
   SRC += sc_suit.c
 endif
diff --git a/sys/shell/commands/sc_interactive_sync.c b/sys/shell/commands/sc_interactive_sync.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 31f46200e4..0000000000
--- a/sys/shell/commands/sc_interactive_sync.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,49 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright (C) 2019 Inria
- *
- * This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU Lesser
- * General Public License v2.1. See the file LICENSE in the top level
- * directory for more details.
- */
-
-/**
- * @ingroup     sys_shell_commands
- * @{
- *
- * @file
- * @brief       Shell commands interactive sync util
- *
- * @author      Francisco Molina <francois-xavier.molina@inria.fr>
- * @}
- */
-
-#include <stdio.h>
-#include "test_utils/interactive_sync.h"
-
-#if defined(__AVR__)
-#include <avr/pgmspace.h>
-/* For small AVR targets the extra strings generated by test interactive
-   can make the application overflow the .data section (RAM), we use puts_P()
-   to write those constant string to .txt section (FLASH)*/
-#define PUTS(_s)                       puts_P(PSTR(_s))
-#else
-#define PUTS(_s)                       puts(_s)
-#endif
-
-int _test_start(int argc, char **argv)
-{
-    (void) argc;
-    (void) argv;
-    PUTS("START");
-
-    return 0;
-}
-
-
-int _test_ready(int argc, char **argv)
-{
-    (void) argc;
-    (void) argv;
-    PUTS("READY");
-    return 0;
-}
diff --git a/sys/shell/commands/shell_commands.c b/sys/shell/commands/shell_commands.c
index 87b2483b2d..6655d89bce 100644
--- a/sys/shell/commands/shell_commands.c
+++ b/sys/shell/commands/shell_commands.c
@@ -159,11 +159,6 @@ extern int _loramac_handler(int argc, char **argv);
 extern int _nimble_netif_handler(int argc, char **argv);
 #endif
 
-#ifdef MODULE_TEST_UTILS_INTERACTIVE_SYNC
-extern int _test_start(int argc, char **argv);
-extern int _test_ready(int argc, char **argv);
-#endif
-
 #ifdef MODULE_SUIT_COAP
 extern int _suit_handler(int argc, char **argv);
 #endif
@@ -275,10 +270,6 @@ const shell_command_t _shell_command_list[] = {
 #ifdef MODULE_NIMBLE_NETIF
     { "ble", "Manage BLE connections for NimBLE", _nimble_netif_handler },
 #endif
-#ifdef MODULE_TEST_UTILS_INTERACTIVE_SYNC
-    { "r", "Test sync, Ready query", _test_ready },
-    { "s", "Test sync, Start test trigger", _test_start },
-#endif
 #ifdef MODULE_SUIT_COAP
     { "suit", "Trigger a SUIT firmware update", _suit_handler },
 #endif
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index f75b6868f1..f57b7b9eeb 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -26,6 +26,14 @@ default module in `Makefile.tests_common`. It can be disabled by setting in the
 application makefile `DISABLE_MODULE += test_utils_interactive_sync`. The python
 test script will adapt to it automatically.
 
+When using the `shell` module, `test_utils_interactive_sync` will use the shell
+itself to synchronize, and will not use `test_utils_interactive_sync();` function
+to synchronize. Some times you will want to synchronize before the start of the
+script and use `test_utils_interactive_sync();` function (e.g.:
+[tests/ps_schedstatistics](tests/ps_schedstatistics/main.c)). For these cases
+you can disable `test_utils_interactive_sync_shell` module in the application
+`Makefile`: `DISABLE_MODULE += test_utils_interactive_sync_shell`.
+
 
 Running automated tests
 -----------------------
diff --git a/tests/periph_gpio/tests/02-bench.py b/tests/periph_gpio/tests/02-bench.py
index ea2d00371a..1932e41021 100755
--- a/tests/periph_gpio/tests/02-bench.py
+++ b/tests/periph_gpio/tests/02-bench.py
@@ -15,9 +15,6 @@ TIMEOUT = 30
 
 
 def testfunc(child):
-    child.expect_exact("GPIO peripheral driver test")
-    child.expect_exact(">")
-
     for pin in range(0, 8):
         child.sendline("bench 0 {}".format(pin))
         child.expect(r" *nop loop: +(\d+)us  --- +(\d+\.\d+)us per call  --- +(\d+) calls per sec")
diff --git a/tests/periph_wdt/Makefile b/tests/periph_wdt/Makefile
index 6471052756..a18b03d01e 100644
--- a/tests/periph_wdt/Makefile
+++ b/tests/periph_wdt/Makefile
@@ -5,6 +5,5 @@ FEATURES_REQUIRED += periph_wdt
 
 USEMODULE += xtimer
 USEMODULE += shell
-USEMODULE += shell_commands
 
 include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.include
diff --git a/tests/ps_schedstatistics/Makefile b/tests/ps_schedstatistics/Makefile
index ecf853a64a..071a344950 100644
--- a/tests/ps_schedstatistics/Makefile
+++ b/tests/ps_schedstatistics/Makefile
@@ -6,4 +6,9 @@ USEMODULE += ps
 USEMODULE += schedstatistics
 USEMODULE += printf_float
 
+# For this test we don't want to use the shell version of
+# test_utils_interactive_sync, since we want to synchronize before
+# the start of the shell
+DISABLE_MODULE += test_utils_interactive_sync_shell
+
 include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.include
diff --git a/tests/struct_tm_utility/Makefile b/tests/struct_tm_utility/Makefile
index 3a0b8405c2..adaf43d075 100644
--- a/tests/struct_tm_utility/Makefile
+++ b/tests/struct_tm_utility/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 include ../Makefile.tests_common
 
 USEMODULE += shell
-USEMODULE += shell_commands
 USEMODULE += timex
 
 # The MSP-430 toolchain lacks sscanf:
diff --git a/tests/test_tools/Makefile b/tests/test_tools/Makefile
index da17abbb2d..b3fece6382 100644
--- a/tests/test_tools/Makefile
+++ b/tests/test_tools/Makefile
@@ -6,4 +6,8 @@ USEMODULE += shell
 # Disable shell echo and prompt to not have them in the way for testing
 CFLAGS += -DSHELL_NO_ECHO=1 -DSHELL_NO_PROMPT=1
 
+# No need for test_utils_interactive_sync in this test since the test
+# synchronizes by itself through `shellping` command.
+DISABLE_MODULE += test_utils_interactive_sync
+
 include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.include
diff --git a/tests/test_tools/tests/01-run.py b/tests/test_tools/tests/01-run.py
index ca278074a8..94d057e874 100755
--- a/tests/test_tools/tests/01-run.py
+++ b/tests/test_tools/tests/01-run.py
@@ -64,8 +64,6 @@ def testfunc(child):
     * getting some test output without other messages
     * sending empty lines
     """
-    child.expect_exact("Running 'tests_tools' application")
-
     _wait_shell_ready(child)
 
     # Verify there is no local and remote echo as it is disabled