Get started on iPhone and iPad

Save a server once, then tap it to connect. You need the server’s address and your user name on it. Your server admin or hosting company gives you these.

Add a server

  1. In Servers, tap + (Add Server).
  2. Type the server’s Address, for example web-01.example.com or 192.168.1.20.
  3. Type your User name on the server. AirSCP needs it: an iPhone has no user name of its own to try.
  4. Leave Port empty for 22, the usual port. Name is optional: the list shows it instead of the address.
  5. Under Log in with, choose Password or Key.
    • Password: type it to keep it in the Keychain. Or leave it empty: AirSCP then asks when it connects.
    • Key: choose one of your keys. No keys yet? See Log in with a key.
  6. Behind a bastion? Choose it under Jump host: AirSCP connects through that server first. Save the bastion as a server before.
  7. Tap Save (the check mark). The server shows under Saved.
  8. Tap the server to connect. It moves to Open, and shows Connected with a green dot once it is ready.

Trust a server the first time

The first time you connect to a server, AirSCP shows its key’s fingerprint and asks Trust this server?

  1. At the top you see the way to the server, for example iPhone → bastion → db-01. The one with the key icon is the server that asks.
  2. Compare the fingerprint with the one your server admin gave you. The coloured squares are the same fingerprint as a picture: another key looks different. Copy to Compare copies the text.
  3. Tap Trust if it matches. AirSCP remembers the key and warns you if it ever changes. Cancel doesn’t connect.

If the key of a server you trust changes, AirSCP doesn’t connect. Someone may be listening in, or the server was installed again. Only if you know why it changed: tap Settings (the gear) in Servers, swipe left on the server under Trusted servers, tap Delete, and connect again.

Log in with a password

When the server asks for a password, AirSCP asks you. Type it and tap Connect. Turn on Remember in Keychain (for saved servers) if you don’t want to type it again.

A server that also asks for a code (two-factor) asks for it the same way: type it and tap Continue.

Log in with a key

A key lets you log in without a password. Keys stay on your iPhone or iPad, in the Keychain. When AirSCP logs in with one, Face ID (or Touch ID, or your passcode) unlocks it.

  1. In Servers, tap Settings (the gear).

  2. Under Keys, tap Make a New Key, type a name (or keep the one AirSCP suggests) and tap Make. AirSCP makes an Ed25519 key, the kind most servers take.

    Have a key already? Tap Import from Files and choose the private key file: OpenSSH, PEM or PuTTY (.ppk). Choose the key itself, not its .pub file.

  3. Tap … next to the key, then Copy Public Key. Or tap Share Public Key to send it, for example to your server admin.
  4. Put the public key on the server, as a line of ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. Can you log in with a password? Then AirSCP’s terminal can do it: type echo ', paste the key, type ' >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys and run it.
  5. In Servers, swipe left on the server (disconnect it first if it is open), tap Edit, choose Key under Log in with, choose your key and tap Save.
  • A key with a passphrase: AirSCP asks for it when it logs in. A PuTTY key’s passphrase is asked when you import it.
  • Keys don’t go to another iPhone or iPad, not even with a backup. Keep a copy of the keys you import.
  • If you turn off the device’s passcode, iOS deletes the keys.

About, at the bottom of Settings, shows AirSCP’s version and opens its source code, this guide, a problem report, an email to the developer, its App Store page and the licences of what it is built with.

Add S3 storage

  1. In Servers, tap +, then choose S3 storage at the top.
  2. Leave Endpoint empty for Amazon S3. For other storage, type the address your provider gives, for example https://<account>.r2.cloudflarestorage.com.
  3. Region is optional for Amazon S3. Other storage names its own (Cloudflare R2: auto).
  4. Bucket is optional. Type it when your key may not list the buckets.
  5. Type the Access key ID and the Secret key. The secret goes to the Keychain.
  6. Tap Save. Then tap the storage under Saved to open it. Its buckets show in Files, with orange folders.

S3 storage keeps files only: it has no terminal and no monitor, and Zip doesn’t work there.

Connect without saving

Type user@host (or user@host:port) in the field at the top of Servers and tap Go. AirSCP connects without saving the server. To keep it, swipe left on it under Open and tap Save.

Find servers on your network

  1. In Servers, tap Nearby (the radio waves).
  2. Macs with Remote Login and many NAS boxes show under On this network. Tap one: a new server opens with its address filled in. Type your user name and tap Save.
  3. Not there? Tap Scan This Network. AirSCP tries each address of your Wi-Fi or wired network (254 at most) and lists those that answer on port 22 (SSH). Tap one to add it.

The first time, iOS asks whether AirSCP may find devices on your local network. Tap Allow.

Change, disconnect or delete a server

  • Swipe left on a saved server, or touch and hold it: Edit or Delete. Delete forgets the server and its saved password at once.
  • Swipe left on an open server: Disconnect. To change an open server, disconnect it first.
  • A server’s state shows under its name: Connecting…, Connected (green), Reconnecting… (orange) or Disconnected (red, with the reason). Tap a disconnected server to connect again.
  • When you come back to AirSCP, it checks each open connection. A lost one connects again by itself, or says why it can’t.

If something goes wrong

  • “Can’t connect”: the message says why. Check the address, the port and the user name.
  • A server on your network doesn’t answer: in iOS’s Settings app, turn on Privacy & Security ▸ Local Network ▸ AirSCP.
  • Nearby finds nothing: many servers don’t announce themselves. Tap Scan This Network, or add the server by its address.