Key Takeaways
- Turning old phones into a NAS is a fun project to learn about devices.
- MiXplorer on Android offers versatile server options for NAS-like setup.
- Creating a NAS with an iPhone is possible but difficult due to iOS security restrictions.
If you're like me, you may have a few old phones lying around. While you can sell your old phone or trade it in, you could also take on a project to learn more about how your phone's operating system works by turning it into a retro game emulator, a webcam, or even a network attached storage (NAS) device. I decided to see if I could turn both an old iPhone and an old Android phone I had lying around into a NAS, and while a phone isn't the strongest device to be made into a NAS, it was a fun and occasionally frustrating project that taught me a lot about my old devices.
A quick note, however, on operating system support. This project, while possible with an old iPhone, is extremely difficult due to the closed nature of iOS when compared to the openness of the Android operating system. Depending on how far you want to take this project, if you are using an iPhone, you may need to jailbreak it.
Jailbreaking an iPhone isn't illegal, but it does void Apple's warranty, which shouldn't be too much of an issue if it's an older phone, but it's something you need to know going in.
For the purpose of this project, I wanted to use an old phone to host a media server, which is simple to do on Android and not too difficult with an iPhone, although you will have to jump through a few extra hoops. While it is possible to take this project further by creating a full NAS-like environment with an Android phone, the storage capacity limitations of most phones will make it difficult to host applications and deploy them like you would with a full-size NAS array, which is why I've decided to just start by using an old phone to host a media server.
Related
5 reasons why turning your old phone into a NAS is worth it
Transforming your old phone into a NAS is a fun project to create your own server and learn more about your devices.
3
MiXplorer is the best app that lets you host multiple servers on Android
MiXplorer is developed by developers from our sister site, XDA-Developers
MiXplorer is, in my opinion, the best file server application for Android. It was developed by developers from our sister site, XDA-Developers. With MiXplorer, there's a wide range of servers you can create to run on Android. You can even use MiXplorer to create a Server Message Block (SMB) or a WebDav server, allowing you to host readable and writable code on your Android for your development projects.
Hosting an SMB server from your Android allows you to access it natively from a Windows or Mac computer, making it a convenient backup solution for web development projects. I prefer creating a WebDav server to an SMB server for hosting files, as there's no setup required for creating a WebDav server on MiXplorer. You just press create, select server, and choose WebDav.
MiXplorer
MiXplorer is a file explorer for the Android operating system that allows you to create and host a multitude of servers. You can explore the app for free, but if you want to unlock every feature available in MiXplorer, you'll need to make a one-time payment of $5.
Related
Is your old iPhone taking up space in a drawer? Here's how to give it a new lease on life
If you have an older iPhone laying around after an upgrade, consider delegating it to a secondary role within your tech setup.
I had to troubleshoot creating an SMB server due to the network environment of the Android phone I was testing on, and reading through the XDA forums for MiXplorer and this seems to be a recurrent issue that you'll have to troubleshoot a bit to get right.
Attempting to create a NAS with an iPhone
Nearly impossible due to OS security measures
It's easy to connect to a NAS with an iPhone, but creating a NAS out of an iPhone is a different story. MiXplorer is exclusive to Android due to the security restrictions Apple puts in place with iOS, and while there apps such as WebDav Navigator that allow you to easily connect your iPhone to a SMB or WebDav server, these apps just let you connect to an already-existing WebDav server with your iPhone. You can connect to any web server with an iPhone through the Files app. All you need to do is tap Connect to Server in the Files app and input the address of the server you want to connect to.
I've used the $8 app FileBrowser to attempt to create a NAS-like environment with an iPhone, by allowing me to host files on my iPhone and share them between my Windows PC, iPad, and even the Android NAS I created earlier in the guide. While FileBrowser allows you to create a NAS-like environment, you'll need to connect it to an actual server to run properly, as iOS has security restrictions that don't allow the iPhone to be the primary host.
FileBrowser
For $8, FileBrowser allows me to host files on my iPhone and share them between my Windows PC, iPad, and even my DIY Android NAS.
- Developer
- Stratospherix Ltd
- Subscription cost
- $7.99
If you really wanted to use an iPhone to construct a NAS, you would need an iPhone 10 or earlier. This way, you could jailbreak the iPhone and install a Linux Shell on the jailbroken iPhone in order to create a web hosting server. It will be significantly slower than any option available on Android, but it is technically possible with an iPhone. Overall, while I would like to create a NAS with an iPhone, it's not worth it due to the slowness of the Linux Shell and the difficulty with finding an appropriate jailbreak.
- Phones
- Apple
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