Key Takeaways
- Turning an old phone into a NAS is a fun project to learn about the device.
- MiXplorer on Android offers versatile server options for a NAS-like setup.
- It is possible to create a NAS on an iPhone, but it is difficult due to iOS security restrictions.
If you’re like me, you might have a few spare old cell phones. You could sell or trade in your old phones, but you could also work on projects like turning your phone into a retro game emulator, a webcam, or a network-attached storage (NAS) device to learn how your phone’s operating system works. I decided to try and see if I could mod both my old and used cell phones. iPhone And old Android smartphone I used it to convert it into a NAS, and while a phone isn’t the most powerful device to convert into a NAS, it was a fun, and sometimes frustrating, project and I learned a lot about the old device.
Operating system support is a bit tricky, though. This project can be run on older iPhones, but is much more difficult due to the closed nature of iOS compared to the openness of the Android operating system. Depending on how far you want to go with this project, if you’re using an iPhone you may need to jailbreak.
Jailbreaking an iPhone isn’t illegal, but it will void your warranty with Apple. This isn’t as much of an issue with older phones, but it’s something to be aware of.
For the purposes of this project, I wanted to use an old phone to host a media server. This is easy to do on Android, and not too difficult on an iPhone, but it does require a few extra steps. It is possible to go further with this project by creating a full NAS-like environment on an Android phone, but the storage capacity limitations of most phones make it difficult to host and deploy applications as you would on a full-sized NAS array. Therefore, I decided to start by using an old phone to host a media server.
MiXplorer is the best app to host multiple servers on Android
MiXplorer was 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 are various servers you can create to run on Android. You can also use MiXplorer to create a Server Message Block (SMB) or WebDav server to host readable and writable code on Android for your development projects.
Hosting an SMB server from Android allows you to access it natively from your Windows or Mac computer, making it a convenient backup solution for your web development projects. I prefer creating a WebDav server over an SMB server for hosting files, as creating a WebDav server in MiXplorer requires no setup. Just hit Create, select your server, and choose WebDav.
Mixed Prawler
MiXplorer is a file explorer for the Android operating system that allows you to create and host numerous servers. The app is free to use, but to unlock all the features available in MiXplorer, a one-time payment of $5 is required.
I had to troubleshoot the creation of the SMB server due to the network environment of the Android phone I was testing on, and from reading through the XDA forums for MiXplorer, it seems like this is a recurring issue that requires a bit of troubleshooting to get it right.
Creating a NAS with an iPhone
Almost impossible due to OS security measures
Connecting to a NAS with your iPhone is easy, but creating a NAS from your iPhone is a different story. MiXplorer is only for Android due to the security restrictions Apple places on iOS. There are apps like WebDav Navigator that make it easy to connect your iPhone to an SMB or WebDav server, but these apps only let you connect to an existing WebDav server from your iPhone. On your iPhone, you can connect to any web server through the Files app. In the Files app[サーバーに接続]Just tap and enter the address of the server you want to connect to.
I used the $8 app FileBrowser to create a NAS-like environment on my iPhone, hosting files on my iPhone and allowing me to share files 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 need to be connected to an actual server to run it properly, as iOS has security restrictions that don’t allow the iPhone to be the primary host.
File Browser
For $8, FileBrowser lets you host files on your iPhone and share them between your Windows PC, iPad, and even a DIY Android NAS.
- Developer
- Stratos Felix Inc.
- Subscription Fee
- $7.99
If you really want to create a NAS with your iPhone, you’ll need an iPhone 10 or earlier. This method involves jailbreaking your iPhone and installing Linux Shell on the jailbroken iPhone to create a web hosting server. It’s significantly slower than the options available for Android, but it’s technically possible with an iPhone. Overall, while I’d love to create a NAS with my iPhone, the slowness of Linux Shell and the difficulty of finding a suitable jailbreak make it just not worth it.
