Skip to content

How to SSH into a Raspberry Pi from iPhone or iPad

The Raspberry Pi is a staple of home labs, automation projects, and self-hosted services. WebSSH turns your iPhone or iPad into a capable terminal — so you can check logs, restart services, or run commands on your Pi without needing a laptop nearby.

This guide covers everything from enabling SSH on the Pi to connecting securely from iOS with a private key.

Prerequisites

Enable SSH on Your Raspberry Pi

SSH is disabled by default on recent Raspberry Pi OS images. Enable it before trying to connect.

If you have physical access to the Pi:

  1. Open a terminal on the Pi (or connect a keyboard and monitor)
  2. Run sudo raspi-config
  3. Navigate to Interface Options → SSH → Enable
  4. Reboot: sudo reboot

Headless setup (no monitor needed):

Before first boot, place an empty file named ssh (no extension) in the /boot partition of the SD card. The Pi will enable SSH automatically on first boot.

Find Your Pi's IP Address

From another device on the same network, you can find the Pi's IP with:

ping raspberrypi.local

Or check your router's DHCP table. The Pi's hostname is raspberrypi by default (or whatever you set it to).

Set a static IP

For a device you'll connect to regularly, assign a static IP in your router's DHCP settings or configure a static address on the Pi itself. This way the address never changes.

Add the Connection in WebSSH

  1. Open WebSSH on your iPhone or iPad
  2. Tap + to create a new connection
  3. Fill in the fields:
    • Name: e.g. Pi - Home Lab
    • Host: your Pi's IP address or raspberrypi.local
    • Port: 22 (default)
    • Username: pi (default) or whatever user you created
  4. Choose Password or Private Key for authentication
  5. Tap Save, then tap the connection to connect

Change the default password

The default pi user with password raspberry is well known. If you haven't already, change it with passwd before exposing SSH to any network.

A private key is both more secure and more convenient than a password. Here's how to set it up using WebSSH:

Step 1 — Generate a key in WebSSH:

  1. Go to Settings (gear icon)
  2. Tap SSH Keys → + → Generate
  3. Choose ED25519
  4. Tap the key to copy the public key

Step 2 — Authorize the key on the Pi:

Connect once with a password, then run:

mkdir -p ~/.ssh
echo "PASTE_YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY_HERE" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Step 3 — Update your WebSSH connection:

Edit the connection and switch authentication to your private key. You won't be asked for a password again.

Connecting to Your Pi from Outside Your Home

By default, your Pi is only reachable from your local network. To reach it from anywhere:

Option 1 — Port forwarding (simple, less secure):

Forward port 22 (or a custom port) from your router to the Pi's local IP. Then connect using your public IP or a dynamic DNS hostname.

If you expose SSH to the internet

Use key-based auth only. Disable password authentication in /etc/ssh/sshd_config by setting PasswordAuthentication no.

Option 2 — SSH tunnel through a VPS (more secure):

If you have a cheap VPS or cloud server, you can set up a reverse tunnel so the Pi connects outward to the VPS, and you SSH into the VPS to reach the Pi. This avoids opening any ports on your home router.

Option 3 — Tailscale or WireGuard:

Install a VPN like Tailscale on the Pi and your iPhone. No port forwarding needed; everything is encrypted peer-to-peer.

Multiple Terminals at Once

WebSSH lets you open multiple SSH sessions simultaneously. Useful when you need one terminal for logs and another for commands:

  1. Connect to your Pi
  2. Tap the terminal icon to open another session
  3. See Launching Multiple Terminals for details

Troubleshooting

ssh: connect to host raspberrypi.local port 22: Connection refused

SSH is not enabled. Connect a monitor and keyboard to the Pi, run sudo raspi-config and enable SSH under Interface Options.

raspberrypi.local doesn't resolve

mDNS (Bonjour) may not be working on your network. Use the Pi's IP address directly instead. Find it in your router's DHCP table or run hostname -I on the Pi.

Permission denied (publickey)

The public key isn't correctly installed on the Pi. Check that ~/.ssh/authorized_keys contains your key, and that permissions are 700 for ~/.ssh and 600 for authorized_keys.

Connection drops when I switch apps

This is an iOS background execution limit. On iPad, use Split View or Slide Over to keep WebSSH visible. See tmux to keep your session alive server-side regardless of the iOS connection state.

Last update: March 15, 2026