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SSH to Synology NAS from iPhone or iPad

Managing a Synology NAS remotely used to mean sitting at a desktop. With WebSSH on iOS and iPadOS, you can open a full SSH terminal to your NAS from anywhere — your iPhone on the couch, your iPad at a coffee shop, your phone on call when something breaks at 2 AM.

This guide walks you through everything: enabling SSH on your Synology, adding the connection in WebSSH, and connecting securely with a private key.

Prerequisites

Enable SSH on your Synology NAS

  1. Open DSM (DiskStation Manager) in a browser
  2. Go to Control Panel → Terminal & SNMP
  3. Check Enable SSH service
  4. Set a port (default is 22; using a non-standard port like 2222 reduces automated brute-force attempts)
  5. Click Apply

Use a non-standard SSH port

Changing the port from 22 to something like 2222 or 22022 significantly reduces noise from automated bots. WebSSH lets you set any port per connection.

Know your NAS address

  • On your local network: find the NAS IP in Control Panel → Network → Network Interface (e.g. 192.168.1.100)
  • From outside your home: you need either a static public IP, a DDNS hostname (Synology provides one free at yourname.synology.me), or a VPN-Over-SSH setup

Add the Connection in WebSSH

  1. Open WebSSH on your iPhone or iPad
  2. Tap the + button to create a new connection
  3. Fill in the fields:
    • Name: anything recognizable, e.g. NAS - Home
    • Host: your NAS IP or DDNS hostname
    • Port: the SSH port you configured in DSM
    • Username: your DSM admin account (or a dedicated user — see tip below)
  4. Choose your authentication method:
    • Password: simplest to start with
    • Private Key: recommended for regular use (see below)
  5. Tap Save
  6. Tap the connection to connect

Use a dedicated user, not admin

For day-to-day SSH access, create a dedicated DSM user with limited permissions. Only use the admin account when you actually need it.

Password authentication works, but a key pair is more secure and more convenient — no password to type each time.

Generate the key pair in WebSSH:

  1. Go to WebSSH Settings (gear icon)
  2. Tap SSH Keys → +
  3. Tap Generate, choose ED25519 (fastest and most secure)
  4. Save the key, then tap it to copy the public key

Authorize the key on your Synology:

  1. SSH in once with your password
  2. Run: 
    mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh
echo "PASTE_YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY_HERE" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
  3. Edit your connection in WebSSH and switch the authentication to Private Key

From now on, WebSSH connects without prompting for a password.

Want a more visual way to copy the key?

See Create or Import a Public/Private Key Pair for the full walkthrough.

Connecting from Outside Your Home Network

If you want to reach your NAS when you're not on your home Wi-Fi:

  • Synology DDNS: enable it in Control Panel → External Access → DDNS — you'll get a free yourname.synology.me hostname
  • Port forwarding: on your router, forward the SSH port to your NAS local IP
  • SSH Tunnel: if you don't want to expose SSH directly to the internet, set up a jump host and use Local Port Forwarding in WebSSH

Exposing SSH to the internet

If you open an SSH port to the internet, use key-based authentication and disable password login in DSM. Check Control Panel → Terminal & SNMP and ensure only key auth is accepted.

Troubleshooting

Connection refused or timeout
  • Confirm SSH is enabled in DSM
  • Check the port number matches what you configured
  • If connecting from outside, verify your router's port forwarding rules
  • Try pinging the NAS first using WebSSH's built-in Ping tool
Authentication failed
  • Double-check your DSM username (it's case-sensitive)
  • If using a private key, make sure the public key was correctly appended to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the NAS
  • Use Verbose Logging in WebSSH to see the exact error
Disconnects after a short time

iOS suspends background apps aggressively. On iPad, use Split View to keep WebSSH in the foreground. See the FAQ entry on preventing disconnections for more options.

Last update: March 15, 2026