Hey y’all, I was reading this self hosting user survey at selfh.st and noticed that some people said they self-host on a mobile phone.

I have an Android phone here I could use and I can picture setting up the phone and then just leaving it plugged in, in a corner somewhere. That seems like a good use for all that computing power but I’m not sure how to get started.

I found this article showing how we can use a phone for a web server:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/host-a-web-server-on-android

But is there any way to host other apps / services on a phone? Does it have to be rooted first?

Any pitfalls or other tips you can share when to doing this?

Thanks!

  • Showroom7561English
    4·
    1 year ago

    I’ve always been hesitant to host any services on a device with a non-removable battery. Having a battery constantly charging and discharging isn’t great for it and could potentially be a fire hazard.

    I once had a phone that was being used as an NVR, and for a while it worked like a charm.

    Except for the fact that since it was being run unattended, I hadn’t noticed the swelling battery pack. I only noticed it when i realized that my glass screen protector had popped off due to the bending of the phone… I did replace the battery, and the phone still works to this day, but I’ll never use a phone as a server/NAS every again.