Connect to your first host on your phone

In this tutorial you install Sternway on an Android phone, save one of your servers as a host, log in to it and run a command with the key row above the keyboard. You do not need a Sternway account; everything stays on the phone.

What you need

• An Android phone or tablet with Android 7.0 or later.
• A server you can log in to with SSH, its address, and your user name and password on it. (Keys work too; this tutorial uses a password to keep the first run short.)
• The phone must be able to reach the server: on the same Wi-Fi, or over the internet or a VPN.

There is no iPhone app to download: the iOS app has not been built yet.

1. Install the app

1. On the phone, open sternway.dev/download and download the Android file. Most phones from the last several years want Sternway-<version>-android-arm64-v8a.apk. Older 32-bit phones need -armeabi-v7a.apk, Chromebooks and x86 emulators -x86_64.apk; -universal.apk works on all of them and is about twice the size.
2. Open the downloaded file. Android asks whether the app you opened it from (your browser or Files) may install unknown apps: allow it, then choose Install.
3. Open Sternway.

It opens on the Hosts tab, which says No hosts yet. The five tabs along the bottom are Hosts, Sessions, SFTP, Keychain and Settings.

2. Save the server as a host

1. Tap New host. The editor walks you through four short steps; each field has an ⓘ you can tap for what it does.
2. Where is the host? Type a Label (a name for your list, such as web-01), the server’s Address (web.example.com or 192.168.1.20), and change the SSH port only if the server does not use 22. Tap Next.
3. How do you log in? Under Credentials, leave Set directly chosen and type your Username and Password on the server. Tap Next.
4. Organise it and Advanced are optional: tap Next through both.
5. Check the summary and tap Save.

The host appears as a card on the Hosts tab.

3. Log in to the host

1. Tap the card. Sternway connects.
2. The first time, it shows New host key with the server’s key fingerprint. Compare it with the server’s own if you can, then tap Trust & Continue. From now on Sternway warns you, instead of connecting, if the server presents another key.

The terminal opens with your shell on the server. Tap the terminal if the keyboard is not up. Above the keyboard is a row of terminal keys: Esc, Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Tab, the arrows, Backspace and Enter, and more if you scroll the row sideways.

4. Use the key row

1. Type top and tap Enter. The process list starts updating.
2. Tap Ctrl in the key row, then the letter c on the keyboard. Ctrl applies to the next key you press, so this sends Ctrl+C and top stops.
3. Touch the space key in the key row and drag sideways: the cursor moves along the command line, which is easier than tapping at a character.
4. Type exit and tap Enter to end the session.

The Sessions tab lists open sessions, so you can switch between several hosts.

What you did

You installed Sternway on the phone, saved a host, accepted its host key and used the terminal’s key row. The host and its password are stored encrypted on the phone and nowhere else.

Next

• A phone drops connections when it sleeps or changes network. Keep sessions alive on the phone shows how Sternway reconnects, and how tmux keeps your work running on the server.
• Turn on encrypted sync to get the hosts you saved on your computer onto the phone.
• Use SSH keys instead of passwords.