FrontierStack for iPhone and iPad is a companion to the FrontierStack server-administration app that runs on your Mac. It is not a separate product you set up from scratch, and it does not run servers itself. It is a small, secure remote control for the Mac app — so the servers, agents and devices you manage from your desk are with you wherever you happen to be.

This short book is the manual for the mobile app only. The full desktop reference — everything the Mac app does, from the web stack to the AI Administrator — lives in the FrontierStack Manual. Here we cover just what you need to pair a phone or tablet, keep it safe, and use it day to day.

1.1What this app is

Think of the Mac app as the brain and this app as a trusted hand. The Mac is where FrontierStack watches health, runs the AI Administrator and holds shared credentials. Most live monitoring and control travels through that Mac over a signed, encrypted connection.

Two deliberately enrolled paths can work without it. The phone can make a bounded reachability check against saved server ports, and you can separately enable a phone-specific direct SSH key for a server. The Mac's keys, passwords and general tool authority are never copied to the phone. The phone keeps its pairing identity and, only when you enable direct SSH, a separate Keychain-backed SSH key that you can revoke.

1.2What you can do from your phone

The mobile app is a secure incident companion and remote for the desktop — the things you reach for when you are away from your desk, organised into five tabs:

• Fleet. Every pinned server, the local Mac included, each with a status dot. Open one for full status, performance history, a bounded check made directly from the phone, approved service controls, reboot, diagnostics, logs, Remote Tools, direct SSH and database emergency preparation. Your pinned LAN devices sit below in collapsible sections.
• Operations. The Mac's current health, restore-readiness evidence, likely upstream causes, unusual server behaviour and controllable local services. This operational view is independent of what is hidden in the Mac sidebar.
• Shell. A real command-line on the Mac or any server, logging in automatically with the Mac's stored credentials (never sent to the phone). Plus your saved and ready-made scripts.
• AI. A multi-turn conversation with the AI Administrator, showing the tools it runs; read-only unless you switch on "Allow changes".
• More. Push alerts, checks, queue health, Phone & Fleet Sites, scripts, Fleet Run, reviewed offline actions, ZeroTier approvals, temporary Shares, device web UIs, Settings, Help and the offline manual.

Some of these work from anywhere; others depend on your phone being able to reach the right network. We explain exactly which is which in Staying Connected.

1.3Why it needs the Mac

The companion still needs a Mac for enrolment, fresh fleet state, live controls, alerts, scripts, Remote Tools and the AI Administrator. When the Mac is unavailable, the phone clearly labels its last signed inventory as cached. You can still open reachable web UIs, run a bounded phone-to-server reachability check, use an already enrolled direct SSH session, and prepare named service actions for later review and delivery.

Because the Mac does most of the work, three things follow. It must be reachable for fresh Mac observations and Mac-routed commands. Push alerts need the Mac or its push relay online to send them. And the permissions that govern what your phone may do are set on the Mac, not the phone — you stay in control from one place.

1.4Install order

Getting set up takes three steps, in this order:

1. Install FrontierStack on the Mac. Download and run the desktop app, and turn on its control server so it can accept connections from your devices. The Mac is required for initial enrolment and remains the source of central health and control.
2. Install this app on your iPhone or iPad. Get FrontierStack Mobile from the App Store. On first launch it simply waits to be paired.
3. Pair the two. On the Mac, generate a pairing QR code under the Paired Devices pane. In this app, scan it. From then on the two are linked, and your phone is enrolled with its own key.

The next chapter, Pairing Your Device, walks through that pairing in full.

1.5How this manual is organised

This little book has two parts. Getting Connected — the part you are reading — covers this welcome, then pairing your device, the security model that keeps the link safe, and staying connected from home, over Tailscale, and away. Using FrontierStack Mobile then walks through the app itself: the tabs — Fleet, Operations, Shell, AI and More — and finally settings and troubleshooting, including app lock and what to check when something will not connect.

1.6Platform requirements

FrontierStack Mobile is a universal app that runs on both iPhone and iPad, adapting its layout to each. It needs a reasonably current version of iOS or iPadOS; install it from the App Store, which will tell you if your device is supported. Initial pairing needs a Mac running FrontierStack. After enrolment, live Mac-backed features need that Mac reachable over your network, Tailscale, or an explicitly enabled Cloudflare tunnel; the bounded offline features described above do not.

That is the whole picture: a Mac doing the work, a phone or tablet as your secure remote, and a signed link between them. When you are ready, turn to Pairing Your Device to begin.