SSHelper
SSHelper works just fine with a normal, unrooted Android device — i.e. your device. It also offers special features on rooted devices.
SSHelper works as an application and as a service. As a service it runs in the background, providing secure communications protocols without requiring user attention.
SSHelper supports interactive Secure Shell (hereafter SSH) sessions and various kinds of transfers including scp, sftp, and rsync, on all common platforms:
On Windows, SSHelper works with WinSCP, PuTTY and similar programs.
On Linux, apart from normal SSH shell session activities, SSHelper can be used directly with file browsers for seamless filesystem browsing and transfers by specifying the "sftp:" protocol.
On the Mac, SSHelper works with Cyberduck and similar programs.
SSHelper versions >= 7.8 accepts any network type that Android recognizes -
- it's no longer limited to wireless networks.
SSHelper announces itself on your network by way of Zeroconf/Bonjour, an efficient way to configure a local network.
SSHelper includes a log monitor Web server showing an activity log on local network browsers.
SSHelper also includes a clipboard Web server that permits read/write access to the Android clipboard from local network browsers.
SSHelper is free, open-source and there are no ads. It's licensed under the GPL and the source is freely available.
The SSHelper Home Page is located at http://arachnoid.com/android/SSHelper -
- visit for more information and configuration tips.
Category : Productivity
Reviews (27)
amazing app, thank you for making it. it no longer works on my pixel 2. it says the server is running but I can no longer connect to it. I'm guessing it has to do with my Android version. that's really unfortunate as this was an incredible way to sync my phone to my backup server. thank you for making it.
This is the definitive ssh server app. It sets up a usable home directory on the server, complete with keys. And it comes with the rsync executable which is what I really needed to sync my music collection to my phone. Writing to an external SD card is problematic on android, not the fault of this app, but the author provides comprehensive documentation on how to work around these constraints. This app brings my android phone a huge step forward toward looking like just another linux server to deal with, ie, I can use the same tools now to manage all my machines instead of having specialized ways to deal with the phone. If this were a paid app, I would happily pay for it.
1) Clipboard works but why does it always say "ClipboardServer: restarting server at 8081" every time I switch to the SSHelper window? 2) The server dies frequently even though I disabled battery optimization for this app. 3) Persistent notification in Notification Panel sometimes disappears for no reason. 4) A small widget to toggle server (on/off) would be awesome.
I have just installed this on Android 10 and it is currently my favorite utility. I just finished setting it up to allow me to use my macOS desktop and ChronoSync to do WiFi-based SFTP backups of my Camera images and videos. This was almost trivial to setup, although I do have to manually launch SSHelper before the sync job runs. Paul was very responsive to my question about using the product but, more importantly, he has produced a very solid product here I highly recommend SSHelper
Thanks so much foro this app! It solved my problem trying to connect my Android to my Linux computer. All apps for doing so have a lot of limitations. Just with your app and Filezilla on the computer side everything in the phone appears as a local filesystem. I only miss the possibility of changing to another IP address when the phone has more than one. For example when using network like ZeroTier, you get an additional IP address that would be very useful if SSHHelper could use for the server.
This SSH server app is simply The Best of them. Period. End-of-Story. (I seldom rate anything 5 stars, BTW.) I've been using this for years, on all of my devices, and have not found anything better that isn't full of ads or makes you pay for Dropbear (which is open source) with window dressing. The only feature that I wish it had was a start/stop widget. But, that's not enough to ding my rating.
The folder /sdcard is the internal storage. Where is the actual external storage? So much I agree with the statement in your FAQ there are are other apps that are able to access all files . Please think about adding this feature. I really like the UI and usability!
The is a very useful app, although a bit visually spare. I use it on my Samsung with Android 11, and can write to the SDCard, by creating an appropriate symbolic link. If you create a suitable user account on the phone inside the app, and copy in your id_rsa.pub, naming it .ssh/authorized_keys, you can use RSA authentication with linux, and even run rsync to copy only the differences in a large file tree. My linux machine is a bit behind the times, running Ubuntu 18.04, but I suspect it would work with any version of linux. It's also great to have a command line on your phone, makes it seem like an itty bitty unix machine. I just love command lines!
Never connected. It would not pass the authentication stage when trying to connect with my Ubuntu computer. Tried changing the password, clearing all and reinstall etc. The faqs say nothing about basic issues and assume it always works. Tons of technical info but nothing if it fails from the start.
What can I say? mtp is buggy (and slow) as it possibly could and whilst looking for something faster and more reliable someone recommended SSHelper. I can only say: rightfully so! Works like a charm, file transfers work "fast-ish" and configuration is not that hard. I would gladly pay for this!
Fantastic tool! I've had problems with Syncthing and even KDEConnect, but so far sshelper + rsync does everything I need it to do. One thing I found is that on Linux Mint 18.1 at least I had to add the -zz option to my rsync command to successfully copy files from my laptop. With that option everything works well. I also turned off Battery Optimization for SSHelper on the phone which allows rsync to happen while the phone display is off. I don't know yet how that will affect battery life.
good, it is able to set up a server so i can transfer files remotely with rsync. however after syncing my DCIM folder i noticeđ that only files <1GB have been copied. this is very bad because user might think all is backed up and delete the original. even in the built-in terminal the files are missing in the directory listing. what's going on? please help!
Alas, as mentioned in its documentation it ate up the battery fast, and even warmed up the phone. Yes, disabling 8080, and 8081 helped a little. I never did actually try starting the server.
Love it. On my Galaxy S4 running Android 5.0. One issue that I didn't have with SSHDroid that I have here is if I have the server running, and then press the Home button, the server quits when the lock timer goes off, or I manually force a lock. If I the server is running in the foreground and I force a lock, all is well. This is annoying because I would like to have the server running all the time, so I can access the S4 from my Ubuntu machine without having to restart the server. Maybe I am just doing something wrong. But I still love it!
Working great! btw I use input command it can work when the app is in foreground only, it can control music player just fine, but I really wish it can tap on other app when it not in foreground, so may be next version?
It appeared it destroyed files in the DCIM/Camera directory. I gave it write permission and then tried to transfer some picture. Initially they looked normal size, but on transfer attempt they became zero size ! So now all files in DCIM/Camera became zero size thus are unuseable and most likely lost forever.
A simple SSH server that supports all major SSH features, including a shell, SFTP, and public key authentication. There's not much more that you would need or want and this does exactly what it says, and works well.
Is there a way to connect to my desktop (macos) or a Linux server using my android? It seems to allow only the Mac or Linux server to initiate connection. This app is very well made, great functionality and ease of use. I want to give more stars if it can initiate connection.
I just recently started using this application and I am very happy with its progress. I was able to set up a SSH connection with my Android TV from my laptop with no difficulty. Thank you
Great app. Version 12.8 works on my Android 7.1.2 device. With version 12.7 and 12.8, sshd fails because of link errors on my Android 5.1, 5.1.1 and 6.0 devices. Fortunately, the author now provides older versions on his website. Version 12.5 (125.apk) works on all my devices.
This app is the only ssh server app I have found that actually works properly. Rsync'ing music to my phone worked a treat. As a bonus, its fast. Highly recommended.
After updating to the new version for Android 9, the app crashes on launch. Force stopped, cleared cache, cleared storage, same problem.
Installed on my Pixel XL to work around bugs transferring files over USB and it's working as it should. I'm very happy with it. I can even ssh to my phone and using that connection I can scp files back to my laptop (Ubuntu) taking advantage of filename auto-completion and command line editing in the ssh shell on my phone. To make the connection back to my laptop work I had to add the .ssh/id_rsa.pub from my phone to the .ssh/authorized_keys file on my laptop. I did that using scp from my laptop.
A great tool that is configured on install, works instantly. Has many config options with super easy UI. Great App!
Cannot connect at all. It keeps on saying invalid reply no matter what I type (2222, 8080, 8081, with or without password) even when I removed the password it keeps on saying invalid reply.
The best option for synchronization via rsync on Android. rsync and ssh is up to date so transfers are secure. Ssh works without interruptions, even when device is locked.
I use SSHelper primarily to transfer files to and from my unrooted phones over SFTP and SSHFS, both of which work smoothly. Most phones mount the internal storage on /storage/emulated/0, which isn't traversable on unrooted devices but fortunately still accessible. The app itself is very easy to set up. Everything you can configure is in the Configuration tab. However, the terminal tab is useless. The soft keyboard will close after pressing a single character for some reason.