Welcome to FrontierStack Mobile

FrontierStack for iPhone and iPad includes a free local Network Check and Device Discovery tool. Its monitoring, alerting and administration features are a secure companion to FrontierStack on your Mac and require a current desktop licence.

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.

Before pairing, Network Check & Device Discovery can show this device's network path, discover nearby devices advertising standard Bonjour services and test a fixed list of common ports on an address you enter. It does not scan port ranges, log in, upload results or need a desktop licence.

Three deliberately enrolled paths can later work while the licensed Mac app is offline. The phone can make a bounded reachability check against saved server ports, connect directly to enrolled helper agents with observer-only access, and use a phone-specific direct SSH key you explicitly enable for a server. The Mac's keys, passwords and general tool authority are never copied to the phone.

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, phone-originated reachability, service controls, web and database status, temperature, power, reboot, direct SSH and recovery. Smart plugs, managed outlets and UPS devices appear under Power & Recovery.
• Incidents. A triage-ready inbox for alerts, with acknowledgement, snooze, resolution, owner, notes and duplicate coalescing.
• Operations. The Mac's current health, restore-readiness evidence, likely upstream causes, unusual server behaviour, controllable local services and status-only equivalents of desktop monitors.
• AI. A multi-turn conversation with the AI Administrator, showing the tools it runs; read-only unless you switch on "Allow changes".
• More. Checks, queue health, direct remote helpers, power recovery, Shell, scripts, Fleet Run, reviewed offline actions, ZeroTier approvals, Network Check, 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

Every companion feature beyond the local Network Check requires a licensed FrontierStack desktop app. The Mac is required 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 check enrolled helpers directly over LAN or Tailscale, open reachable web UIs, run a bounded phone-to-server reachability check, use an 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 and license FrontierStack on the Mac. Download and run the desktop app, activate a current licence, and turn on its control server so it can accept connections from your devices.
2. Install this app on your iPhone or iPad. Get FrontierStack Mobile from the App Store. You can use the local network tool immediately or continue to pairing.
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 covers the free local network tool, pairing, security and connectivity over Tailscale. Using FrontierStack Mobile walks through Fleet, Incidents, Operations, AI and More, then settings, notification categories and troubleshooting.

1.6Platform requirements

FrontierStack Mobile is a universal app for iPhone and iPad. The local network tool works without pairing or a desktop licence. Initial pairing and every monitoring or administration feature require a Mac running a currently licensed FrontierStack desktop app. 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.