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Getting started

From the App Store to your first connection in a few minutes. There's no account to make.

For Conn 1.2.1 on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Updated 25 October 2026.

Install Conn

Get Conn from the App Store. One purchase covers iPhone, iPad and Mac with the same Apple Account, so install it on each device you want; there's nothing to unlock.

Conn connects straight to your own machines. Before your first connection, make sure the machine has SSH on (for Terminal and Files) or screen sharing on (for Screen). Prepare your machines shows how on a Mac, a Raspberry Pi and Linux.

The welcome

The first time Conn opens, a short welcome sets three things up. Skip ends it at any step before the last. Its iCloud and terminal answers can be changed later in Settings.

  1. Welcome to Conn. What Conn is.
  2. Sync hosts with iCloud? Turn On syncs your hosts, groups and snippets through your own iCloud; passwords and keys never sync. Not Now keeps everything on this device. If you've used Conn on another device, it says so. See iCloud sync.
  3. How should new terminals run? tmux, Single session or Ask. With Ask, the first terminal on each host asks. See tmux or a single session.
  4. Find machines on this network. Continue starts looking, and your device asks whether Conn may use the local network. Machines it finds appear with Add.
  5. Conn is ready. Press Done.

Skipping before the iCloud question counts as Not Now. To see the welcome again, choose Show Welcome in Settings, About.

Why Conn asks about the local network. It looks for machines that announce SSH or screen sharing, so you don't have to type addresses. Machines you reach over a VPN, Tailscale or a public address work without it. Change it later in your device's Privacy settings, under Local Network.

Add your first machine

On the Hosts screen, press + (Add Host). It has three tabs:

  • Discover lists machines on your network that offer SSH or screen sharing. Press Add on one.
  • Manual: type a Name (anything you like) and its Address (an IP address or a name such as mini.local). Turn off any of Screen, Terminal and Files the machine doesn't offer, change the ports if they aren't 22 and 5900, and press Add.
  • Import reads a .conn file, or hosts from a ~/.ssh/config you paste in.

You can add a sign in now, or leave it and Conn asks when you connect. Every field is explained in Hosts.

Connect

  1. Tap the machine's tile to open its page. Its status shows whether it answers, and how (for example Answered in 12 ms via LAN, or over Tailscale).
  2. Press Terminal, Screen or Files.
  3. If there's no saved sign in, Conn asks for the user name and a password or key. Use and Save keeps it on this device, protected by Face ID or Touch ID; Use Once keeps nothing.
  4. The first time, Conn remembers the machine's SSH key, so it can warn you if it ever changes.
  5. For a terminal, if New Terminals is Ask (the default), Conn asks whether it should run in tmux, which keeps it running when the link drops, or as a Single session.

That's it. To sign in with a key instead of a password, see Keys and sign in.

Finding your way around

PlaceWhat's there
HostsYour machines, in groups, with whether each one answers.
SessionsTerminals and screens that are open, and tmux sessions running on your machines.
KeysYour SSH keys.
SettingsSync, terminal and screen settings, app lock, and more.

On iPhone these are the tabs along the bottom; on iPad they're along the top. On a Mac, Hosts, Sessions and Keys are in the sidebar (⌘1, ⌘2, ⌘3), and Settings is its own window (⌘,).

Every terminal, screen and Files view has Help at the end of its ⋯ menu (on a Mac, Conn Help in the Help menu), which explains what's on screen. Each also shows a short tour the first time you use it; Show the Tour at the end of Help brings it back. Many settings have an i button beside them that explains what they do.

Next steps

Something missing, wrong or unclear? Tell us and we'll fix it.