How it works
Tailscale links your devices into one private network, wherever each of them is. Your server at home, your phone on mobile data and your laptop in a café can all reach each other as if they were on the same Wi-Fi. The connections are encrypted and go directly between your devices. Nothing is opened on your router, so strangers on the internet can’t see your server at all.
You sign in to the same account on every device, and that account is what ties them together.
1. Put Tailscale on the server
ZimaOS home server, No terminal
- Open your ZimaOS dashboard, go to the App Store, search for Tailscale and install it.
- Open it from the dashboard. It opens Tailscale’s own settings page for the server, at port 5252, for example
http://192.168.1.50:5252. - Choose to log in, and sign in with the account you’ll use on all your devices. Approve the server when Tailscale asks.
Windows or Mac, No terminal
If the apps you want to reach run on your Windows PC or Mac:
- Download Tailscale from tailscale.com/download and install it like any other app. On a Mac it’s also in the Mac App Store.
- Open it and choose Log in. Sign in with the account you’ll use on all your devices.
- Tailscale’s icon appears near the clock (Windows) or in the menu bar (Mac). Leave it running.
Linux, Uses the terminal
Run Tailscale’s install script, which adds the right package for your system, then bring it up:
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up
It prints a web address. Open it on any computer and sign in.
2. Put Tailscale on your phone
Install Tailscale from the App Store or Google Play, open it, and sign in with the same account. Allow it to add a VPN configuration when it asks. That’s how it carries traffic, and it only carries traffic meant for your own devices.
3. Find your server’s Tailscale address
Open the Tailscale app on your phone. It lists your devices, and your server is there with an address beginning with 100., and a name. That address belongs to your server on your private network and works from anywhere your phone has internet.
If MagicDNS is on, which it is for new accounts, you can use the name instead of the number, such as http://homeserver:8096.
4. Use it
Anywhere you’d type the server’s home address, like 192.168.1.50, use the 100. address instead. For example, in the Jellyfin app the server becomes http://100.101.102.103:8096. Leave Tailscale switched on in the phone app and it reconnects by itself.
Check it worked
Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone so it’s using mobile data, then open one of your apps using the 100. address. If it loads, you’re reaching home through Tailscale.
If it breaks
The address won’t load. Open the Tailscale app on the phone and check it says it’s connected, and that the server is listed as online.
The server has disappeared from the list after a few months. Devices sign out after a while unless you turn off key expiry. On Tailscale’s website, open the admin console, open the server’s menu and choose Disable key expiry.
You want every device at home, not only the server. That’s called a subnet router. The official page linked beside this guide sets it up.