NAS Reborn
The Server Is Yours
A spare iPhone or iPad becomes a network drive for your home. It shows up in the macOS Finder, the iOS Files app and Windows Explorer, and it takes Time Machine backups, with the accounts living on the device itself. When you opt in, it also serves a real-HTTPS website and an S3 API to the wider internet. It uses little power, your computers talk straight to the device, and you buy it once.
How it works
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Dig out the drawer device
Install NAS Reborn on a spare iPhone or iPad, plug it in and tap Start. It runs on iPhone 6s and iPad Air 2 and later, which is everything from around 2014 on. An iPhone serving your files draws a few watts. On a Mac from 2015 on it serves from the menu bar while the Mac does whatever else you use it for.
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It shows up as a drive
On the same network the device appears in the macOS Finder, the Files app on iPhone and iPad, and Windows Explorer over SMB, with no client software to install. Drag files on and off, and point Time Machine at it to back up your Mac.
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Also on the web
Opt in and the device also serves a website and an S3-compatible API, with a Let's Encrypt certificate that renews itself. Drop a Jekyll-style folder in and it renders live, with no build step.
What it serves
A camera and a dashboard
Point the device's camera at the front door and watch live in a browser, or let it watch for movement and notify you with a clip, with Pro. Read your Apple Home accessories and the phone's sensors, and chart them on a page it serves.
Backed up to a friend
Back up your folders to the device of a friend or to any S3 bucket. They are encrypted, so whoever holds one never sees a name or a byte. Each run leaves a snapshot, and hosting a backup for a friend costs nothing.
Git hosting of your own
Push repositories to the device and clone them back, large files included. Whichever git client you push from, the files on the drive and the website they serve are updated. Working Copy finds the server on its own.
A website in the same folder
The folder you drag files into is also the website. Pages can be Markdown with layouts and a post list, and a file you save is live on the next request. This site is one of those folders.
Room for a USB drive
Plug a drive into the device and serve folders straight off it, so the server is not limited to the phone's own storage. Time Machine backups can live there too. On a Mac, any drive the Finder shows will do.
Time Machine backups
Point Time Machine at the drawer device, which is ready for it as installed, and back up your Mac to it over the network, onto a USB drive when you plug one in.
Plays with your other apps
One tap configures S3 Files on all your devices, and the server appears in the Files app and Finder. You can script it with rclone, and a browser reaches it like any website.
Your files stay files
Everything lives as plain files you can see in the Files app, or the Finder on a Mac, and leaving is as simple as copying them somewhere else.
Private by default
New folders are private until you decide otherwise. You can use one shared access key or hand out a separate key for each client.
Free and Pro
The network drive is free, giving you SMB sharing, Time Machine backups and external USB drives with no size limits. You also get a real-HTTPS website and S3 serving for two folders of 5 GB each, two git repositories, and sensor pages without a limit. A one-time Pro purchase removes the limits on web & S3 serving, and adds a custom domain, camera feeds, and separate accounts and access keys for every person and every client. One purchase, paid once rather than as a subscription, covers iPhone, iPad and Mac, and the only bandwidth metering is your internet provider's.
Before you buy
The drive works on your own network. Left to itself, NAS Reborn sends a single request, a check for critical security notices, and you can disable that in Settings. Being reachable from the internet is optional and depends on your connection, where you need IPv6, automatic port mapping or a router you can configure. NAS Reborn probes the device from outside and shows you which addresses work. Should the NAS Reborn backend ever disappear, your device keeps serving on your network and your files remain ordinary files in the Files app or the Finder.
