The hosted relay is run by Dash. You sign in to your Dash account, create a
HQ, then connect your phone or tablet — there’s no server to set up and no domain
to buy. Traffic is encrypted with TLS from your device to the hosted relay and again from
the relay to your HQ. The relay terminates those connections to route requests,
so treat the Dash-hosted relay as a trusted service: it can process request headers
and bodies while forwarding them. Neither Android’s QR pairing nor iOS’s account sign-in
ever gives a device the HQ’s administrative token; each gets a phone-scoped capability
and a revocable device credential instead.
When you need it
Use the relay
You want to chat with your agents from your phone while away from home, where
your phone and the HQ are on different networks. Dash for iOS always uses this path.
Skip the relay
Your Android phone and the machine running Dash are on the same Wi-Fi. Just pair over
the local network — no relay needed.
How it works
The relay is a reverse tunnel. Your HQ dials out to the relay (outbound connections pass through home routers and firewalls), and the relay forwards your phone’s requests back down that connection. TLS protects both network legs, while the hosted relay terminates each leg so it can route HTTP and WebSocket traffic. Your Dash sign-in identifies you, each HQ gets its own address, and every device you connect — Android by pairing, iOS by signing in — carries its own revocable credential. The HQ still enforces one phone-scoped capability for both the mobile API and chat; the administrative bearer remains on the HQ machine.Set it up
1
Sign in to Dash
In Desktop, open Settings → Devices → Remote access and click Sign in to
Dash. Your browser opens to the Dash sign-in page. Sign in, and the browser
hands you back to Desktop automatically. You only do this once per
machine.Your HQs belong to an organization rather than to you personally, so
you can later share access with teammates. If the sign-in page asks you to
create or pick an organization, choose one — the HQs you create are owned
by whichever organization you’re signed in to.
2
Choose your HQ's address
Click Create HQ and pick a name for your HQ’s address — something
short and memorable that you’ll recognise (for example, your initials or your
machine’s name; any name shown here is just an example). As you type, Dash checks
whether the name is free. The name becomes your HQ’s permanent address on the
relay (
<your-name>.<the relay domain>). Confirm, and Dash claims the address and
restarts the HQ so it connects out. When it’s ready you’ll see HQ ready
at followed by your address.3
Connect your phone or tablet
Android: open Settings → Devices. With an HQ created, the QR code in the
Pair Device section now carries your relay address and a per-device credential.
Scan it with the Dash Android app — it connects through the relay from then on,
wherever you are.iOS: open Dash on your iPhone or iPad and tap Sign In. Sign in with the same
Dash account, then tap your HQ in the list — see Dash for iPhone and
iPad for the full flow. There’s no QR code to scan.
Your HQ’s address is permanent. Once you claim a name it belongs to this
HQ for good — it’s never reassigned to anyone else, and it isn’t released even if
you later remove the HQ. Choose a name you’re happy to keep. This is what lets your
paired phones keep finding your HQ over time.