Remote Access
Reach your squad from your iPhone, iPad or browser, from any location.
Your phone and the web app reach your HQ only through the hosted relay. This works the same on Wi-Fi, on cellular, at the office or when you travel. You do not open ports on your home network.
The iOS app and the web app connect when you sign in with your dashsquad account. You do not scan a code. Before that, your HQ must have remote access. The Desktop setup wizard sets this up.
dashsquad operates the hosted relay. You do not set up a server or buy a domain. TLS encrypts the traffic from your device to the relay, and from the relay to your HQ. The relay opens each connection to route it, so it can read request headers and bodies. Thus, treat the hosted relay as a trusted service.
How it works
The relay is a reverse tunnel. Your HQ makes an outbound connection to the relay. Home routers and firewalls let outbound connections through. The relay then sends the requests from your phone back through that connection.
Your dashsquad account identifies you. Each HQ has its own permanent address on the relay. Each device that you connect gets its own credential, and you can revoke each credential separately.
A device never gets the administrative token of the HQ. It gets a phone-scoped capability that is good only for the mobile API and chat. The administrative token stays on the HQ computer.
Set it up
The Desktop setup wizard does the first two steps for you. Do them yourself only if the HQ does not have remote access. In that case, Settings → Devices shows Set up remote access in Settings > General.
Sign in to dashsquad
In Desktop, go to Settings → General. In the Account card, click Sign in.
Desktop shows the Welcome to dashsquad sign-in screen. Use one of these methods:
- Type your email address in Email address and click Continue. Then type the 6-digit code from your email. If you do not have an account, this code also makes one.
- Click Continue with Google or Continue with Apple. Finish the sign-in in your browser. The browser then sends you back to Desktop.
Desktop shows Finish in your browser until the browser sends you back. If you click Cancel, Desktop goes back to the email screen. Continue with Google and Continue with Apple stay off for up to about 3 minutes. The screen shows Google and Apple are available again in and the time left. You can sign in with your email address during this time.
Your HQs belong to an organization, not to you as a person. Desktop selects the organization automatically. It does not ask you.
Set up remote access
In Settings → General, find the HQ card. Click Set up remote access. If the card shows Set up my HQ, click it.
Desktop registers the HQ with your account and restarts it so that it connects to the relay. The card shows three stages: Start the HQ on this Mac, Register your HQ and Connect your HQ to the dashsquad relay. You do not type an address.
When the HQ is ready, Settings → Devices shows HQ ready: followed by the name of the HQ.
Connect your devices
On your iPhone or iPad, open dashsquad and tap Sign In. Use the same dashsquad account, then tap your HQ in the list.
For the full procedure, see dashsquad for iPhone and iPad.
If your account has no trusted iPhone or iPad, the Pair Device card on Settings → Devices shows Add your phone. If dashsquad cannot add a first phone now, a click on Add your phone changes the iPhone and iPad line to Adding a first phone is off for now, for a security fix. Your HQ is not affected. It comes back in a dashsquad update.
In a browser, open the web app and sign in with the same account. See Web app.
Desktop gives the HQ the computer name of your Mac. You can change the name in the setup wizard, or later in the HQ card in Settings → General. Type the new name and click Save. Your phone and your web browser show this name.
Desktop also picks the relay address of the HQ. The address is a long generated host name, and it is permanent. dashsquad never gives it to a different HQ, and it does not release the address when you remove the HQ. To see the HQ id and the relay host, open Details in the HQ card.
If you signed in with an earlier version of Desktop, sign in again in Settings → General → Account. Your phones stay paired. Until you sign in, the Remote access section shows Your phones stay paired. Sign in to change remote access.
Desktop, the iOS app and the web app show the same conversations from the HQ. This includes responses in progress, renames and deletions.
Android pairing
The Pair Device card on Settings → Devices shows a QR code for the Android app. Click Show QR code to make the QR code. Each click adds one device to Paired devices. The QR code contains your relay address and a credential for one device, and it works only after you set up remote access. Before that, the card shows Set up remote access in Settings > General.
Your account can require approval from a trusted iPhone or iPad for each new device. Then Show QR code first shows an approval code under Approve this pairing on a trusted device:
- On the iPhone or iPad, go to Settings and tap Approve a device.
- Scan the approval code on the Mac and approve the pairing.
- Within a few seconds, the card shows the QR code for the Android app. Scan it with the Android app.
The approval code expires after 2 minutes. If it expires or you deny the pairing, click Show QR code again.
Approve a new browser
If your account has a trusted iPhone or iPad, each new browser must get approval from a trusted device. For the procedure, see Approve this device and Approve a device.
Manage your devices
On Settings → Devices, the Remote access section has a Paired devices list. It shows each device that is connected to your HQ, which includes signed-in iPhones and iPads. Each device shows the date and time of its pairing, for example Paired 14 Oct 2026, 23:40. If no device is connected, it shows No devices paired yet.
To disconnect a device that you lost, sold or do not use, click Revoke next to it. That device can no longer reach your squad through the relay. Your other devices continue to work.
You can also revoke a browser or a phone from the Devices screen of the web app.
A revoked device can connect again. It then gets a new credential. On iOS, go to Settings, tap Disconnect & Forget, sign in again, and tap the HQ. In a browser, select the HQ again in the HQ list.