Turn Your Old Phone Into a Server

Imagine this: You've built something amazing and you can't wait to show it to your friend. You're all set to put it on the internet, maybe using an EC2 instance, but there's a hitch – you can't sign up for those cloud services without a credit or debit card. Stuck in a tough spot, right? No need to worry, though, because I've got your back.

Let's build a server of our own, using one of your old Android phones. 🫡

Setting up your Android

• F-Droid: take one of those old Android phones of yours, install 🔗 F-Droid (open-source app store for Android ) and Hacker keyboard ( will give you a full keyboard with Ctr, Alt etc..)

• Termux: search 🔎 for Termux in F-Droid and install Termux. Termux is a terminal for your phone.

Server in pocket 🤩

• open Termux and install root-repo and openssh, nmap.

    # Subscribe to additional packages
    pkg install root-repo
  
    # Upgrade
    pkg upgrade
  
    # Install openssh
    pkg install openssh nmap
  

• Note your username, by running whoami and set a password

    # get username
    whoami
  
    # set password
    passwd
  

• Note your IP, you check your phone ( settings> wifi > wifi settings > ip) or use ifconfig ( install if not ), the output may look something like this. just note down the weird number beside inet you can use either of them to ssh into the server. look for rmnet_data0 or wlan0.

  

• start the ssh server using sshd command, don't exit the session, exit the app or turn off your phone, if done the server will stop

    # Start ssh server
    sshd
  

• Note the ssh server port by running nmap, it will most probably be 8022

  

SSH into your Android phone

• Turn on your pc and open your favorite Terminal Emulator.

• Connect your phone and pc to the same wifi network.

• SSH into the server using ssh -p <PORT> <USERNAME>@<PASSWORD> ( replace port, username and password with yours ).

    # ssh -p <PORT> <USERNAME>@<PASSWORD>
    # Example in this case it's
    ssh -p 8022 u0_a117@25.223.72.230
  

• Enter your password. You are done, You just ssh into your server 🎉

Setting up a node server

• install node and neovim ( terminal editor ), for a Linux user it's a home-like experience, you can also install fish, neofetch, wget, curl, git or anything you use for your daily Linux cli activities.

    # Install Nodejs
    pkg install node
    pkg install neovim
  

• set up a node server ( we will use express )

    # Create a Folder and go into it
    mkdir server & cd server
  
    # Initialize npm package
    npm init -y
  
    # write to index.js
    vi index.js
  

• paste the following code don't forget to use :set paste in neovim for not auto-indentation

    const express = require('express');
    const app = express();
    const cors = require('cors');
  
    app.use(cors());
  
    app.get('/', (req, res) => {
        res.send('Hello from the server');
    });
  
    app.listen('3000', () => {
        console.log('Server up and running on port 3000');
    });
  

• install pm2 ( nodejs process manager ) and run the node server

    # Install pm2 globally
    npm i -g pm2
  
    # Run node server
    pm2 start index.js
  
    # pm2 logs - to check logs
    # pm2 kill - to kill ( not your computer, the node process )
  

• wallah!! you are done 🥳.

Going Live Globally 🪩

• if you go to http://<YOUR IP>:3000 ( replace <YOUR IP> with the IP you used to ssh into the server, http://25.223.72.230:300 in this case ). you should be able to see " Hello from the server " on the screen.

• but there is a problem: you can only access the IP if you are connected to the same wifi network.

• Don't worry, there is a way to deal with this, we can use port forwarding services like Ngrok, Localtunnel, Serveo, Teleconsole... the list goes on.

• Let's use one of the easiest ways, Serveo. All you have to do is ssh -R 80:localhost:3000 serveo.net ( click here, visit their site for a updated one ).

• This will give you a link you can share the link with anyone 🎉.