Transferring files wirelessly between iOS and PC isn’t as easy as it is with Android. If you have a jailbroken iPhone, iPad or iPod touch though, you can get a similar experience by using the Secure Shell (SSH) file transfer protocol. The process basically requires running an SSH service on your iDevice and accessing it with any SSH client on your PC. In what follows, we will discuss how you can quickly create an SSH connection between your iPhone and your desktop PC for no-frills file transfers.
Pretty simple, no? Enjoy having full file system access to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch right from your computer.
Disclaimer: Follow this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips will not be liable if your device(s) or any data on them gets damaged during the process.
Changing The Default SSH Password
- Search for “Mobile Terminal” on Cydia and install it.
- Once installed, launch the app from its icon on the Springboard.
- Type in su root to gain root access. It will ask for your current password, which is ‘alpine’ (without the quotes).
- Type passwd and enter a new password of your choice twice. Press return once you’re done.
Setting Up SSH & Connecting IDevice With PC
Requirements- Jailbroken iOS device with Cydia installed.
- An SSH client installed on your PC. As a Windows user, I am using WinSCP because it is actively developed and has all the features I’ll ever need in an SSH client. OS X and Linux users can try out PuTTY as an alternative, or use any SSH client of their choice.
- iOS device and PC connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Procedure
- Launch Cydia on your iOS device.
- Use the Search option at the bottom-right to search for ‘OpenSSH’ and once found, tap it to open its page.
- Tap ‘Install’ in the top-right corner.
- Once it has been installed, Go to Settings > WiFi, hit the blue arrow button on the right of your home WiFi network name, and note down the IP address.
- Launch the SSH client on your PC. Our instructions that follow will be for WinSCP but the process should be similar for other SSH clients as well.
- Choose Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) under File Protocol option and enter the IP address you noted down from your phone in step 4 into the ‘Host name’ field.
- Enter ‘root’ as username, along with the password that you had set. Also make sure ’22′ is selected as the port.
- Once everything is all set, click Login to continue.
Pretty simple, no? Enjoy having full file system access to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch right from your computer.