Last updated: 2026-05-25

Tailscale Setup

Tailscale is the networking core of HiTerm. It lets your phone and PC communicate directly, even when they're on different networks.

Why Tailscale?

The Problem

Your phone and PC are usually on different networks:

Device Network IP Address
Phone 4G/5G mobile Carrier-assigned dynamic IP
PC Home WiFi or office LAN Private IP (e.g. 192.168.x.x)

They can't talk to each other directly โ€” like two buildings in different cities with no direct route.

The Solution

Tailscale creates a "virtual LAN" that brings all your devices into the same private network.

Analogy:

  • Without Tailscale = You and a friend in different cities, can't meet
  • With Tailscale = You're both teleported to the same virtual room, can talk directly

Why Tailscale over alternatives?

Solution Security Setup Difficulty Cost
Tailscale (used by HiTerm) โœ… WireGuard encryption โญ One command Free
Public IP + port forwarding โŒ Exposed to internet ๐Ÿ”ด Contact ISP Paid
Self-hosted VPN server โœ… Controllable ๐Ÿ”ด Need a server Server cost
Other commercial VPN Depends ๐ŸŸก Moderate Usually paid

Key advantages:

  • Zero-config NAT traversal, no public IP needed
  • Peer-to-peer direct connection, no third-party relay
  • End-to-end encryption (WireGuard protocol)
  • Free personal plan, up to 100 devices

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • An email account (for Tailscale registration)
  • PC internet connection (WiFi or wired)
  • Phone internet connection (WiFi or mobile data)
  • Admin/sudo access (needed for installation)

Estimated time: 10 minutes (register + install + verify)

Register a Tailscale Account

  1. Visit tailscale.com and click "Get Started"
  2. Use Google, GitHub, Microsoft, or email to sign up
  3. After registration, access the admin console: login.tailscale.com

One account, all devices โ€” PC and phone use the same account.

PC Installation

Linux

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh

After installation, start and login:

sudo tailscale up

Your browser will open the login page automatically. Just authorize.

macOS

brew install --cask tailscale

Or download from tailscale.com/download/mac. Open the app after installation and login.

Windows (WSL2)

Option 1: Install on Windows (Recommended)

  1. Download from tailscale.com/download/windows
  2. Install and login
  3. WSL2 automatically gets Tailscale network access (via Windows host network bridging)

Option 2: Install inside WSL2

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

Verify PC Installation

# Check Tailscale status
tailscale status

# Get your Tailscale IP (needed by HiTerm)
tailscale ip -4

Expected output:

100.x.x.x  your-pc-name  linux  -

100.x.x.x is your Tailscale IP.

Phone Installation

Android

  1. Search "Tailscale" on Google Play and install
  2. Or download from tailscale.com/download/android
  3. Open the app and login with the same account as your PC

Verify Phone Connection

Open the Tailscale app and confirm it shows "Connected". Your PC should appear in the device list.

Verify Both Ends

On PC

tailscale status

You should see output like:

100.x.x.x  your-pc-name   linux  -
100.y.y.y  your-phone-name android -

Both devices online means the connection is working.

On Phone

Open the Tailscale app โ†’ device list. Your PC should show as online.

FAQ

Q: Devices can't find each other?

A: Check these three things:

  1. Both ends are logged into the same Tailscale account
  2. Both are connected to the Tailscale network (app shows "Connected")
  3. No ACL restrictions in the Tailscale admin panel (free plan has none by default)

Q: Tailscale IP shows empty?

A:

  1. Confirm Tailscale is running: sudo tailscale status
  2. If not running, start: sudo tailscale up
  3. Check for conflicting Tailscale instances

Q: HiTerm says "Tailscale not detected"?

A:

  1. Run tailscale status to confirm Tailscale is online
  2. Run tailscale ip -4 to get the IP
  3. Run hiterm doctor for diagnostics

Q: Company network blocks Tailscale?

A:

  1. Some networks restrict Tailscale connections
  2. Try switching networks (e.g., phone hotspot)
  3. Contact your network administrator about firewall rules

More issues? See Troubleshooting & FAQ

Advanced Configuration (Optional)

Device Naming

Give your devices meaningful names:

# On PC
sudo tailscale set --hostname my-dev-pc

# View current hostname
tailscale status --self

MagicDNS

MagicDNS lets you access devices by name instead of IP. It's enabled by default.

# Ping by device name
ping my-dev-pc

Disconnect and Reconnect

# Temporarily disconnect (keep login)
sudo tailscale down

# Reconnect
sudo tailscale up

# Full logout (requires re-login)
sudo tailscale logout

Next Steps

After Tailscale is installed:

  1. Quick Start โ€” Install hiterm and pair in minutes
  2. PC Installation โ€” Install hiterm and dependencies
  3. Android Installation โ€” Install the phone app
  4. Architecture โ€” Understand HiTerm's P2P design

Tailscale ready? Next step is installing hiterm! ๐Ÿš€