SSHelper APK
App information
Version 13.2 (#132)
Updated 2020-08-28
APK Size 22.3 MB
Requires Android Android 7.0+ (Nougat)
Offered by Paul Lutus
Category Free Productivity App
App id com.arachnoid.sshelper
Developer's notes SSHelper is an advanced, multi-protocol, secure server for the Android platform.
Screenshot
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Table of contents
Latest updates
What's new in SSHelper 13.2
Editor's review
Download the latest SSHelper application, version 13.2, compatible with Windows 10/11 (using emulators such as Bluestacks), Android devices. This free Productivity app is developed by Paul Lutus and is easy to download and install.
Previous versions, including 13.2, 13.0, are also available. If you need help or have any problems, please let us know.
Description
SSHelper works just fine with a normal, unrooted Android device — i.e. your device. It also offers special features on rooted devices.
SSHelper works as an application and as a service. As a service it runs in the background, providing secure communications protocols without requiring user attention.
SSHelper supports interactive Secure Shell (hereafter SSH) sessions and various kinds of transfers including scp, sftp, and rsync, on all common platforms:
On Windows, SSHelper works with WinSCP, PuTTY and similar programs.
On Linux, apart from normal SSH shell session activities, SSHelper can be used directly with file browsers for seamless filesystem browsing and transfers by specifying the "sftp:" protocol.
On the Mac, SSHelper works with Cyberduck and similar programs.
SSHelper versions >= 7.8 accepts any network type that Android recognizes -- it's no longer limited to wireless networks.
SSHelper announces itself on your network by way of Zeroconf/Bonjour, an efficient way to configure a local network.
SSHelper includes a log monitor Web server showing an activity log on local network browsers.
SSHelper also includes a clipboard Web server that permits read/write access to the Android clipboard from local network browsers.
SSHelper is free, open-source and there are no ads. It's licensed under the GPL and the source is freely available.
The SSHelper Home Page is located at http://arachnoid.com/android/SSHelper -- visit for more information and configuration tips.
App permissions
SSHelper 13.2 APK requires following permissions:
Allows an application to read from external storage.
Allows an application to write to external storage.
Allows applications to open network sockets.
Allows applications to access information about Wi-Fi networks.
Allows applications to change Wi-Fi connectivity state.
Allows applications to enter Wi-Fi Multicast mode.
Allows applications to access information about networks.
Allows applications to connect to paired bluetooth devices.
Allows an application to receive the ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED that is broadcast after the system finishes booting.
Allows using PowerManager WakeLocks to keep processor from sleeping or screen from dimming.
Ratings and Reviews
Rating: 4.6/5 based on 9+ reviews
(*) is required
5 ★ The folder /sdcard is the internal storage. Where is the actual external storage? So much I agree with the statement in your FAQ there are are other apps that are able to access all files . Please think about adding this feature. I really like the UI and usability!
5 ★ A great tool that is configured on install, works instantly. Has many config options with super easy UI. Great App!
5 ★ This SSH server app is simply The Best of them. Period. End-of-Story. (I seldom rate anything 5 stars, BTW.) I've been using this for years, on all of my devices, and have not found anything better that isn't full of ads or makes you pay for Dropbear (which is open source) with window dressing. The only feature that I wish it had was a start/stop widget. But, that's not enough to ding my rating.
5 ★ Love it. On my Galaxy S4 running Android 5.0. One issue that I didn't have with SSHDroid that I have here is if I have the server running, and then press the Home button, the server quits when the lock timer goes off, or I manually force a lock. If I the server is running in the foreground and I force a lock, all is well. This is annoying because I would like to have the server running all the time, so I can access the S4 from my Ubuntu machine without having to restart the server. Maybe I am just doing something wrong. But I still love it!
4 ★ I use SSHelper primarily to transfer files to and from my unrooted phones over SFTP and SSHFS, both of which work smoothly. Most phones mount the internal storage on /storage/emulated/0, which isn't traversable on unrooted devices but fortunately still accessible. The app itself is very easy to set up. Everything you can configure is in the Configuration tab. However, the terminal tab is useless. The soft keyboard will close after pressing a single character for some reason.
5 ★ I have just installed this on Android 10 and it is currently my favorite utility. I just finished setting it up to allow me to use my macOS desktop and ChronoSync to do WiFi-based SFTP backups of my Camera images and videos. This was almost trivial to setup, although I do have to manually launch SSHelper before the sync job runs. Paul was very responsive to my question about using the product but, more importantly, he has produced a very solid product here I highly recommend SSHelper
5 ★ This is the definitive ssh server app. It sets up a usable home directory on the server, complete with keys. And it comes with the rsync executable which is what I really needed to sync my music collection to my phone. Writing to an external SD card is problematic on android, not the fault of this app, but the author provides comprehensive documentation on how to work around these constraints. This app brings my android phone a huge step forward toward looking like just another linux server to deal with, ie, I can use the same tools now to manage all my machines instead of having specialized ways to deal with the phone. If this were a paid app, I would happily pay for it.
5 ★ Fantastic tool! I've had problems with Syncthing and even KDEConnect, but so far sshelper + rsync does everything I need it to do. One thing I found is that on Linux Mint 18.1 at least I had to add the -zz option to my rsync command to successfully copy files from my laptop. With that option everything works well. I also turned off Battery Optimization for SSHelper on the phone which allows rsync to happen while the phone display is off. I don't know yet how that will affect battery life.
5 ★ This app is the only ssh server app I have found that actually works properly. Rsync'ing music to my phone worked a treat. As a bonus, its fast. Highly recommended.
5 ★ Great app. Version 12.8 works on my Android 7.1.2 device. With version 12.7 and 12.8, sshd fails because of link errors on my Android 5.1, 5.1.1 and 6.0 devices. Fortunately, the author now provides older versions on his website. Version 12.5 (125.apk) works on all my devices.
5 ★ Thanks so much foro this app! It solved my problem trying to connect my Android to my Linux computer. All apps for doing so have a lot of limitations. Just with your app and Filezilla on the computer side everything in the phone appears as a local filesystem. I only miss the possibility of changing to another IP address when the phone has more than one. For example when using network like ZeroTier, you get an additional IP address that would be very useful if SSHHelper could use for the server.
5 ★ What can I say? mtp is buggy (and slow) as it possibly could and whilst looking for something faster and more reliable someone recommended SSHelper. I can only say: rightfully so! Works like a charm, file transfers work "fast-ish" and configuration is not that hard. I would gladly pay for this!
5 ★ Installed on my Pixel XL to work around bugs transferring files over USB and it's working as it should. I'm very happy with it. I can even ssh to my phone and using that connection I can scp files back to my laptop (Ubuntu) taking advantage of filename auto-completion and command line editing in the ssh shell on my phone. To make the connection back to my laptop work I had to add the .ssh/id_rsa.pub from my phone to the .ssh/authorized_keys file on my laptop. I did that using scp from my laptop.
1 ★ Never connected. It would not pass the authentication stage when trying to connect with my Ubuntu computer. Tried changing the password, clearing all and reinstall etc. The faqs say nothing about basic issues and assume it always works. Tons of technical info but nothing if it fails from the start.
5 ★ This is the *best * SSH rsync app. Period. And I have paid for quite some apps do similar functions. If you need sshfs or rsync look no more. Thanks Paul.
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