MacBook Remote Login Questions and Etc

Micah_Gael wrote:

I appreciate the insight shared about the limitations of SSH on iPhones. It’s valuable to note that I’m exploring the ‘Run Script over SSH’ feature in the Shortcuts app for specific tasks on my MacBook remotely. If there are any challenges or if further guidance is available regarding this Shortcuts action, I would be grateful for assistance within this context.

That is an advanced topic, even if the iPhone wasn't involved. There are many things that can go wrong. The iPhone will make it impossible to debug the most common problems. There is no way to tell if you've the first part wrong, or any subsequent step, or any step in between. And according to your description of the problem, your script is "ssh my_macbook_username@my_macbook_ip", which is most definitely not any kind of "run script" operation. That is an interactive login operation.

I'm not familiar with the "run script over ssh" shortcut, or shortcuts at all, for that matter. But when I look at it on my phone, I seem to have played around with it before. For the script to run, try something like "ls -al" instead. You should see a listing from your home directory.

You can do multiple things with an ssh connection. The typical operation is an interactive login. If you were using a Mac, trying to connect to some server, you would run something like "ssh my_macbook_username@my_macbook_ip". Once you were logged in, then you could run commands as if you were on the server.

But you can also directly run commands instead of an interactive login. You run one command and it sends the result back and that's it. This is not an interactive session. You are running something like "ssh my_macbook_username@my_macbook_ip ls -al". This makes the ssh connection and then runs "ls -al" and sends the output back.

When you are running via something like a shortcut, especially from a phone, you definitely aren't doing any kind of interactive login. You are just running a command on the server and getting the result. That's all. All of those other setup options are sufficient to make the connection. You don't need the "ssh my_macbook_username@my_macbook_ip" part. All you need it the "ls -al" part. That's what you enter and only that.

I’ve used several different iPhone based terminal emulator apps that include ssh support to ssh into my Macs while I’ve been on my home network. I just used “Termius” to verify it still works.

A) As Etresoft says your screen is tiny.

B) You really need to be familiar with the command line environment to do much with an ssh session into your Mac from an iPhone.

C) If you do not know what you are doing at the command prompt, you can cause lots of damage, that will be difficult or impossible to recover from.

D) You should not play in the command line environment unless you maintain complete backups, and take them on a regular basis.

ssh connections are more useful when they are workstation to workstation and you have a larger screen. They are still a command line environment, but if you are doing things like connecting to remote Linux/Unix systems, it can be useful.

I live in ssh connections developing software on a remote Linux system at work. I’ve been working with terminals and later terminal emulators since the 1970’s and I’m very comfortable in that environment.

You on the other hand might prefer Mac to Mac Screen Sharing or a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) connection. There is a difference macOS setting to allow screen sharing.

Share the screen of another Mac - Apple Support

There are iPhone screen sharing apps and VNC apps available, but if Etresoft thought your iPhone screen was too small for an ssh connection, a screen sharing or VNC connection is 10 times worse.

NOTE: I have rarely used ssh connections from my iPhone, and generally they were 3 am, I do not want to get out of bed, I forgot to do something 5 minute tasks, related to my day job.

I’ve played with iPhone screen sharing/VNC connections, just to prove to myself that they work, but the iPhone is way too small to do anything useful, and if you need the keyboard, you loose 2/5ths of you already small screen to the iPhone virtual keyboard.

It is fun to play with ssh and screen sharing, but not extremely practical.

Micah_Gael wrote:

Upon executing the shortcut, it resulted in freezing. I’m beginning to wonder if remote login from an iPhone to a computer is feasible.

No. An iPhone isn't going to be able to do an ssh login. The screen is too tiny. SSH is a Terminal interface. You need a keyboard and a screen to see what's going on. An iPhone isn't going to be able to do that.

Plus, the iPhone doesn't have ssh client software. I'm not sure what you were trying run with that shortcut, but the key piece you need isn't there. You might be able to download some app that offers remote ssh access. Maybe you could run that with a shortcut. But you would still be dealing with keyboard and screen issues.

I have a couple of ssh apps for the iPad. But I never use them. Even that screen it small enough to be annoying.