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The certificate and the two steps, device by device.

Install the panel as an app

4 min · 5 sections

The panel can be installed on your phone, tablet or computer like any other app: with its own icon, no browser bar, and a faster start. There is nothing to download from any store — it is the panel itself.

Two steps, and the first one is the one almost everybody skips:

  1. Install your NAS's certificate on that device.
  2. Add the panel to the home screen or the desktop.

Why the certificate is needed

Your NAS is yours and it sits in your house, so there is nobody outside who can vouch that it is who it says it is: the NAS signs its own certificate when it is installed. That is why the browser shows the "not secure" warning the first time.

You can click past that warning to look at the panel, but there are two things the browser will not do until you trust the certificate, and there is no way around it from the panel:

  • install the panel as an app, and
  • keep a copy of the interface so it opens fast and without depending on the network.

What you see when it is missing is confusing, so it helps to recognise it: instead of the app, the browser saves a plain shortcut with no logo that opens blank, with the address bar on top.

Installing the certificate is done once per device and does not need repeating even if the NAS changes address.

By installing it you are telling that device to trust your NAS. On a home network that is normal, but keep it in mind: only install it on your own devices.

Step 1: install the certificate

Download it from the panel itself: Control Panel → External access → Certificate. There is a button to get it, and below it the steps for the device you are looking from. Then, depending on which one it is:

iPhone and iPad

  1. Settings → "Profile Downloaded" → Install.
  2. Settings → General → About → Certificate Trust Settings, and turn it on there.

The second step is the one everybody forgets, and without it the first one does nothing: the certificate is installed but switched off.

Android

  1. Settings → Security → More settings → Encryption & credentials.
  2. "Install a certificate" → "CA certificate" → Install anyway.
  3. Pick the file you just downloaded.

The exact place moves a little between phone makers; if you cannot find it, search for "certificate" in the settings.

Windows

  1. Open the downloaded file and click "Install Certificate".
  2. Choose "Local Machine", then "Place all certificates in the following store".
  3. Browse → "Trusted Root Certification Authorities".
  4. Close the browser completely and open it again.

Leaving it in "Personal" —which is what it offers by default— does not work: it has to go into the trusted roots store.

Mac

  1. Open the downloaded file: it goes into Keychain Access.
  2. Find it under "System", open it and set Trust → "Always Trust".

Linux

  1. Copy it to /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/ and run sudo update-ca-certificates.
  2. Firefox has its own store: Settings → Certificates → View Certificates → Authorities → Import.

Step 2: add the panel

With the certificate in place the browser warning is gone and it can be installed.

iPhone and iPad

Open the panel in Safari, tap Share and choose "Add to Home Screen". Safari has no install button; those two steps are how it is done.

Android

Chrome offers it by itself, with an "Install app" prompt. If it does not appear, it is in the three-dot menu, as "Install app" or "Add to Home screen".

Windows, Mac and Linux

In Chrome and Edge an install icon appears in the address bar, on the right. It is also in the three-dot menu. Firefox does not install web apps: there the panel is used as a normal tab.

If something does not work

The shortcut has no logo and opens blank, with the address bar on top. It never got installed as an app: the certificate is missing, or installed but not switched on (on the iPhone, the second step).

I installed the certificate and nothing changed. On the iPhone, check it appears in Settings → General → About → Certificate Trust Settings and that it is on. On Windows, check it ended up in "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" and not in "Personal", and close the whole browser before trying again.

The installed app opens blank. Open it again: on returning, the panel reloads itself if it came up empty. If it keeps happening, open the panel in the browser —not from the icon— and see whether the certificate warning is still there.

I changed the NAS's address. The panel's certificate is reissued, but what you installed on your devices still works: nothing to repeat.

The other option: a real certificate

All of the above is for using the NAS at home. If you also want to get in from outside, there is a path that needs no touching of any device: your own domain name and a Let's Encrypt certificate, which every browser already knows. It is covered in Access from the internet.