One app turns a spare phone into a real web server: your own website, your own domain, served from your shelf. It arrives with a battery, a screen and a case already attached, and it costs you nothing new.
Get PhoneRig on Google PlayNo root needed · Android 8+ · 64-bit (arm64) · more than 2 GB of RAM
| Raspberry Pi 5 kit | Your old phone | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to get running | about $100 with PSU, case, SD card | $0, it is in the drawer |
| Power cut | goes dark, SD card at risk | keeps running on its battery |
| Screen for setup and status | none, bring your own | built in |
| Storage | SD card, the classic weak point | faster internal flash, but soldered in |
| Case, cooling, cables | each one a purchase | already a finished device |
| Time to a live website | an afternoon of imaging and config | minutes, guided by the app |
A Pi is a wonderful tinkering computer and we mean it no harm. But if the goal is "my website, online, from my own hardware", the phone is the shortcut: recent mid-range and flagship chips hold their own against a Pi 5, and the battery doubles as a built-in UPS. The trade in the storage row runs both ways: phone flash is faster and tougher than a commodity SD card, and it is also soldered in, so it cannot be swapped when it eventually wears. What that means in practice, and what PhoneRig does to write less, is set out in flash wear, honestly.
Serve a site straight from the phone with HTTPS handled for you. Connect your own custom domain so visitors see a proper address, not a subdomain.
PhoneRig runs a genuine Ubuntu system on the phone, no root required. Install packages, run scripts, host web apps: it is Linux, because it is Linux.
No site yet? Build one on the phone in minutes: photo hero, contact buttons, live preview. Or upload the site you already have. Prefer WordPress? One tap installs the real thing.
A real SSH server for remote work, file serving, and a travel proxy that lets you browse through your home connection from anywhere.
More ideas on the use cases page: eighteen things people actually run on a PhoneRig, from shared photo albums to home labs.
Any 64-bit (arm64) phone on Android 8 or newer with more than 2 GB of RAM. Not sure about yours? Check the supported phones list.
PhoneRig downloads and configures the Ubuntu system for you: guided, on the phone, no computer needed and no root. Plug the phone into its charger and let it work.
Build a page in the app or drop in your own files, and PhoneRig opens a secure tunnel so your site is reachable from the internet with HTTPS, without touching your router.
It is a server now: it lives on a charger, on your Wi-Fi. Phones are built to sit on power for years, and it draws only a few watts, less than most single-board kits with their PSUs.
A portfolio, a business page, a blog, a web app for your club: comfortably. It is not built to be a data centre, and does not pretend to be.
64-bit (arm64) Android 8 or newer with more than 2 GB of RAM. Older or smaller phones are not supported on purpose: below that, the experience is misery.
Try it with everything on a PhoneRig address first. The custom domain upgrade is there when you want your own address on it.
More screens, step by step, on the how to use page.
Install PhoneRig on the spare phone, plug it in, and have your own corner of the internet running tonight.
Get PhoneRig on Google Play