It's 9 PM, you're on the couch, and a Discord notification tells you your Jellyfin server just went offline. Your instinct is to grab your laptop, VPN in, open a browser tab, and hunt through the Proxmox web interface to see what died. There's a faster way, and it fits in your pocket.
Proxmox VE has an official companion app for phones. Not a web page squeezed onto a small screen — an actual native app, built with Flutter, that talks to your server the same way the browser does. Most people who run Proxmox at home don't know it exists, because it isn't mentioned anywhere during setup. You have to go looking for it.
This guide walks through installing it, logging in the right way, and using it to actually get things done — restarting a stuck container, checking why a node's CPU is pegged, pulling up a console when SSH won't cooperate. Everything below was checked against Proxmox VE 9.2, but none of it is tied to a specific point release; it'll behave the same on 8.x.
What You Will Learn
- What the Proxmox VE Mobile app actually is, and how it differs from just opening the web UI in your phone's browser
- How to install it and connect it to your server for the first time
- What you can and can't do from the app compared to a desktop browser
- How to open a console session on a VM from your phone
- The errors people run into most often, and what actually fixes them
- A few habits worth adopting before you expose this to anything outside your home network
What Is Proxmox VE Mobile?
Proxmox VE Mobile is the official app published by Proxmox Server Solutions, available for both Android and iOS. It's built on Flutter, Google's toolkit for building one app that compiles natively to both platforms, which is why the interface looks and feels identical whether you're on an iPhone or a Pixel.
Under the hood it isn't doing anything the web interface can't — it talks to the same REST API that pveproxy (the process that serves the Proxmox web UI on port 8006) exposes to every browser session. The app is just a purpose-built client for that API, tuned for a touchscreen instead of a mouse.
It replaced an older mobile interface that was built on Sencha Touch, a much clunkier web framework from a decade ago. If you used Proxmox mobile years back and gave up on it, it's worth another look — this is a different app entirely.
Worth being upfront about one thing: this is not a full replacement for the web console. You won't be editing storage pools or restructuring your cluster from your phone, and you shouldn't want to. It's built for the stuff you actually need on the go — status checks, power actions, and getting into a console when something's on fire.
Why Would You Use It?
The honest answer is convenience. If your Proxmox box lives at home and you're the only one managing it, you're going to end up checking on it from somewhere that isn't your desk — the office, a coffee shop, bed at midnight because a backup job alert just came through.
A few concrete situations where this beats opening a browser tab:
- A VM crashed and you just need to hit Start again, not diagnose it right now
- You want a quick glance at CPU and RAM usage across your node before deciding whether something needs attention
- You're away from your laptop and need to pull up a console to check a log or restart a service
- You manage more than one Proxmox cluster and want to flip between them without bookmarking three different IP addresses
That last point matters more than it sounds. The app has a built-in connection manager, so if you run a homelab cluster and also help manage a friend's or a client's box, you can switch between them from one screen instead of juggling browser tabs and remembering which login goes where.
Is it strictly necessary? No. Everything the app does, the web UI on your phone's browser can also do, just with more pinching and zooming. But once you've used the native app for a week, going back to the mobile browser feels like using a desktop site that wasn't built for touch — because that's exactly what it is.
Prerequisites
Before you install anything, make sure you actually have these in place:
- A working Proxmox VE installation, reachable on your network — version 7.x through 9.2 all work with the current app
- A phone running a reasonably current version of Android or iOS (the app is updated often enough that very old OS versions can fall behind)
- A Proxmox user account with a password — root@pam works for testing, but stick around for the Best Practices section before you make that your daily login
- Network access from your phone to your Proxmox host on TCP port 8006 — same LAN, or a VPN connection if you're checking in from outside the house
- If you plan to use SPICE-based console access instead of the built-in noVNC viewer, a separate third-party app installed first (covered in the tutorial below)
You don't need an API token, and you don't need to open port 8006 to the open internet. Don't do that second one regardless of what you need.
Step-by-Step Tutorial
1. Install the app
Search "Proxmox VE" in the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. The official listing is published by Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH — check the publisher name, since a handful of unofficial third-party Proxmox clients also show up in search results and it's easy to grab the wrong one.
2. Add your server
Open the app and add a new connection. You'll need:
- Your Proxmox host's IP address or hostname — run
hostname -Ion the host if you don't have it memorized - The port, which defaults to 8006 and almost never needs to change
If your Proxmox install is still using its default self-signed certificate (which is the case for most homelabs that haven't set up Let's Encrypt), the app will warn you that the certificate isn't trusted. That's expected — it's the same warning your browser shows the first time you visit the web UI. You can accept it and move on, or set up a proper certificate first if it bothers you.
3. Log in
Enter your username and password, then use the realm dropdown to pick where that account lives. Most homelab setups use one of two realms: Linux PAM standard authentication for system accounts like root, or Proxmox VE authentication server for accounts you created specifically inside Proxmox. Pick the wrong one and you'll get a login failure even with the correct password, so double-check this if the first attempt doesn't work.
If you've got two-factor authentication turned on for the account — and you should — you'll be prompted for your TOTP code or hardware key at this point, the same as on the web.
4. Look around the dashboard
Once you're in, you'll land on an overview of your node or cluster: CPU load, memory usage, storage, and a list of every VM and LXC container with its current status. Tap any guest to drill into its own resource graphs, task history, and control buttons.
5. Do something with a VM or container
From a guest's detail screen you can Start, Stop, Shutdown, or Reboot it — the same actions available from the web UI's toolbar. There's also a search and filter option on the main guest list, which is genuinely useful once you're running more than a dozen VMs and containers and don't want to scroll to find the one that's misbehaving.
6. Open a console
Tap the console icon on a guest and you'll be offered a choice. The built-in HTML5 console, based on noVNC, works out of the box with no extra apps — this is what most people should use, and it's exactly what you'd see if you clicked "Console" in the browser.
If you specifically need SPICE (which gives better performance for graphical desktops and USB redirection, but isn't something most homelab users touch), you'll need a separate app: Opaque on Android, or aSpice Pro on iOS. Proxmox Mobile hands off the connection to whichever one you have installed.
7. Check on backups and tasks
The app also surfaces your task log — every backup, migration, and snapshot job, with success or failure status — and lets you kick off a manual backup to Proxmox Backup Server if you've got one configured. It won't let you build a new backup schedule from scratch; that's still a web UI job.
Commands Explained
The app itself doesn't require you to run anything on the host, but a few commands come up constantly when you're setting it up or figuring out why it won't connect. Here's what each one does:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
hostname -I | Prints the host's IP addresses, so you know what to type into the app's connection screen |
systemctl status pveproxy | Shows whether the web/API service is actually running — if it's down, the app can't reach it either, since they use the same backend |
journalctl -u pveproxy -n 50 --no-pager | Prints the last 50 log lines from pveproxy, useful when a login keeps failing and you need to see why |
pveum user list | Lists every configured user and which realm they belong to — handy for confirming exactly what to pick in the app's realm dropdown |
pveum passwd <userid> | Resets a user's password from the shell, for when you're locked out and can't get in through the GUI at all |
pve-firewall status | Shows whether Proxmox's built-in firewall is active — if it's enabled and misconfigured, it can silently block port 8006 even on your own LAN |
Common Errors
| What you see | What's actually going on |
|---|---|
| "Could not connect to server" | Your phone can't reach port 8006 — usually you're off the home network with no VPN, or a firewall (on the host, the router, or the phone's own network) is in the way |
| Login rejected with correct password | Wrong realm selected in the dropdown — PAM and Proxmox VE authentication accounts are separate pools, even if the username looks the same |
| Certificate warning on every connection attempt | Expected behavior with the default self-signed certificate; it'll keep appearing until you install a trusted certificate on the Proxmox host |
| Console button does nothing on iOS | You selected SPICE mode without aSpice Pro installed — switch to the built-in HTML5 console, or install the app first |
| TFA prompt never appears, login just fails | Hardware key NFC support is currently iOS-only in the app; Android users with a Yubikey need a TOTP code instead |
| VMs missing from the guest list | Your account's role doesn't have permission to see them — this is Proxmox's role-based access control working as intended, not a bug in the app |
Troubleshooting
When the app won't connect at all, work through it in order rather than guessing.
Start with the basics: is your phone actually on the same network as the Proxmox host, or on a VPN that routes to it? A phone on cellular data with no VPN configured has no path to a server sitting behind your home router, and that's the single most common reason people think the app is "broken."
Next, confirm the service is actually up. SSH into the host and run systemctl status pveproxy. If it's not active, a browser wouldn't be able to reach the web UI either, which tells you this isn't an app-specific problem at all.
If the service is running and you're on the right network, check pve-firewall status. Plenty of people enable the Proxmox firewall while following a hardening guide, forget to add a rule allowing port 8006 from their LAN, and then can't figure out why the app suddenly stopped connecting a week later.
Login failures with a password you're sure is correct almost always come down to the realm dropdown. Run pveum user list on the host and match the exact realm suffix against what's shown in the app.
If none of that explains it, pull the logs: journalctl -u pveproxy -n 50 --no-pager right after a failed attempt will usually show the rejected request and why.
Best Practices
Don't log the app into root@pam as a daily habit. Create a dedicated user with a role scoped to what you actually need from your phone — Start/Stop/Reboot on a handful of resources, maybe console access, nothing more. If your phone gets lost or the app's session is ever compromised, the blast radius stays small.
Turn on two-factor authentication for that account. It takes two minutes to set up under Datacenter → Permissions → Two Factor in the web UI, and it's the difference between a stolen phone being an inconvenience versus a real incident.
Never forward port 8006 straight to the internet just so the app works from anywhere. Use a VPN — Tailscale and WireGuard are both common, low-effort choices for a homelab — and connect your phone to that instead. The app doesn't care whether "your network" is your home Wi-Fi or a VPN tunnel; it just needs a route to port 8006.
Keep the app itself updated. It's actively developed, and new Proxmox VE releases occasionally add API behavior the app needs to catch up on.
I'd also skip enabling SPICE console access unless you specifically need it. The HTML5 console covers the vast majority of "I just need to see what's on this VM's screen" situations, and it's one less app to install and keep updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Proxmox VE Mobile free?
Yes. It's free on both the Play Store and App Store, with no separate license required beyond your existing Proxmox VE installation.
Does it work with Proxmox Backup Server too?
It's built for Proxmox VE, but it can trigger and monitor backup jobs that target a Proxmox Backup Server datastore. It isn't a standalone PBS management app.
Can I manage a cluster, not just a single node?
Yes. Once connected to any node in a cluster, the app shows you the whole cluster's guests and status, the same way the web UI does.
Do I need an API token to log in?
No. The app uses standard username, password, and realm login, with optional two-factor authentication — the same flow as the web interface's login form.
Why does my Yubikey work on iOS but not Android?
NFC-based hardware key login is currently only supported on iOS in this app. Android users can still use the same Yubikey for TOTP-based codes instead.
Is it safe to use over public Wi-Fi at a coffee shop?
Only if you're connecting through a VPN back to your home network. Never point the app directly at a Proxmox host that's exposed on the open internet.
Conclusion
Most homelab users never go looking for a mobile app because they don't realize Proxmox ships one. Once it's set up, it earns its spot on your home screen fast — not because it replaces the web UI, but because half the time you check on your server, all you actually need is a status glance and a restart button, and this gets you there in three taps instead of a laptop and a browser tab.
Set up a limited-privilege account, turn on two-factor authentication, and put it behind a VPN if you ever check in from outside your house. After that, it's just a faster way to keep an eye on the box that's quietly running everything in your closet.