Comments for The iPhone Becomes a Web Server

The iPhone Becomes a Web Server

2009-02-09T13:24:32Z

When those Apple advertisements tout "there's an app for just about anything," they aren't kidding. The latest example? A new iPhone application which just debuted in Japan's App Store transforms the handheld into a full-blown web server. Called "ServersMan@iPhone", the application allows your iPhone to appear just like any other web server on the internet.

]]> The new application was developed by a Japanese operation called FreeBit, a Tokyo-based venture company known for providing its network platform to many VNO/ISPs (virtual network operator/Internet service providers).

Once the app is installed, PCs on the internet can access the iPhone to upload or download files through a browser or they can use the webDAV protocol. If the PC and the iPhone are on the same network, the PC can connect directly. If they are on separate networks, then FreeBit's VPN software will engage the connection.

The name "ServersMan" is said to be inspired by Sony's "WalkMan," and its no coincidence that FreeBit has invited Sony's former CEO Nobuyuki Idei to be a business advisor for the company.

At the moment, the ServersMan@iPhone is only available in the Japanese App Store, but an English version is coming in March. A port for Windows Mobile devices is also under development.

Comment from Ben Werdmuller on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T13:52:27Z

The ability to do this changes everything. This isn't about accessing files etc, although that's a great first step. If every node on the Internet can be its own server, imagine a truly decentralized social web of people trading data and human information in ad hoc ways over open protocols.

Goodbye Facebook: hello community.

Comment from Steve on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:26:57Z

Nice! Though it's worth noting that a couple of web servers (Apache, lighttpd) have been available for jailbroken iPhones for quite a while. One of the earliest, geekiest things I played with when I first got my iPhone. :)

Comment from Christopher Ross on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:33:08Z

OMG, my own portable web server! That's absolutely brilliant. Now all I need is a QuickTime Streaming Service to feed the live web cam to the world and you guys can watch me do groceries. :)

Comment from Jason Huebel on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:35:17Z

Although not a full-blown web server, there are a number of apps that have been available for a while that do all the WebDAV stuff. Now, if they can create an iAMP stack (iPhone, Apache, MySQL, PHP), I'm onboard.

Comment from Steve on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:37:03Z

'IAMP' stack...I like it! Everyone can serve up their personal blog from the comfort of their own pocket. :)

Comment from Steve on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:39:30Z

Actually, I just checked and PHP and SQLite are already available, so you could theoretically do an 'IASP' stack I suppose...

Comment from Jason Huebel on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:40:10Z

SQLite is just fine with me. It's probably a better choice for the iPhone anyway, since it's much lighter weight and doesn't have a daemon that runs all the time.

Comment from David Knight on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:41:00Z

I have no idea how I will use this but I think I must have it for nerd appeal

Comment from Richard on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:44:02Z

I had a web server running on my Sony Ericsson P800 phone about 5 years ago. Nothing new, I'm afraid.

Comment from Jayavasanthan J on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:49:28Z

Why not sqlite instead of mysql, BTW, I believe all ipods and Iphone already have it ?

Comment from Josh Chandler on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:54:37Z

Well, I think if this is going to become a "full scale web server" client for the iPhone the 3G would certainly be a little bit slower (great!), I am interested in the comment made on the RWW article by a guy called Richard (http://tr.im/ff4v), is this true???

Comment from Ron West on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T14:54:59Z

This is very interesting indeed. Wrapping my head around this but with a tiny web server - each phone could become a publishing center where users wouldn't need to send photos, videos or messages to other places. People would just come to them.

It would give people an easy way to keep all of their data in one central location:
http://www.notronwest.com/blog/2007/01/19/i-want-it-all-back/

Comment from xxdesmus on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T15:26:48Z

good bye battery life...guess we really do need that replaceable battery, huh Apple?

Comment from Loren on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T15:47:10Z

A perfect example of a technology that gets geeks excited but in reality is completely useless.

Comment from Brian Smith on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T15:49:57Z

Nokia S60 phones have been able to do this for years: http://research.nokia.com/research/projects/mobile-web-server/.

UIQ phones and Windows Mobile phones have their own web servers too (Windows Mobile apparently has multiple implementations to choose from.)

Comment from Richard on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T15:57:01Z

@Josh Chandler: yes it's true. Google for "symbian web server" and you'll find plenty of references. I can't remember the name of the app I used and it seems to have been superceded by a whole load of alternatives since then. It was mostly only useful as a local web server on the phone, because this was before phones had Wifi or 3G. But it worked.

Comment from bruce m. on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T16:04:24Z

this is very cool, and portends great and innovative things to come. if everyone is a walking web server, and (hopefully soon) these things can act as wifi routers too, we will truly be onto a mesh network that could do amazing things.

actually, is there any reason that the phones could operate in a P2P fashion now? if so why or why not?

i'd love to understand a little more about the potentials of this...

Comment from @Livecrunch on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T17:17:13Z

That's great little web app, nothing new but it's new to EyePhone users :)

I have developer doing same thing for G1 , weird that idea came about 2 months ago to my mind.

Anyways great post.

CEO Livecrunch.

Comment from Phil Glockner on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T17:54:32Z

I think someone put a web server on an Apple Newton, so I can't say that 'putting a web server on a really small device' is a completely original thought. And to push it to the extreme, check out the gumstix platform: http://www.gumstix.com/

Comment from Snakeyes11 on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T18:37:11Z

the iPhone has become a computer basically, a small one

Comment from Television Spy on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T18:59:30Z

That's cool but I can't fanthom how it work. I mean if you have internet access on your phone you must have an ip - but surely it's not dedicated. And when your on the internet with your phone it's probably a dynamic ip so you'd have to do some constant updating of ip to the dns/domain meaning that you'd also have a TTL of like 5 seconds or 1 minute.

Boggles the mind on whether this works. Someone do it and post a demo I want to try it clientside.

Comment from PacoBell on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T19:10:13Z

@Television Spy: Did you miss the part about connecting via VPN when the client is on a separate network? Bam! Public IP.

Comment from Eric on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T19:15:15Z

Umm, is this supposed to be big news? Has anyone heard of Apache? The Apache web server software has been around for a long time and can be installed on the iPhone. Why re-invent the wheel? But the iPhone does have to be jailbroken in order to install Apache.

Comment from JJ Walker on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T19:23:10Z

@Snakeyes11 - O_o

Missed the boat on the “computer” thing... Now if you said something like "Whow! The iPhone Becomes a Web Server!" That's cooking with propane.

Comment from beej on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T19:40:59Z

Although I do admire the iphone, I dont think this is anything special. Windows Mobile phones has many web servers you can run on it. Infact windows mobile has everything. Can you use your iPhone as an access point yet?

Comment from Metalkid on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T19:56:38Z

Iphone is too small to have a true webserver.

Comment from Tyler on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T19:57:00Z

@beej, I actually do believe there is a way to use your iphone as an access point, Ive only heard about it but from what i remember you just have to reconfigure your computer to connect to the iphone somehow, and then you can use the edge or 3G network off the iphone as an internet connection

Comment from Ian on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T20:19:21Z

@Metalkid - How "big" does a device have to be to have a web server?

I can run a web server on a watch sized device that can support full http requests, display flash, etc...

Comment from JOhn Davis on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T20:34:10Z

Wow, I think you may be onto something here

RT
www.anonymity-tools.us.tc

Comment from AriX on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T20:46:07Z

This isn't quite news... There have been web servers for the iPhone for ages, starting with the jailbreak, and even a few sharing apps in the app store similar to this one. In fact, on the 1.1.x devices, PHP was available in the repositories, allowing for an IAP stack, but not quite IAMP. It may be available in Cydia as well, but I haven't tried.

Comment from Anil on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T22:01:19Z

Wait,
If you ever jailbreak the iPhone, there is some thing called "Apache", and it works. Use SSH/SFTP to upload your pages. I donno if they have PHP or Tomcat for iphone :)/

Comment from Tony on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T22:30:19Z

Errr this isn't totally new. Airshare also uses a webserver to allow file transfers.

Comment from Brendan on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T22:31:37Z

Sarah. Dude. This is not news.

For five bucks you can buy Air Sharing right now in the U.S. There's no need to sit around waiting for this app to be translated into unreadable Japinglish (sorry FreeBit that was a low blow but seriously, this is the economic season to Buy American, baby). Air Sharing's been out since last fall. It hosts a full web server with WebDAV extensions. No jailbreak required. There are literally DOZENS of other web servers on the App Store as well. They're in the Productivity category.

How

Comment from eas on 2009-02-09

2009-02-09T22:41:43Z

Adding to Brendan's comment, there isn't just AirSharing, there are probably a half-dozen different apps in the app store that let you upload and download files from the iPhone over HTTP.

Most or all of them are focused on doing it over WiFi though.

Comment from Charlie on 2009-02-09

2009-02-10T02:44:33Z

I'll keep my client device as a client device, thanks, and leave serving to the servers. I don't want all those hackers out there to be able to initiate a connection to my phone - I don't have the time or expertise to keep it hardened.

Comment from Simple on 2009-02-10

2009-02-10T10:13:18Z

wow, i love this kind of app. I will be waiting for the english version...

Comment from Arnaud on 2009-02-10

2009-02-10T13:30:02Z

Really distributive approach.
One point is that it is only for iPhone device. So how to answer universality of the service.
I am wondering if Smart Card Web Server technology (i.e: web Server in Telecom SIM card) could be a complementary approach to reach every subscriber.

Comment from dvsjr on 2009-02-10

2009-02-10T16:42:30Z

Newton handhelds have been serving web pages like this for a decade. My Newton 2100 is wireless and serving web pages at http://newtonserver.no-ip.com and there are more here: http://misato.chuma.org:3680/

Comment from James on 2009-02-11

2009-02-11T09:37:27Z

not to be a downer, but is it really practical? I've been looking at gumstix (as mentioned above) for a while. I think portable personal server for developing on the go would be cool, or even just opening the doors for you to write simple programs (html) that you could access locally, but with a live server, what if you get dugg or slashdotted, even while you're having a phone call? and with WiFi, 3G etc why would you want an unplugged webserver in your pocket that might run out of juice at any time. Wouldn't it make more sense to leave the serving to the server and be the client on your device?

I'm sure that with 3G you're already carrying a homing device in your pocket, so maybe no effect in that sense. I could imagine some security issues where you may be able to be found based on your IP if someone was clever enough, or if someone sent a ton of packets to your server and DOS'd your phone..

i need to read more science fiction!

Comment from Scott Nelle on 2009-02-11

2009-02-11T16:28:16Z

I wonder if it appends "Sent from my iphone" to every page that it seves up. ;-)

Comment from Vlad Trifa on 2009-02-12

2009-02-12T12:52:24Z

you mean "served from my iphone"! lol

Comment from nullpointer on 2009-02-12

2009-02-13T01:41:10Z

whats the point

Comment from http://www.ejtsystems.com/author/etorvinen/ on 2009-02-14

2009-02-14T15:25:41Z

Well its possible.

You probably need a plugin for a dynamic ip service.
Like dyndns.com!

---
www.ejtsystems.com

Comment from web development Dubai on 2009-04-22

2009-04-22T08:18:25Z

Please please please tell me where you got Apache (the exact URL). I can’t find it in any of the Community sources under installer.app or under any of the repositories under Cydia. I have used Google on my PC but …

Also, if you know where I can Perl for the iTouch …

Comment from Unlock iphone 3g on 2009-05-04

2009-05-05T05:44:16Z

what the hell, someone send me the real link, i have a locked iphone it needs to be activated. I used simpleiphoneunlock.net My iPhone is now unlocked now!

Comment from Frank Polenose on 2009-05-08

2009-05-08T14:35:01Z

Cracking idea - I'll definitely get one! What's the point? Where do I start!

Frank

Comment from John Bayne on 2009-05-15

2009-05-15T20:43:03Z

Cool stuff but most cell operators use private IPv4 addresses so unless you tunnel all your visitors via VPN it will not work. It would be better if they supported IPv6 so that the operators could give everbody a unique IP address.

/JB

Comment from joe squeaker on 2009-05-15

2009-05-16T04:11:15Z

So this is like http://www.mobilewikiserver.com but those folks enable web serving using wiki syntax, blogging, twitter client, style sheets etc.

Comment from Harry Brindley on 2009-05-17

2009-05-18T04:48:35Z

I'm blogging the experience of setting up ServersMan's CyberDuck on my iPhone here: http://slapphappe.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/turn-your-iphone-into-a-webserver-with-serversman/

Comment from Frank Polenose on 2009-05-18

2009-05-18T17:32:42Z

Just thought I'd let you know - I've now got one and would recommend 110%!

Comment from Shun Fushimi on 2009-05-24

2009-05-25T05:38:21Z

Hi, my name is Shun Fushimi and I'm a member of ServersMan team in FreeBit Corp., Japan.
Thanks for using ServersMan.
BTW, we recently released version 2.0. in App Store U.S. for free!

With ServersMan@iPhone, you can use your iPhone as a Web Server.
Also you can use it as a Network File Storage too.
Both of them doesn't take you more than 5 minutes.
It works on both WiFi and 3G networks (unlike other similar apps!)

Moreover, version 2.0 enables multi-thread proccessing so you're iPhone can be accessed simultaneously from many people just like usual Web Servers.

We made some demo videos of ServersMan so please see the following if you want to know how it works.
http://www.youtube.com/user/serversman

Thanks!

Comment from mirc on 2009-06-14

2009-06-14T17:37:22Z

but those folks enable web serving using wiki syntax, blogging, twitter client, style sheets etc.

Comment from sohbet on 2009-06-14

2009-06-14T17:40:29Z

We made some demo videos of ServersMan so please see the following if you want to know how it works.

Comment from supra on 2009-07-21

2009-07-22T06:06:22Z

sorry, i am just a laygirl, i guess the iphone must be cool. would you please explain the powerful function of it?

Comment from jordan shoes on 2009-07-22

2009-07-23T03:47:22Z

the iphone will become more and more popular. a trend.

Comment from Payday Loans on 2009-07-25

2009-07-25T11:50:41Z

This is a cracking idea, i should get it done too...

Comment from Payday Loans on 2009-07-25

2009-07-25T12:06:37Z

I just cant get hold of one of these...

Could anyone help please.

Comment from Air Max on 2009-07-28

2009-07-29T01:40:27Z

great news to hear that.

Comment from Piggy Bank on 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T20:20:53Z

Interesting concept using the i-Phone as a server, but the power isn't really there yet imo

Comment from Air Max on 2009-08-03

2009-08-03T09:16:27Z

creative idea,,,,

Comment from China Wholesale on 2009-08-04

2009-08-05T06:05:56Z

It would be better if they supported IPv6 so that the operators could give everbody a unique IP address.

Comment from Nike Air Max on 2009-08-05

2009-08-05T09:05:57Z

great news to hear that.

Comment from Yashua on 2009-08-15

2009-08-15T19:06:00Z

This sounds great! Although you better NEVER turn off your iphone if you wish to use it as a webserver.

For some of you who are trying to view the stupid MMS that AT&T blocks, there is one app I found after spending $1.99 and $.99 and $2.99 and $4.99 several times on different once, the only one that shows me MMS messages using AT&T's stupid thing is the http://MMS.ifind2.com after spending all this money, I finally can say this one works and I no longer have to remember ID and Passwords to type in to get the pictures I've been trying to get using the iphone. So go get this one, it's the only one that works. I've also purchased now 4 apps that claim they can send MMS but AT&T blocks the port so they won't work. I called the Mac people and one very nice guy told me that he is using the http://MMS.ifind2.com one and the same people are coming up with one that will go around AT&T's limitation to send MMS. I think that will be out soon also. Cheers, Yashua.

Comment from ikinci el esya on 2009-08-22

2009-08-22T23:28:10Z

super article Thanks

Comment from namensschilder magnet on 2009-08-30

2009-08-30T18:18:49Z

is php already avaible or not

best regards
namensschilder shop

Comment from tiffany jewelry on 2009-09-03

2009-09-04T01:31:47Z

WHAT YOU SAY IS WAHT I WANNA KNOW,THANK YOU !