Tailscale wasn’t on my radar until a friend recently raved about its capabilities to me. Looking around the web, it seems the software has attracted a loyal following; perhaps part of the reason I hadn’t come across it before is that it’s not all that easy to understand what it does. Tailscale is technically a VPN (Virtual Private Network), but not in the way the term is typically used. Whereas something like NordVPN or ExpressVPN connects you to someone else’s network to access the wider web, Tailscale does the opposite, and connects you to your own network from outside.
Credit: Lifehacker
“Remote access technology” has been around for years, of course, but it often involves a lot of detailed and technical setup steps—you want to be able to access your home network remotely without letting anyone else in, and that usually means some complicated configuration involving router settings and several third-party apps.
There’s none of that with Tailscale, and when you actually install the software, you quickly start to see what all the fuss is about. You can be sitting in a coffee shop or hotel room and have virtually the same access to your home network as you would if you were actually in your living room, which has all kinds of benefits, from file sharing to managing your smart home devices.
The obvious use case is remote access to a computer you have at home, without the layers of complexity or using another company’s servers. Tailscale also makes it easier to access media servers you’ve set up with apps like Plex or Jellyfin, and smart home setups running through Home Assistant or another dashboard.
Credit: Lifehacker
Everything is built on the open-source WireGuard VPN protocol, which creates private and encrypted links to all of the devices you want to connect to your network—your “tailnet.” To add a new device, just install Tailscale on it, whether it’s your phone on a 5G connection or a desktop computer set up at the office. Tailscale is free for personal use, which covers up to six individual users and an unlimited number of personal devices, though there are some limits: 50 tagged resources (always-on devices that need multi-user access, like a NAS box), and three Access Control List or ACL groups (for setting access permissions per user). Paid plans start at $8 per month.
Putting Tailscale to the test
The ease of setup is one of the main appeals of Tailscale, and it couldn’t be much more straightforward. Download the relevant app on whatever device you want to start with, create an account (you can sign in using a Google, Microsoft, GitHub, or Apple account), and you’re up and running. I had a Windows PC, a MacBook, an Android phone, and an iPhone connected to my tailnet in a matter of minutes, with just a few taps and clicks required. There’s also a web portal you can access to see all of the devices you’ve connected and what they’re up to.
Credit: Lifehacker
One improvement I noticed right away was the addition of Tailscale to the share sheet on Android and iOS, which meant I could quickly share photos and other files between all my devices in seconds (no AirDrop or Android Quick Share required). I could also instantly access the shared folders on my desktop and laptop computers from my phone.
Something else you can do very easily is set up a remote access app on a phone and use it to connect directly to one of your computers in a different physical location, with no exposure to the wider internet and no advanced configuration required—Tailscale provides you with an IP address that looks like a local network. Any of your home computers can be configured as an exit node as well, which means internet traffic can be rerouted through it. If you’re in a hotel, for example, you can use Tailscale as a secure tunnel back home, which means websites see you as visiting from home rather than an unrecognized hotel IP address.
Credit: Lifehacker
There are some areas where Tailscale can improve (the Windows client isn’t quite as straightforward to use as the macOS one), and it’s fair to say at least some basic networking knowledge is required to get to grips with Tailscale, but in terms of software that’s free and useful, it’s hard to beat. I didn’t dive into more advanced use cases involving NAS drives or home servers, as they’re not something that I’m working with at the moment, but that’s the next level of Tailscale capability
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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