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Mobile Access (PWA)

Distill can be installed as a Progressive Web App on your phone for a native app-like experience.

Prerequisites

  • Distill dashboard running on your Mac
  • Tailscale installed on both Mac and phone (free for personal use)
  • Both devices on the same Tailnet

Step 1: Install Tailscale

brew install tailscale
# Or download from https://tailscale.com/download/mac
tailscale up

Download Tailscale from the App Store and sign in with the same account.

Step 2: Find your Mac's Tailscale hostname

tailscale status

Look for your machine name — it'll be something like your-macbook.tail12345.ts.net or a 100.x.x.x IP address.

Step 3: Start the dashboard

uv run python -m distill serve --output ./insights

The server listens on port 6107 by default.

Step 4: Open on your phone

On your iPhone, open Safari and navigate to:

http://your-macbook.tail12345.ts.net:6107

Use the Tailscale IP if hostname doesn't resolve

http://100.x.x.x:6107

Step 5: Add to Home Screen

  1. Tap the Share button in Safari (square with arrow)
  2. Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen
  3. Name it "Distill" and tap Add

The app now launches in standalone mode (no Safari chrome) with the Distill icon.

Optional: HTTPS with Tailscale certs

For a more secure setup:

# On your Mac
tailscale cert your-macbook.tail12345.ts.net

# Start with TLS
uv run python -m distill serve --output ./insights \
  --tls-cert your-macbook.tail12345.ts.net.crt \
  --tls-key your-macbook.tail12345.ts.net.key

Then access via https://your-macbook.tail12345.ts.net:6117 on your phone.

Offline support

The PWA includes a service worker that caches static assets. If your Mac is unreachable, you'll see a basic offline page. Content requires a live connection to the server.

Troubleshooting

Can't reach the server from phone?

  • Verify both devices show as connected in the Tailscale app
  • Try pinging your Mac from the phone: open Safari, go to http://100.x.x.x:6107
  • Make sure the Distill server is running (lsof -i :6107)

PWA not updating?

  • Open the PWA, pull down to refresh
  • If stale, clear the site data in Safari Settings > Advanced > Website Data