Using Meows

01

Before you start

Meows is a native Android SSH client and monitor. Connections originate on your device and do not pass through a Meows relay. The server does not need any additional software.

What happens when you use Meows

For your first test, use a temporary or non-critical server with a dedicated unprivileged SSH account. Do not grant it sudo or Docker access. When you are finished, remove the saved server from Meows and revoke the test key or account on the server.

Meows has no advertising SDKs, subscriptions, analytics, or telemetry. See the privacy policy for full details on how data is handled.

Where to find things

Long-press the Meows app icon for Add Server, Status, Settings, and Terminal shortcuts.

02

Add your first server

1. Open Dashboard and tap Add Server.
2. Enter a display name, host, SSH port, and username.
3. Choose password or private-key authentication, then enter the credential.
4. Optionally choose a bastion host, group, or per-server refresh interval, then save.

Connection fields

When editing a server, leaving the credential blank preserves the saved credential only while the authentication type remains unchanged.

Server names must be unique, ignoring letter case. Even with a different name, the same host, port, and username can be added only once. Usernames are case-sensitive.

After saving

After you save it, the server appears on Dashboard and monitoring starts automatically.

• Double-tap a server card to pin it to the top or unpin it.
• Deleting a server removes its saved configuration, credentials, alerts, local monitoring history, and any tunnel configurations that use it. It does not change the remote server.

03

Connections, bastion hosts, and host keys

For a direct connection, your device connects to the server. With a bastion, it connects to the bastion first, then uses the target server's own credentials to reach the target.

• One saved bastion can be reused by multiple servers. In Bastion Configuration, double-tap a bastion card to pin it to the top or unpin it.
• Deleting a bastion switches affected servers back to direct mode. It does not delete those servers.
• Meows records the server host key on first connection. If that key changes later, Meows blocks the connection until you review the new key.

Set up a bastion

1. Open Settings, then Bastion Configuration.
2. Add a name, host, port, username, and password or private key.
3. Tap Test to check the connection, then tap Add to save the bastion.
4. Edit the target server and select the saved bastion as its connection route.

Reconnects and retries

When a VPN or the default network changes, Meows disconnects the affected monitoring sessions and reconnects over the current network.

Meows retries temporary network and server failures automatically, with pauses that grow to about 30 seconds. Automatic retry stops when authentication needs attention. Edit the server if its password or private key is missing, invalid, or wrong. If the saved authentication information is correct, check SSH access on the target server or bastion, fix it, then use Retry connection on the card.

04

Dashboard and monitoring

Dashboard shows live server cards and a country or region map. Meows uses its bundled offline database to find a server's country or region. IP data is not reliable enough for city-level location, so the map stops there.

Finding a server

• Choose a group to filter servers, or All to clear the filter.
• Use the switch in the header to move between World Map and Data Monitoring.
• Select a country or region marker to see the servers in that area.
• The map also shows day and night shading and the current positions of the Sun and Moon. Select either marker for details.
• Servers without a usable location remain available under Servers Not Located.
• Data Monitoring shows the current online and offline counts for the active filter.

Server cards

A server card shows its connection state and the latest metrics Meows could read.

Card badge visibility applies to every server. Hiding a badge type only changes what the cards show. It does not stop monitoring or disable a feature.

Unlock results and server facts

Once monitoring data is available, Meows uses the current SSH connection to check Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube Premium, and Google Scholar from the server. Only services confirmed as unlocked appear on the card. Netflix access limited to Originals Only is not counted as unlocked.

Failed-login data depends on whether the SSH account can read the authentication log, the current boot's journal, or a system log. A blank or unavailable result can be a permission or platform limitation rather than a zero count.

Per-server alerts

Open Alert Settings at the bottom of a server card. Turn on alerts, set the CPU, memory, disk, and latency thresholds, and choose whether to be notified when the server disconnects.

History charts

Use the chart action in a server card header, then choose a 1, 2, or 5 minute range. The metric row scrolls horizontally. Tap Return to Status to show live data on the card again. History stays on your device for a short time.

05

Shell

Shell opens a separate interactive SSH session.

Start and end a session

1. Open Terminal and choose one of your saved servers.
2. After selecting a server, tap the connection icon in the upper-right corner and wait for the remote prompt. Selecting a server does not connect to it.
3. Tap the terminal to focus the keyboard. Tapping a recognized value in ordinary output opens Lens. Tapping elsewhere returns input focus to the terminal.
4. When the interactive session is no longer needed, tap the disconnect icon in the upper-right corner.

Use the server selector at the top to switch terminals. Each server has its own terminal; switching keeps other sessions connected, and input goes only to the selected terminal.

Disconnecting ends only the selected session and keeps its output visible. Once disconnected, use the trash icon to close that terminal and discard its output. Meows then selects the most recently used remaining terminal, whether connected or disconnected. The initial screen appears only when none remain. Closing a terminal does not delete the saved server.

Terminal controls

• top can redraw the main screen, while htop commonly uses an alternate screen. Exit full-screen programs with their normal key or Ctrl+C before reviewing main-screen scrollback.
• Terminal colors follow Meows' dynamic theme.
• Lens is available in ordinary terminal output, but not while a full-screen program is using the alternate screen.
• Scroll up to read earlier output, and move long lines sideways when needed. The view stays where it is while you look back. Return to the bottom or type to follow new output again.

06

Docker

Docker management runs through the selected server's SSH connection. You do not need to expose the Docker Remote API.

Open and use Docker

1. After Docker is detected, use the Docker action in the header of the connected server card.
2. Check the engine information and container totals, then filter the list by all, running, or stopped containers.
3. Each container card shows the available resource and network facts, with actions to start, stop, restart, or open logs.

• The same SSH user must already be allowed to use Docker. Meows does not automatically elevate with sudo.
• Logs open full screen. The view stays where it is while you scroll back through older entries. Return to the bottom or tap Latest to see new entries as they arrive. You can also copy logs or tap a recognized value to open Lens.
• If Docker is not installed, the Docker daemon is unavailable, or the SSH user lacks permission, the Docker button is not shown on the server card. If a Docker page is already open, it shows Docker not detected. Shell and monitoring remain available.

07

SSH tunnels

Create a tunnel

1. Open Settings, then Tunnel Configuration, and add a tunnel.
2. Choose the saved server that the tunnel will use.
3. Choose Local or Remote, then fill in Bind Port, Host Address, and Target Port.
4. Save the configuration and start it from the tunnel list.

• Double-tap a tunnel card to pin or unpin it. Editing or deleting a running tunnel stops the tunnel first.
• For local forwarding, other apps on the device connect to the configured local bind port.
• For remote forwarding, the Android device connects to the target. If that target is outside the device, the connection follows the device's current network.
• A running tunnel can continue working while Meows is in the foreground or Persistent Notification is enabled.
• After you stop a tunnel, it stays stopped until you start it again.

08

Background monitoring and alerts

Enable background monitoring

1. Open Settings and turn on Persistent Notification.
2. Allow notifications when Android asks so the persistent notification and threshold alerts can appear.

• Alerts are evaluated on the Android device. There is no cloud push server watching your hosts.
• When several thresholds are crossed at once, Meows combines them into one notification.
• Android vendors can still restrict background work. If monitoring stops after the app leaves the foreground, remove battery restrictions for Meows in system settings.
• This is device-side monitoring, not a guaranteed 24-hour remote monitoring service. Force-stopping the app also stops its monitoring and alerts.

09

Credentials, privacy, and backup

Credentials and trusted hosts

• SSH passwords and private keys are encrypted on the device with keys protected by Android Keystore.
• A host key identifies the remote SSH server. It is not the private key used to sign in. After the first connection, Meows rejects a different host key from the same host and port.
• Privacy Mode hides Meows from the recent-apps preview and blocks screenshots and screen recording while enabled.
• Clear Secure Data disconnects SSH sessions and deletes stored server and bastion credentials plus trusted host keys. Server and bastion configurations remain.

Google Drive backup

Backups created in the current format are encrypted on your device, then stored in Meows' hidden app data folder in Google Drive. They do not appear in the ordinary Drive file list. The cat name and short code are display names used only inside Meows.

Create, restore, or delete a backup

1. Open Cloud Backup in Settings, then sign in with the Google account where you want to store the backup.
2. Enter a 15–256 character master password using English letters, numbers, spaces, or symbols. When the on-device strength check shows Strong, choose Create Backup.
3. The list shows each backup's display name, creation time, and size. Refresh it after changes made from another device.
4. To restore a backup, select Download, confirm Restore, and enter its master password. Select Delete to remove it instead.

• Current backups contain server and bastion settings and credentials, tunnels, alert thresholds, the global refresh interval, theme, language, privacy mode, persistent notification setting, terminal font and size, and card badge visibility. Monitoring history is not included.
• Creating or restoring requires the master password each time. It is not recoverable. Losing it makes that backup impossible to restore.
• Restore can replace current app data. Review the confirmation before continuing.
• Uninstalling Meows removes its data from this device. It does not delete backups stored in Google Drive.
• Deleting a backup from the list permanently removes that selected cloud backup.
• If you still have a JSON backup created by Meows 1.0.153 or earlier, restore it in the current version and create a new backup. Meows 1.0.165 will no longer list or import those files, but it will not delete them from Drive.

10

Settings reference

A refresh interval set on a server overrides the global interval here.

To copy the developer's contact email, open Settings → About → Version Info.

Terminal appearance

The terminal can use System Monospace, Sarasa Fixed, JetBrains Mono, Cascadia Mono, or Maple Mono. Font size can be set from 6 to 20. These settings change only how the terminal looks in Meows, not settings on the server.

11

Meows Lens and tools

Lens marks supported text in ordinary Shell output and Docker logs. Tap it to see the available actions. Recognizing text alone does not perform a lookup, open a URL, or execute a command.

What Lens recognizes

You can review and copy command suggestions. Lens does not send them to Shell.

Built-in tools

Lens also recognizes a plain domain such as google.com.

12

Troubleshooting