Tailscale on old Android without root: Termux, SSH keys, ADB, and Chrome DevTools

⚡ The gist in 5 seconds - The old-phone-tailnet project has been published on GitHub: an old Android phone without root gets connected to a private Tailscale network. - The stack: Termux, Tailscale in userspace mode, SSH with public keys only, wireless ADB, and a Chrome debugging port. - No root or reflashing needed; the package includes prompts and a skill for Claude Code. ### 🔍 What was found The ythx-101/old-phone-tailnet repository describes a five-part setup: Termux as the userspace environment, Tailscale in userspace mode (userspace-networking), an SSH server with public-key-only authentication, wireless ADB running on the phone itself, and an open Chrome debugging port. All of this runs on a device without root — that is, without unlocking the bootloader or installing custom builds. The author has included ready-made prompts and a Claude Code skill with the instructions, so the agent can walk through the steps on the user's behalf. The mechanics are built around bypassing Android's main limitation: the regular tailscaled needs a tun interface, which requires root. In userspace mode, the tunnel traffic is handled within the process itself, and the phone quietly gets an address in the tailnet. Access then goes through that address: SSH in Termux accepts only keys (passwords won't work), ADB listens locally and is exposed via the tailnet address, and the Chrome debugging port lets DevTools connect to the browser on the phone from another device. ### 💡 Why it matters Old phones sit in drawers for years, even though they are ready-made, always-on mini-servers with a battery, Wi-Fi, and a screen. This scheme turns such a device into a remote testing rig or a narrow entry point into a home network — no root, no custom firmware, and no port forwarding to the outside, according to the repository description. A separate bonus is the prompts and the Claude Code skill: the author has offloaded the routine of setting up Termux and keys to an agent.