How To Setup Tailscale on IOS, MacOS & Hostinger VPS
April 29, 2026 · Mike Murphy
In this tutorial, you will learn how to set up a Tailscale private mesh network so all of your devices (iPhone, MacBook Pro, and a Hostinger VPS) can talk to each other from anywhere in the world over a free, private, and end-to-end encrypted network. No port forwarding, no firewall rules, and no exposed IP addresses.
Description
In this tutorial, you will learn how to set up a Tailscale private mesh network so all of your devices (iPhone, MacBook Pro, and a Hostinger VPS) can talk to each other from anywhere in the world over a free, private, and end-to-end encrypted network. No port forwarding, no firewall rules, and no exposed IP addresses.
🧠 What You Will Learn
- Tailscale: what a mesh VPN is and why it beats traditional VPNs
- WireGuard: the encryption powering your private network
- iPhone: install Tailscale and join the network
- MacBook Pro: install Tailscale and authenticate
- Hostinger VPS: install Tailscale from the terminal
- Tailscale CLI: sudo tailscale up, status, and logout
- Admin dashboard: rename machines for easy identification
- Private IPs: how devices talk without exposing anything publicly
🔗 Links
🌐 Hostinger VPS (Affiliate Link):
https://www.hostg.xyz/SHIDN
Tailscale:
https://tailscale.com
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 Intro: About The Tutorial
00:36 What is Tailscale?
02:23 Traditional Setup vs Tailscale Mesh
03:44 Prerequisites (Requirements)
04:18 Step 1: Setup Tailscale on Mac
05:01 Tailscale Plans (Free)
06:14 Download & Install Tailscale
07:10 Login & Connect To Tailnet
08:51 Step 2: Setup on iPhone
11:33 Step 3: Install on VPS
12:26 VPS Terminal Install
13:11 Bring Tailscale Up on VPS
14:33 Rename Devices on Tailscale Network
15:38 VPS: Check Status
16:50 Outro
What is Tailscale?
- A free VPN that creates a private mesh network across your devices
- Every device gets a fake IP address (
100.x.y.z) that only your other devices can reach - No port forwarding. No router config. No public IP exposure.
- Works across cellular, Wi-Fi, and wired connections — anywhere in the world
- Built on WireGuard under the hood, but you never have to think about that
Core Commands Reference
**VPS — check Tailscale status
**sudo tailscale status
**
VPS — see your VPS’s Tailscale IP
**tailscale ip -4
**VPS — bring Tailscale up or down
**sudo tailscale up
sudo tailscale down
**VPS — log out and disconnect
**sudo tailscale logout
Complete Setup Summary
**On the VPS, the entire setup is just two commands:
**curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh |
sudo tailscale up
Then authenticate in the browser, and you’re done. iPhone and Mac are point-and-click installs from the App Store and tailscale.com.