FAQ

FAQ

Do I need Unraid Connect or a myunraid.net account? No. The gateway talks to the Unraid API on your LAN; Unraid Connect is not involved.

Does the API key's role limit what I can do with files? No. Roles only affect the dashboard (GraphQL). File access is decided by the container mounts. A VIEWER key uploads and deletes files just fine.

Why not just use SMB from the Files app? Files can connect to SMB, but only on the LAN or over a VPN, and it does not integrate into the Locations list as a synced provider. Unraid Drive works from anywhere and behaves like iCloud Drive.

Why a container? Can't the app talk to Unraid directly? Unraid's API has no file operations; and exposing SMB or SSH to the Internet is a bad idea. The gateway is a minimal, API-key-authenticated file service purpose-built for the Files app.

Is my data going through the developer's servers? No. There are none. Data goes device ↔ Cloudflare (or your proxy) ↔ your NAS.

Can I use it without Cloudflare? Yes, with any reverse proxy that gives a valid certificate, or over your VPN. See Alternatives to Cloudflare.

Does it work on Apple Vision Pro? Yes, natively. The Files app on visionOS shows Unraid Drive like on iPad.

Does it work on Mac? Not yet. A macOS version would need a separate File Provider build; it is on the roadmap.

I restored my iPhone: do I have to set everything up again? Not if Sync configuration with iCloud was on (gear icon → Settings). The first launch offers Restore from iCloud: servers come back from iCloud Key-Value Storage and their secrets from iCloud Keychain. Without sync, add the server again with URL and key.

Several Unraid servers? Add each one as a server in the app. Each appears as its own folder in the Files app.

Several users in the family? One gateway, one API key (or one per device), and each person enters their own Unraid username and password in the app. The gateway applies Unraid's share security per user (public / secure / private, read and write lists), so everybody sees exactly what they see over SMB. Passwords are verified by Unraid's Samba, not stored by the gateway.

What happens if the container is down? The Files app shows the last known listing and cached files; new operations wait and show a sync warning until it is back.

Can I run the gateway on something other than Unraid? Technically yes (it is a normal Docker image) but it needs an Unraid API to validate keys, so it only makes sense next to an Unraid server.

Is the code open? Yes: unraid-gateway (Go) and unraid-drive (Swift), both MIT.