Pi Access with Tablet/Smart Phone

[OldPCGuy]

What is the simplest way to connect to a Pi ZeroW (running headless, collecting data) and display that data on a smart phone or tablet and not require an existing network/router. Essentially peer to peer.

In my limit research I believe setting up the Pi as an access point or Ad-hoc network are two methods. Would SSH into the Pi be a solution, I hate having to type a bunch of commands.

[topguy]

Would SSH into the Pi be a solution,

You mean for setting it up or using it afterwards ?

The *simplest* way is to connect to an existing wifi-router, but yes both ad-hoc or Pi as an AP will probably work. I've seen more guides for the AP solution.

[OldPCGuy]

Would SSH into the Pi be a solution,

You mean for setting it up or using it afterwards ?

Yes, afterwards to view the collected data.

[Lob0426]

You can use SSH to run it CLI (Command Line Interface). If you want to use it through the desktop then install xrdp and use remote desktop to get in! Then you can use the tablet or phone touchscreen. I have not tried RDP under adhoc, but it is supposed to work.

[sparkie777]

just install

Termux - Android Apps on Google Play

on your tablet/ smartphone. This will enable an (almost) full-fledged debian apt environment (including ssh, sshd bash, vim, gawk, mutt, rsync) on your smartphone. I.e. with all the linux commands you already know from your PI.

[kayel]

This works:
Make the pi a wifi access point and connect to it with the phone.
VNC serveur on the pi.
VNC viewer on the phone.

[OldPCGuy]

I've come across some examples that use Apache server on the Pi to host a web page that you access from any smart phone. In the examples there were buttons to control some LEDs on the Pi. So would it be hard to have the web page just display data from a pyton script collecting the data?

I was able to create an ad-hoc network on the Pi and connect with a smart phone. So web page hosting should work over an ad-hoc network right?

Or is there an easier way?

[mattmiller]

As with anything - there is always many ways to do something but there is nothing wrong with your current approach

[OldPCGuy]

As with anything - there is always many ways to do something but there is nothing wrong with your current approach

Most examples are data/communication sent from the smart phone to the Pi, for example WiringPi . I looking to do the opposite.

I am running PIGPIO daemon with another project maybe I can use that.

[DougieLawson]

I use JuiceSSH https://juicessh.com which I thought was so good I paid for the upgraded version.

The only practical way to make a connection using your existing WiFi network or to run your RPi as an access point.