The Synology Mobile Apps - DS file, Synology Photos & More

An Overview of the Synology App Family

Synology does not make one giant app that does everything. Instead they make several smaller apps, each focused on one job. This keeps each app simple, and you install only the ones you need.

There are a few more for video, audio, and email, which we will touch on. But this table covers the ones most people care about. Get these names in your head and the rest falls into place.

DS file - Browse All Your NAS Files

DS file is like a window into every folder on your NAS, right from your phone. If you can see a file on your NAS at the computer, you can reach it in DS file on the go.

Think of DS file as the phone version of the Windows or Mac file browser, but pointed at your NAS instead of your computer. It is the most general-purpose of the apps - if you are not sure which app to use for a file, DS file can usually do it.

• Open and view documents, photos, and other files stored on the NAS.
• Upload a file or photo from your phone up to the NAS.
• Download a file to your phone to keep or view offline.
• Create folders, rename, move, and delete files.

Synology Photos - View and Back Up Photos

Synology Photos is the app most people love most. It automatically copies the photos you take on your phone up to your NAS, and it lets you browse your whole photo collection from anywhere.

This is a private alternative to the big cloud photo services, kept on your own NAS at home. When you first set it up, turn on the photo backup option and let it run - the first backup can take a while, then it keeps up quietly after that.

• Automatic backup - new photos you take are copied to the NAS on their own, so they are safe even if your phone is lost.
• Viewing - you can scroll through years of photos stored on the NAS, sorted by date, without filling up your phone.

Synology Drive - Your Synced Files

Synology Drive keeps a folder in step across your devices. Save a file on your computer, and it appears on your phone and NAS too. It is your own private version of services like Dropbox or the big cloud drives.

Sync means the same file stays matched everywhere. Edit a document on your laptop, and the updated copy is waiting on your phone. Delete it in one place, and it clears from the others. Everything lives on your NAS, under your roof, not on a stranger's server.

DS cam - View Your Cameras

If you use your NAS to record security cameras with Synology's Surveillance Station, the DS cam app lets you watch those cameras live and review recordings from your phone.

DS cam only works if you have already set up Surveillance Station on the NAS and added cameras to it. Surveillance Station is a separate package you install from Package Center. Once cameras are set up there, DS cam becomes your pocket viewing screen.

• See a live view from any of your cameras.
• Play back recorded footage to see what happened earlier.
• Get an alert if a camera detects motion (when set up that way).

DS video and DS audio in Brief

If you keep music on your NAS, DS audio lets you enjoy it from your phone. It is for entertainment collections, so not everyone needs it.

DS audio plays the music stored on your NAS through the Audio Station package, streaming your own albums to your phone. The old DS video movie app has been retired - Synology removed the Video Station package it relied on in DSM 7.2.2, back in 2024, so it no longer works on current systems. For movies and home videos, Synology now points people to other apps, and Plex is the popular choice - I have a separate guide on running it.

DS finder - Manage and Check on the NAS

DS finder is a bit different from the others. Instead of reaching your files, it lets you check on the health of the NAS itself and handle basic management from your phone.

Most home users do not need DS finder day to day. It is more useful for the person who likes to keep an eye on how the machine is doing, or who occasionally needs to restart it from afar.

• Whether the NAS is online and running normally.
• How the drives and storage are doing.
• System information like temperature and available space.
• The ability to restart or shut down the NAS remotely.

Secure SignIn - Approve 2FA Logins

Secure SignIn is a small but important safety app. When you have two-factor sign-in turned on, this app is how you confirm that a sign-in is really you.

Two-factor means that after your password, a second step is needed to prove it is you. With Secure SignIn, that second step can be as easy as tapping Approve on your phone when you sign in. It stops a stranger from getting in with just a stolen password.

The MailPlus App in Brief

MailPlus is for a smaller group of users: people who run their own email on the NAS using Synology's MailPlus Server. If that is not you, you can skip this one entirely.

Some businesses and advanced users host their own email directly on their NAS, rather than using a service like Gmail or Outlook. The MailPlus phone app is the mailbox for that self-hosted email - it lets them read and send from their phone.

Signing In With Your QuickConnect ID

To connect a phone app to your NAS, the app needs to find your NAS. The easiest way is a QuickConnect ID - a simple name you set up once that stands in for all the technical connection details.

Instead of typing in numbers and network settings, you give your NAS a memorable QuickConnect ID - something like a username for your whole NAS. Then in any Synology app, you just enter that ID, your account name, and your password, and it connects.

Staying Signed In Safely on Your Own Phone

On your own personal phone - the one that stays with you and has a lock screen - it is fine and convenient to stay signed in to the Synology apps. Here is how to do that sensibly.

When those are true, staying signed in saves you from typing your password every time, and there is little risk. The apps only open to someone who can first get past your phone's own lock.

• Your phone has a passcode, fingerprint, or face lock, so no one else can open it.
• The phone stays in your possession, not lent out or left lying around.
• You have two-factor sign-in turned on as an extra layer.

Uploading a Photo or File From Your Phone

One of the handiest things the apps do is send a file or photo from your phone up to the safety of your NAS. Here is the general way it works.

Uploading a document works the same way in DS file. This is a gentle way to get important things off your phone and onto the NAS, where they are backed up and out of harm's way.

• For photos, Synology Photos usually does this automatically once backup is on.
• To send one by hand, open DS file or Synology Photos.
• Find the upload button - often a plus sign or an upward arrow.
• Choose the photo from your phone, and pick where on the NAS it should go.
• Wait for it to finish - a bigger file takes a little longer.

Downloading a File for Offline Use

Sometimes you want a file on your phone itself, so you can open it even without internet - on a plane, or in a spot with no signal. The apps let you download a copy for that.

Remember that a downloaded copy lives on your phone and takes up its space. It is perfect for the document you need at an appointment, but you do not need to download everything - the point of the NAS is to keep the bulk of your files off your phone.

• In DS file, find the file you want to keep.
• Look for a Download or an Add to offline / Pin option.
• The app saves a copy to your phone so it opens without a connection.

Sharing a File From Your Phone

The apps let you share a file straight from your NAS with someone else - a family member, a friend, a coworker - usually by creating a link they can open.

This saves you from emailing large attachments. The file stays on your NAS, and the other person simply borrows a link to it. Many apps let you set the link to expire, or add a password, for extra control.

• In DS file or Synology Photos, find the file or photo to share.
• Tap it, then look for a Share option.
• The app creates a link you can send by text or email.
• The other person opens the link to view or download the file.

Push Notifications

The apps can send little alerts to your phone, called push notifications, to tell you when something happens on your NAS - without you having to open the app to check.

You turn these on in each app's settings, and you can also control them in your phone's own notification settings. Choose the alerts that are genuinely useful to you and switch off the ones that would just be noise.

• A photo backup has finished.
• A camera detected motion (with DS cam).
• Someone signed in, or tried to.
• The NAS needs attention, like low storage space.

Using the Apps on a Tablet

Everything the apps do on a phone, they do on a tablet too - just on a bigger, more comfortable screen. For many folks, a tablet is the nicest way to enjoy their NAS.

You install the same apps from your tablet's app store and sign in with the same QuickConnect ID and account. An iPad or an Android tablet both work. Nothing extra to buy or set up beyond the tablet itself.

• The larger screen makes browsing photos a real pleasure.
• Reading documents in DS file is easier on the eyes.
• Watching a movie feels more like a proper screen.

Which Apps Most People Actually Need

With so many apps in the family, it helps to hear plainly which ones are worth your time. For the great majority of home users, the answer is short.

Start with just Synology Photos and DS file. That covers most of what people want a NAS to do from their phone. Add the others only when you have a clear reason - do not install them all just to have them.

Keeping the Apps Updated

Just like the apps on the rest of your phone, the Synology apps get updates that fix problems and close security holes. Keeping them current is a simple, worthwhile habit.

Let your phone update its apps automatically. Both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store have a setting to update apps on their own. Turn that on once, and your Synology apps stay current without you thinking about it.

What's in the 27-page PDF

• A tour of the main Synology phone apps and what each one does
• How to sign in with your QuickConnect ID
• Uploading, downloading, and sharing from your phone
• Push notifications and how to use the apps on a tablet
• Which apps most people actually need
• Staying signed in safely - and when not to

Why I wrote this

I write these as printable handouts because a guide you can keep in a drawer beats a web page you have to find again. No jargon, no judgment, no rushing. If you'd rather have someone sit beside you and go through it together, that's a flat $99 first visit with the 30-day follow-up included — serving Portage County from Atwater, Ohio. — Bill