At home, checking your miners is easy. Open the app or a miner's web page, look at hashrate and temps, move on. Then you leave the house. You are at work, on a trip, or just out for the afternoon, and the question pops up: is everything still hashing?
That is where most home setups fall apart. Your miners live on your home network. Your phone does not, once you step off your Wi-Fi. So the dashboard that worked fine on the couch goes blank the moment you need it most.
This post covers the simplest ways we know to fix that, without turning you into a network admin.
Why remote monitoring is harder than it should be
There are a few common ways people try to reach their miners from outside the house. They all work for someone. They are just not easy.
Port forwarding
Opening ports on your router so you can hit a miner's web UI from the internet is quick to set up and easy to regret. Most miner web pages were built for a trusted local network, not the open internet. Exposing them is a real security risk, and every new miner means another rule to manage.
Rolling your own VPN
A home VPN is safer, but it is a project. Router support, certificates, client apps, dynamic IPs, and the one weekend it breaks while you are traveling. Great if you enjoy that kind of thing. A lot of people just want to see their hashrate.
Leaving a tab open somewhere
Some folks leave a browser open on a home PC and remote into it. That works until the PC sleeps, updates, or the tab closes. You find out something went wrong when you get home, not when it happened.
What most home miners actually want is simple: open the app on your phone, anywhere, and see the same thing you would see at home. No router surgery.
Option A: HashWatcher Hub (simple)
HashWatcher Hub is a small, pre-configured gateway that does one job: it gives the HashWatcher app secure remote access to the miners on your home network.
How it works:
- Plug the Hub into your home network and give it USB power. It does not need to sit next to the miners. Anywhere at home with power works.
- Open the HashWatcher app and follow the setup. It takes about 60 seconds.
- Leave the house. Your miners show up in the app the same way they do at home.
No port forwarding. No VPN to configure. The Hub gets over-the-air updates, so you are not maintaining it either. It is compact, quiet, and low power, so it can just live behind the router.
What's in the box:
- HashWatcher Hub device
- USB Micro A cable
- 8GB microSD card with the OS preloaded (leave this installed, the Hub runs from it)
Availability: Made to order, ships in 1–2 weeks
Option B: Braiins Deck with the HashWatcher widget (more features)
If you want more than remote access, Braiins Deck is the bigger setup. It is a desk display that keeps your fleet in view at home, and with HashWatcher it also covers you when you leave.
What you get with Deck and HashWatcher:
- Remote monitoring while away via Tailscale, with QR codes for pairing and setup.
- The HashWatcher widget on the Deck screen: a fleet view with hashrate, shares, and per-miner cards.
- Best difficulty and block-found celebrations that light up the Deck LEDs, plus notifications in the app.
- The HashWatcher app as your remote. View and change fan speeds or work modes from iOS or Android while Deck keeps live stats on your desk.
- Local-first. Control stays on your network and your devices. You send miners to the Deck from the HashWatcher app (iOS 1.8.1 or later), and miner passwords are never stored in the widget.
The widget is open source. Setup steps are at github.com/gpena208777/hashwatcher-deck.
Deck is not a miner, and the USB-C PD charger and cable are sold separately. Through our shop it is $224 with code HASHWATCHER10 (normally $249).
Which one should you pick?
Pick Hub if you mostly want to check your miners from your phone when you are away, and you want the cheapest, simplest way to do it. Plug it in, set it up in the app, done.
Pick Deck if you want a screen on your desk showing the fleet, remote access when you leave, and the fun stuff like best-diff and block-found celebrations on the LEDs. More features, more hardware.
Both work with the same HashWatcher app, so you are not locked into one or the other later.
Already have an always-on computer?
If you already run a Mac or Windows machine at home that stays on 24/7, HashWatcher Desktop Gateway can bridge remote access the same way, for free. It is a good fit if that computer is already part of your setup. If it sleeps, reboots for updates, or gets packed in a bag, a dedicated Hub is the more reliable choice. Details for both are on the remote monitoring page.
Getting started
- Download HashWatcher if you have not already: App Store · Google Play.
- Add your miners on your home network.
- Pick your remote path: Hub, Braiins Deck, or Desktop Gateway on a computer you already leave on.
- Set temperature alerts so you hear about a hot board while you are out, not when you get home.
Bottom line
Remote monitoring should not require opening holes in your router or babysitting a VPN. HashWatcher Hub is the simple, low-cost way to get your miners in your pocket from anywhere. Braiins Deck adds a desk display, the HashWatcher widget, and celebrations on top of remote access. Either way, you leave the house and still know your miners are hashing.
