Error timeout

The server didn't respond in time

The app sent its request and nothing came back. Usually the NAS is off, asleep, on a different network, or a firewall is silently dropping the packets.

What this means

NFS Files opened a connection to the address you entered and waited about eight seconds. Nothing answered — not even a refusal. A silent non-answer is different from a “connection refused”: refused means a machine is there and said no; a timeout means the packets went nowhere.

Check these, in order

  1. Is the server on? Look at the dot on the server card in NFS Files. Grey means the app couldn’t ping it either. A sleeping NAS (hibernation, HDD spin-down with network standby) often won’t wake for NFS.
  2. Same network? Your phone or Mac has to be on the same LAN as the NAS. Turn off any VPN (Tailscale, WireGuard, a corporate VPN) and make sure you’re not on a guest Wi-Fi network — most routers isolate guest devices from the rest of the house.
  3. Right address? A typo in the IP is the most common cause of all. Use Scan My Network in the add-server form: it sweeps your subnet for anything speaking RPC and lists what it finds.
  4. The NAS’s own firewall. Synology, QNAP and TrueNAS all ship a firewall that, once enabled, blocks NFS unless you add a rule. NFS needs port 111 (portmapper), 2049 (NFS) and the MOUNT service port (random unless you pin it) open to your subnet. See the setup guide for your NAS.
  5. Router firewall / VLANs. If the NAS is on a different VLAN (pfSense, UniFi, OPNsense), the firewall between VLANs must allow those same ports. NFSv3 is particularly awkward across firewalls because MOUNT uses a random port — pin it on the server, or pick NFSv4 in the app’s Advanced settings (NFSv4 uses port 2049 only).
  6. Local Network permission. On iPhone and iPad, a denied Local Network permission can look like a timeout. See Local Network permission.

On a Mac

The same checks apply. Additionally, on macOS 15 and later, the first time an app talks to the local network macOS asks for permission — if that dialog was dismissed, you’ll see either this error or “host unreachable”. How to turn it on.