How to install WordPress on shared hosting from an iPad

WordPress runs a huge share of the world's websites, and installing it does not need a computer. The whole job happens in the browser on your iPad: you point your domain at your hosting, open the hosting control panel, run the one-click installer, and log in to your new site. Set aside about half an hour, and do it sitting down — the only fiddly part is typing a strong password correctly.

What you need before you start

Two things: a shared hosting plan and a domain name. If you have neither yet, read shared hosting vs website builders and how to pick a domain name first — they explain the choices without the sales talk.

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You also need the login for your hosting account. Keep a password manager open on the iPad — you will create one more password during the install, and it must be a good one.

Step 1: Point your domain at your hosting

Your hosting provider gives you two nameserver addresses in its control panel or welcome email. In your domain registrar's settings, replace the current nameservers with those two. Save, then wait: DNS changes usually take minutes, sometimes a few hours. Nothing is broken while you wait — the domain is simply still pointing at the old place.

You can check progress from the iPad by opening your domain in Safari. When it stops showing the registrar's parking page and starts showing your host's default page, the domain has arrived.

Step 2: Open the control panel in Safari

Log in to your hosting account from Safari on the iPad and open the control panel. If the panel looks cramped, use Safari's "Request Desktop Website" — control panels are built for wide screens, and the desktop layout is much easier to tap through.

Step 3: Run the one-click installer

Find the WordPress installer in the control panel — it is usually called Softaculous, WordPress Installer, or simply WordPress. Open it and fill in the form:

• Domain: pick your domain from the list.
• Directory: leave this empty if you want the site on the main domain. Typing something here puts the site in a subfolder, which is the most common beginner accident.
• Site title: your site's name — you can change it later.
• Admin username: never use "admin". Pick something personal and hard to guess.
• Admin password: long and random. Save it in your password manager right now, not in a note on the iPad.
• Admin email: an address you actually read — password resets go there.

Press Install and wait a minute or two. The installer creates the database and the files for you; there is nothing to upload by hand.

Step 4: Log in and set the basics

Open yourdomain.com/wp-admin and log in with the username and password you just created. Then do five quick things:

1. Settings → Permalinks → choose "Post name", so your page addresses read like words instead of numbers.
2. Settings → General → set your timezone.
3. Delete the sample "Hello world!" post and the sample page.
4. Pick a simple, standard theme. Fancy themes can wait — a plain theme that loads fast beats a heavy one every time.
5. Write and publish your first real page, even a short one, so the site is no longer a default install.

Step 5: Check it on your phone

Open the site on your iPhone. Most of your visitors will arrive on a phone, so the phone view is the one that matters. If text is readable and buttons are tappable, you are done with the install.

What it costs to keep

WordPress itself is free. What you pay for is the hosting plan and the domain renewal each year. Check the renewal price, not just the first-term price — the first term is marketing, the renewal is what you will actually pay in year two. Most plugins and themes you need at the start are free; do not buy a bundle of premium plugins on day one.

The mistakes beginners usually make

1. Username "admin" and a short password. Automated bots try exactly that combination first.
2. Installing into a subfolder by accident. If your site opens at yourdomain.com/wp instead of yourdomain.com, this is why — reinstall with the directory field empty.
3. Installing twenty plugins on day one. Each plugin is code that can break or slow the site. Start with none, add one at a time, only when you need it.
4. Skipping updates. WordPress, themes, and plugins update from the dashboard. Updates are mostly security fixes — do them, and do them from the iPad browser just like everything else.
5. No backup. Check whether your hosting plan includes backups, and how to restore one. Finding out after something breaks is too late.

When WordPress is not the right choice

If you want a few pages that rarely change and nothing else — no blog, no comments, no shop — a static site is simpler, cheaper to run, and harder to break. Netlify vs traditional hosting explains that trade-off.

The bottom line

From an iPad, WordPress is: point the domain, open the control panel, run the installer, set five basics, check on your phone. The install itself is the easy part. The habits that keep the site safe — a strong password, few plugins, regular updates, a backup you know how to restore — are the actual work, and all of it is doable from the tablet.