diff --git a/ios/Sources/GutenbergKit/Sources/EditorViewController.swift b/ios/Sources/GutenbergKit/Sources/EditorViewController.swift
index da4c1fefe..09ec7766a 100644
--- a/ios/Sources/GutenbergKit/Sources/EditorViewController.swift
+++ b/ios/Sources/GutenbergKit/Sources/EditorViewController.swift
@@ -468,7 +468,13 @@ public final class EditorViewController: UIViewController, GutenbergEditorContro
         // it because the WebView has no auth cookies). Without both there is nothing
         // to upload through, so leave the server down and let uploads fall to the
         // default WebView path rather than start a server that could only fail.
-        guard !configuration.authHeader.isEmpty else {
+        //
+        // `MediaServerCredentials` owns the check so it is reachable from the host
+        // test suite — this file is not.
+        guard MediaServerCredentials.areUsable(
+            siteApiRoot: configuration.siteApiRoot,
+            authHeader: configuration.authHeader
+        ) else {
             return
         }
 
diff --git a/ios/Sources/GutenbergKit/Sources/Media/MediaServerCredentials.swift b/ios/Sources/GutenbergKit/Sources/Media/MediaServerCredentials.swift
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a8ce4ee51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ios/Sources/GutenbergKit/Sources/Media/MediaServerCredentials.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import Foundation
+
+/// Whether the editor configuration can reach the configured site for media.
+///
+/// Deliberately outside `EditorViewController`. That type is `#if canImport(UIKit)`,
+/// so on the macOS host it does not exist and nothing in it can be tested — including
+/// this check, which already diverged silently between iOS and Android once. Living
+/// here, it is reachable from the host test suite.
+enum MediaServerCredentials {
+    /// Whether a ``DefaultMediaUploader`` built from this configuration could actually
+    /// reach the site.
+    ///
+    /// Both fields are required. The uploader delivers GutenbergKit's uploads to the
+    /// configured site, so it needs somewhere to send them and credentials to be
+    /// accepted; with either missing, every media request it makes fails.
+    ///
+    /// `siteApiRoot` is a `URL` here where Android types it as a `String`, so the
+    /// equivalent of Android's `isEmpty()` check is "not absolute" — a URL with no
+    /// scheme or host cannot address the site, and every request built from it fails at
+    /// the URLSession layer.
+    static func areUsable(siteApiRoot: URL, authHeader: String) -> Bool {
+        siteApiRoot.scheme != nil && siteApiRoot.host() != nil && !authHeader.isEmpty
+    }
+}
diff --git a/ios/Tests/GutenbergKitTests/Media/MediaServerCredentialsTests.swift b/ios/Tests/GutenbergKitTests/Media/MediaServerCredentialsTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b5b39e349
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ios/Tests/GutenbergKitTests/Media/MediaServerCredentialsTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+import Foundation
+import Testing
+
+@testable import GutenbergKit
+
+@Suite("MediaServerCredentials")
+struct MediaServerCredentialsTests {
+  private static let siteRoot = URL(string: "https://example.com/wp-json/")!
+
+  @Test("accepts an absolute site root with an auth header")
+  func acceptsUsableCredentials() {
+    #expect(MediaServerCredentials.areUsable(siteApiRoot: Self.siteRoot, authHeader: "Bearer t"))
+  }
+
+  @Test("rejects an empty auth header")
+  func rejectsEmptyAuthHeader() {
+    #expect(!MediaServerCredentials.areUsable(siteApiRoot: Self.siteRoot, authHeader: ""))
+  }
+
+  // The two arms below are what a `URL` makes different from Android's `String`:
+  // `isEmpty()` has no direct equivalent, so "addressable" is spelled as scheme and
+  // host both being present. A URL missing either cannot reach the site, and every
+  // request built from it fails at the URLSession layer.
+
+  @Test("rejects a site root with no scheme")
+  func rejectsSchemelessSiteRoot() {
+    // A network-path reference: it has a host, so only the scheme arm rejects it.
+    // `example.com/wp-json/` would not do — it parses as a bare path with no host
+    // either, and passes on the host arm alone.
+    let relative = URL(string: "//example.com/wp-json/")!
+    #expect(relative.host() != nil)
+    #expect(!MediaServerCredentials.areUsable(siteApiRoot: relative, authHeader: "Bearer t"))
+  }
+
+  @Test("rejects a site root with no host")
+  func rejectsHostlessSiteRoot() {
+    let fileURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: "/tmp/wp-json")
+    #expect(!MediaServerCredentials.areUsable(siteApiRoot: fileURL, authHeader: "Bearer t"))
+  }
+
+  @Test("rejects a site root with no scheme or host")
+  func rejectsRelativeSiteRoot() {
+    #expect(!MediaServerCredentials.areUsable(siteApiRoot: URL(string: "/")!, authHeader: "Bearer t"))
+  }
+}