Set up the Mac app

About five minutes, once, on the Mac you want to reach. Everything else happens on your phone or in a browser.

1. Install it

1. Download Teleroam.zip from the download page and open it.
2. Open Teleroam. It's signed and checked by Apple, so it opens like any other app.
3. Teleroam offers to move itself to Applications. Say yes; that's what lets it open at login and keep its permissions.
4. It opens at login from now on and lives in the menu bar at the top right. Its window looks like System Settings: a sidebar on the left, settings on the right.

2. Finish Mac Setup

Click Mac Setup in the sidebar. Each item has a green check when it's done and a button when it isn't, and General says This Mac is ready once all five are. The two permissions are the only steps that need you in System Settings; macOS also asks for them on its own the first time.

1. Screen Recording, so your phone can see the screen. Turn on Teleroam in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording. Teleroam restarts itself when it sees the switch flip; macOS needs that.
2. Accessibility, so your taps and typing reach the Mac. Turn on Teleroam in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.

The other three are handled by Teleroam:

3. Keep this Mac awake. A switch, on by default. The Mac doesn't sleep while Teleroam is open, the display can still turn off, and it wakes when you connect. On a MacBook, leave the lid open and the charger in.
4. Opens when you log in. Always on, so Teleroam is back after a restart.
5. Starts again after a power cut. Click Turn On; macOS asks for your Mac password once.

3. Put it on your iPhone

1. Install the iPhone app from the TestFlight beta.
2. Open it, tap Scan the QR code, and point it at the code under Your Own Devices in the Teleroam window's sidebar. Tap your Mac and you're in, from anywhere, no VPN.
3. No app? Scan the same code with the iPhone camera, then in Safari tap Share → Add to Home Screen.
4. Keep that code to yourself: it carries your key. Anyone else gets in with the 6-digit code instead (step 5).

4. Keep the Mac reachable

The checklist covers sleep, login, and power cuts. Two things are up to you:

1. Decide about the lock screen. Teleroam works with the display off, but it can't get past the Mac's lock screen. If the Mac is somewhere private, open System Settings → Lock Screen and set Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off to a long delay or Never. If other people can reach the Mac, leave it on and know you'll need to unlock it in person.
2. After a full restart, a Mac with FileVault stops at a password screen before macOS starts. Nothing can reach that screen remotely, so sign in once after any restart. Turning on Automatically log in avoids this, but it's less secure.

5. Let another device in

1. On the other device (a work PC, a friend's laptop, a second phone), open the link shown under Let Someone In: it's in the Teleroam window on the Mac and in Settings on your phone.
2. Type the 6-digit code from your phone. It changes every ten seconds, so read it right then.
3. Your iPhone gets a notification. Press and hold it, then tap Allow, Allow as My Device for your own computer (it can then see the code and approve others), or Don't Allow. You can be anywhere; nothing pops up on the Mac.
4. Every device checks in again once a day: your own with Face ID or Touch ID, others by asking you. Disconnect any device, under Devices on the Mac or in Settings on your phone, and it's cut off at once and needs a new code to come back.

Using it

• On the phone: tap to click, tap twice to double-click, drag one finger to scroll, hold then move to drag, and hold still to right-click. Tap the keyboard button to type; Return, Tab, Esc, the arrows, and copy and paste sit above the keyboard. Tap the app name at the top to switch, open, or quit apps.
• Phone on a monitor: plug the phone in and the picture fills the height. With a Bluetooth trackpad or mouse paired to the phone, turn on Settings → Trackpad or mouse on this phone for real click-and-drag.
• Copy and paste: copy on the Mac and it's on your phone's clipboard. Paste on your phone or computer and it goes straight into the Mac.
• Files: to get a file from the Mac, select it in Finder and press ⌘C, then tap Download on your phone. To send one to the Mac, use Send file or drag it onto the window; it lands in Downloads.
• In a browser on a computer: click the screen once and your keyboard and mouse drive the Mac. On a Windows keyboard, Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V work as copy and paste. Shortcuts the browser keeps for itself are in the Keys menu.

If something isn't working

• Black screen: Screen Recording is off. Turn it on; Teleroam restarts itself.
• You can see it but taps do nothing: Accessibility is off.
• Typing doesn't show up: tap the text box on the Mac's screen first, then type.
• "Waiting for the Mac": the Mac is asleep (check step 3 of the checklist), restarted and waiting for its password, or Teleroam isn't running. The page keeps trying on its own.
• "Verify it's you": the daily check-in. Face ID on your own devices; on a guest device, tap Ask the owner.