Everything MiniRemote does, and how to use it

Overview

MiniRemote is a remote desktop for Macs. One small app in your menu bar shares the Mac it runs on and opens other Macs in a window. A free iPhone and iPad app connects to your Macs too, and a built-in MCP server lets AI agents use a Mac.

A few words you’ll see throughout these docs and in the app:

There’s one Mac app for both roles: every Mac with MiniRemote can be a host, a viewer or both. You don’t need an account or an email address, only the host’s ID and password.

Requirements

A host accepts one connection at a time. You can add the same Mac to as many viewers as you like; whoever connects first has it until they disconnect.

Install and set up

Install MiniRemote on every Mac you want to control or connect from.

1. Download MiniRemote, open the disk image and drag MiniRemote into the Applications folder.
2. Open it. Its icon appears in the menu bar at the top of the screen. MiniRemote has no Dock icon; everything starts from that menu.
3. Allow the permissions on the Mac you want to control. While one is missing, Settings opens on Permissions (an orange dot marks it). Click Enable next to each one, and macOS asks or opens the right page in System Settings.
4. Quit and reopen MiniRemote after allowing Screen Recording; macOS only applies it after a restart of the app. If the macOS firewall asks, allow incoming connections.

Permissions

Your first connection

From a Mac

1. Click the MiniRemote icon in the menu bar. Macs running MiniRemote on the same network show up under Remote devices by themselves.
2. Click the Mac you want. The first time, type its 6-digit password, which you’ll find in the menu on that Mac. MiniRemote saves it in your Keychain, so next time one click is enough.
3. Its screen opens in a window. Close the window to disconnect.

To add a Mac that isn’t listed, for example one on another network, choose Add new device and enter its Host ID, Password and an optional Name. Add and Connect connects right away; Add only saves it to the list.

From an iPhone or iPad

Open the MiniRemote app. Macs on the same Wi-Fi appear by themselves; tap one and enter its password. For any other Mac, tap the Add device card and enter its Host ID and password. See iPhone & iPad for the rest.

The menu bar menu

Click the MiniRemote icon in the menu bar. Everything about this Mac and the Macs you connect to is in this one menu.

FinderFileEdit9:41

ID482 915 307

Password451 236

Remote devices

Mac mini at home

MacBook Pro

Add new device

While someone is connected to this Mac, the menu bar icon takes your accent color.

The viewer window

Each Mac you connect to opens in its own window. The toolbar shows how you’re connected and holds the tools you’ll use most.

• Full screen: click the green window button or choose Window → Enter Full Screen. Hide the toolbar for a clean picture with View → Hide Toolbar (⌥⌘T).
• Disconnect: close the window, or choose Remote → Disconnect.
• Several Macs at once: each one gets its own window. The menus act on the window in front.

If the connection drops, MiniRemote tells you what happened and offers Try Again, or Enter Password… when the password was wrong. All messages are listed in Connection messages.

Dynamic Display

With Match This Window, the other Mac gets a screen that is exactly the size of your window, so the picture is never scaled, stretched or letterboxed.

• When you connect, the host creates a virtual display the size of your viewer window and makes it the main display, so the menu bar, the Dock and new windows appear there.
• Resize the window or go full screen, and the remote resolution follows about half a second after you let go.
• Retina-sharp: on a Retina viewer, the virtual display is Retina too. A 1600×1000 window streams 3200×2000 pixels. If that would go past 3840 pixels on the longest side, it uses standard resolution instead.
• While you’re connected, the host’s physical screens mirror the virtual display. When you disconnect, the virtual display is removed and its windows move back to the Mac’s own screen.

Turn it off on the host with Settings → Sharing this Mac → Match the viewer’s window size. On a viewer, Settings → Viewer → Remote screen chooses what new connections show: Match this window (the default) or Server’s own display.

Multiple displays

The Display button in the middle of the toolbar (also Remote → Display) lists Match This Window and every display connected to the other Mac, with its resolution. Pick one to switch; the stream changes over in a moment. Below the displays, the menu lists the other Mac’s windows, to show just one of them. On an iPhone or iPad, the display button appears in the session toolbar when there’s more than one to choose from.

Show one window

Show a single window of the other Mac instead of its whole screen. Handy on an iPhone, or to keep your eyes on one app.

1. Open the display menu: the Display button in the toolbar, Remote → Display, or the display button on iPhone and iPad.
2. Under Windows, pick the one you want. Each window is listed with its title and app.

• Only that window is streamed, together with its menus and sheets.
• It stays in front: the other Mac brings the window to the front when you pick it, and again whenever a click or a key needs it there.
• The picture follows: move or resize the window on the other Mac and the view follows. When the window closes, the viewer goes back to the whole display.
• Sound: while one window is shown, you hear only its app.

To see everything again, pick Match This Window (Match This Screen on iPhone and iPad) or a display in the same menu.

Open apps

Start any app on the other Mac, or bring one forward, without hunting for it in the Dock.

1. Click Apps in the toolbar or choose Remote → Open App…. On iPhone and iPad, tap the apps button in the session bar.
2. The list shows the other Mac’s apps: Running ones first, then the rest under Applications. Type to search, and press Return to open the first match.
3. Pick an app. If it isn’t running, it opens; if it is, it comes to the front.

While you’re showing one window, the view switches to the app’s window, so you can go from app to app without going back to the whole display.

Keyboard and mouse

Use the other Mac as if you were sitting in front of it.

Mouse and trackpad

Click, right-click, scroll and drag work as usual. The pointer changes shape like it does on the other Mac: a text cursor over text, a hand over links, arrows on window edges.

When keys go to the other Mac

Choose in Settings → Viewer → Send keys to the other Mac:

• While the mouse is over the picture (default). Move the pointer off the picture, for example onto the toolbar, and your keys work on your own Mac again.
• While the viewer window is in front, wherever the pointer is.

Every key goes over, including ⌘ shortcuts. With Accessibility allowed on the viewer Mac, system shortcuts such as ⌘Space, ⌘Tab and Mission Control go to the other Mac too, instead of opening on yours.

Different keyboard layouts

Settings → Viewer → Keys decides what happens when the two Macs use different keyboard layouts:

• Type the same characters (default): the other Mac types what’s printed on your keys, whatever its own layout.
• Send physical keys: the key position is sent and the other Mac’s layout decides the character. Useful for apps that care where a key is, such as games.

Copy and paste

While you’re connected, the two clipboards stay in sync. Copy on one side, paste on the other, in both directions.

• Only things copied during the session travel; what was on the clipboard before you connected stays put.
• Bigger copies stay on their own Mac.
• On iPhone and iPad, what the Mac copies lands on your clipboard right away. What you copy on iOS goes to the Mac when you switch back to MiniRemote; iOS may ask whether to allow pasting.

Sound

Music, videos and alert sounds from the other Mac play where you are.

Sound is on by default. Click the speaker in the toolbar or choose Remote → Mute Sound. The choice sticks for your next connections; it’s the same as Settings → Viewer → Play the remote Mac’s sound. On iPhone and iPad, it’s Play the Mac’s sound in the app’s settings.

While you’re showing one window, you hear only that window’s app.

Dictation

Talk, and your words are typed on the other Mac as you say them.

1. Click into a text field on the other Mac.
2. Click the microphone in the toolbar or choose Remote → Start Dictation. The microphone turns red and a level meter appears while it listens.
3. Speak. Words appear as they’re recognized, and corrections are fixed on the fly. Click the microphone again to stop.

Speech is recognized on the device you’re dictating from, in its language. It needs the Microphone and Speech Recognition permissions there. To use a different microphone, click the arrow next to the microphone button or pick one in Settings → Viewer → Dictation. Newly plugged-in microphones show up the next time you open the menu.

Zoom

Zoom in up to 5× to read small print. The zoomed view follows your pointer.

• Mac: drag the zoom slider in the toolbar, or use View → Zoom In (⌘+), Zoom Out (⌘−) and Actual Size (⌘0). Double-click the slider to reset.
• iPhone and iPad: pinch. Pinch back out, or double-tap with two fingers, to see the whole screen.

Screenshots and recordings

Save the other Mac’s screen as a picture or a movie, right from the viewer.

Screenshots

Click the camera in the toolbar or choose Remote → Take Screenshot. The picture flashes and the whole remote screen is saved as a PNG at its full resolution, however far you’ve zoomed in. Click the note that appears at the bottom of the window to show the file in Finder.

Recordings

Click the record button or choose Remote → Start Recording. The button turns into a red stop button and the time recorded shows next to the status. Click it again, or choose Remote → Stop Recording, to save the movie.

• What’s in it: the other Mac’s screen as a QuickTime movie (HEVC), with the pointer where you move it and the other Mac’s sound. The sound is recorded even while it’s muted in the viewer.
• Size: the screen’s own resolution, up to 4096 pixels on the long side.
• Switching displays: the recording carries on. A screen of another shape gets black bars.
• Stopping: closing the window, losing the connection or quitting MiniRemote also stops the recording and saves the movie.

Where they’re saved

In the folder macOS saves its own screenshots to: the Desktop, unless you changed it in the Screenshot app (⇧⌘5 → Options). To use another folder, choose it in Settings → Viewer → Screenshots and recordings → Save to. Files are named like Screenshot of Mac mini 2026-10-12 at 14.03.22.png and Screen Recording of Mac mini 2026-10-12 at 14.03.22.mov.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts of the Mac viewer.

Set up the app

The free MiniRemote app puts your Mac’s desktop on your iPhone and iPad.

1. Install the free MiniRemote app on your iPhone or iPad and open it.
2. Macs on the same network appear by themselves, labeled On this network. Tap one and enter its password.
3. For a Mac somewhere else, tap the Add device card and enter its Host ID, Password and an optional Name.

Each Mac shows its state: On this network, Online, Offline, Wrong password or Checking…. Show them as cards or as a list.

During a session

The bar at the top has ✕ to disconnect, and on the right: keyboard, dictation, touch or trackpad mode, stats, the display menu (displays and windows) and apps.

• Your iPhone or iPad doesn’t auto-lock while you’re connected.
• If you switch to another app, the session pauses and picks up again when you come back. If the connection drops, MiniRemote reconnects by itself.

Touch and trackpad

Two ways to control the pointer. Switch any time with the hand button in the session bar, or set the default in the app’s settings.

On iPad, a trackpad or mouse works like on a Mac: the pointer follows it directly, and clicks, secondary clicks and scrolling go to the Mac. MiniRemote also works in Split View and Stage Manager.

Keyboard, clipboard, dictation

• On-screen keyboard: it pops up by itself when you tap into a text field on the Mac. Tap the keyboard button to show or hide it any time.
• Hardware keyboard (Magic Keyboard and others): keys and shortcuts go straight to the Mac. The Keyboard setting chooses between Same characters and Physical keys, as on the Mac.
• Clipboard: text, images and files the Mac copies arrive on your clipboard right away; what you copy on iOS reaches the Mac when you return to MiniRemote.
• Dictation: tap the microphone, speak, and tap it again to stop. Allow Microphone and Speech Recognition when iOS asks.

App settings

Tap the gear on the devices screen.

Headless Mac mini

Run a Mac mini in a closet, under the TV or in a rack, with no monitor, keyboard or HDMI dummy plug.

When you connect with Match This Window, MiniRemote gives the Mac a virtual display sized to your window, so a Mac with nothing plugged in still has a full, Retina-sharp desktop. Connecting also wakes the Mac’s display and keeps it on while you work.

Recommended settings for an always-on Mac

Connect from anywherePro

Reach your Mac from home, the office, a hotel or 5G. No port forwarding, VPN or router settings.

1. On the host, enter a Pro or Lifetime license key in Settings → License.
2. Make sure Settings → Access & Security → Reachable from anywhere is on (it is by default) and the menu shows Online next to “Host”.
3. On the viewer, add the Mac with its Host ID and password and connect, from any network.

How the connection is made

• While its server runs, the host registers its Host ID at miniremote.app. When a viewer connects, miniremote.app checks the password and helps the two devices find each other.
• They then connect directly whenever possible, for the fastest picture.
• If a network blocks direct connections (some cellular networks and strict firewalls do), the traffic goes through MiniRemote’s relay. It only forwards encrypted packets and can’t see your screen.
• Over cellular, a hotspot or the relay, the picture is capped at Settings → Viewer → Video limit on cellular or relay (6 Mbit/s by default) to save data.

The toolbar status tells you which path you’re on: Local network, Direct over the internet or Relay (miniremote.app). Macs on the same network that you’ve connected to before keep working even without internet.

Security and privacy

Every Mac is protected by its own ID and password. There’s no account to create and nothing stored in the cloud.

• Encrypted: every connection, local or over the internet, is encrypted with TLS 1.3.
• Password protected: each connection needs the host’s 6-digit password. Viewers keep saved passwords in the Keychain.
• Lockout: after 20 wrong passwords within an hour, the Mac refuses further attempts for an hour. Viewers see is locked.
• One at a time: while someone is connected, others see is in use. The menu bar icon takes your accent color while a viewer is connected.
• Change the password any time: the pencil in the menu, or Settings → Access & Security → Password. Change… lets you type 6 digits; Generate New picks a random one. Viewers that saved the old password have to enter the new one.
• Limit who can reach it: turn off Reachable from anywhere to accept only your own network, or Stop Server to accept nobody.
• Usage data: MiniRemote can share anonymous usage data (which features are used, why connections fail), never names, IDs, passwords or screen content. Turn it off in Settings → General, or in the iPhone and iPad app’s settings.

Set up MCPPro

MiniRemote includes an MCP server. Add it to Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, LM Studio or any other MCP client, and your agent can see the screen, click, type and open apps on a real Mac.

The MCP server is part of the MiniRemote app: it runs on the computer where your agent runs and connects to the host like any viewer, with the host’s ID and password. The host needs MiniRemote Pro or Lifetime.

Claude Code

claude mcp add miniremote -- /Applications/MiniRemote.app/Contents/MacOS/MiniRemote mcp --device "Mac mini"

Cursor, Gemini CLI, LM Studio, Claude Desktop

Add this to the client’s MCP configuration (its mcp.json or settings file):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "miniremote": {
      "command": "/Applications/MiniRemote.app/Contents/MacOS/MiniRemote",
      "args": ["mcp", "--device", "Mac mini"]
    }
  }
}

Codex

[mcp_servers.miniremote]
command = "/Applications/MiniRemote.app/Contents/MacOS/MiniRemote"
args = ["mcp", "--device", "Mac mini"]

Options

How it works

• The agent connects without opening a window, so you can keep using your own Mac while it works. On the host it shows up as “your Mac’s name (agent)”.
• The first time, the agent needs the password: it passes it to connect, or uses the one saved when you connected to that Mac from MiniRemote on the same computer. It’s saved for next time.
• A Mac serves one connection at a time. Close your own viewer window to that Mac before the agent connects, and the agent frees it again with disconnect.
• Debug output goes to standard error, so it never mixes with the MCP messages.

MCP toolsPro

The tools MiniRemote gives your agent. Coordinates are pixels in the latest full screenshot.

All settings

Open Settings from the MiniRemote menu in the menu bar. It has seven tabs.

General

License

Permissions

Screen Recording, Accessibility, Local Network, Microphone and Speech Recognition, each with Allowed or an Enable button. See Install and set up.

Sharing this Mac

Access & Security

Viewer

Troubleshooting

Plans and licenses

Pay only for the Macs you control. The viewer apps are always free.

Activate a license key

1. Buy Pro or Lifetime on the pricing page. Your license key arrives by email.
2. On the Mac you want to control, open Settings → License, paste the key and click Activate. The server must be running, so the Mac is online at miniremote.app.
3. Macs using this key shows how many of your 3 Macs are in use and how many are left.

To move a key to another Mac, click Deactivate This Mac first, then activate it on the new one. If MiniRemote can’t reach miniremote.app for a while, your Mac keeps its plan in the meantime. Prices are in USD; tax is added at checkout.

Updates

MiniRemote checks miniremote.app for a new version every minute while it runs. When one is out, the menu shows Update available; click Download and MiniRemote downloads, verifies and installs it. You can also check by hand in Settings → General → Check Now, or turn off Check automatically.

Troubleshooting

Connection messages

When a connection fails or ends, MiniRemote says why and what to do.

Stats and logs

See exactly where the time goes between the other Mac’s screen and yours.

The stats panel sits in the top-left corner of the picture (chart button in the toolbar, or View → Show Stats). Each stage shows the average, 95th percentile and maximum over the last second:

• Stats logs: every session writes one line per second to ~/Library/Logs/MiniRemote/ as a CSV file. Open the folder with Settings → Troubleshooting → Stats Logs.
• Debug log: the ladybug button or View → Show Debug Log shows what happens during a connection, step by step. It helps a lot when you report a problem.