What you can do
with MeowDisplay

Overview

MeowDisplay uses your Mac as the sender and lets iPhone, iPad, Android or another Mac receive its display. Mirror a screen, create an extended workspace, or select individual Mac windows. Mobile receivers offer touch, keyboard, gesture and shortcut controls with your Mac's permission.

MeowDisplay is for using your own Mac from another device, including for professional work. It is not an enterprise remote-support or fleet-management service.

See which release is available, then follow Setup.

Window view

Window view lets you choose individual Mac windows and arrange them as tiles on the receiver. Split, swap, resize, rotate or maximize the windows you need without reorganizing all your Mac displays. The Mac controls which windows can be captured; minimized and other-Space windows can have capture limitations.

Window view is supported on compatible receivers. This is about windows from your Mac, not the Microsoft Windows operating system. Read the implementation notes ›

New in Window view

• Open and Save panels. A Mac app’s Open or Save panel shown in a pane, such as a browser’s file upload chooser, takes taps where it’s drawn. Escape cancels it and Return confirms it.
• Open apps from the picker. Search in a pane’s window picker also lists Apps to Open: apps on the Mac that aren’t open, or have no window to show. Choose one and confirm; it opens on the Mac without coming to the front, and its new window goes into that pane. Opening an app needs control of the Mac.
• Apps without a window. Choose an app that’s open with no window, and MeowDisplay says so right away. Show a Window on Mac brings the app to the front on the Mac so it opens one.
• Closing windows. When you close a window on the Mac, it leaves the layout. A pane whose only window closed offers Choose Window or Remove Pane. Minimizing, hiding or switching Spaces never removes anything.
• Mission Control. While Mission Control is open on the Mac, each paused pane and floating window says so, with Exit Mission Control when you have control.

New in MeowDisplay 2.1 for iPhone and iPad. Floating windows, the Open and Save panel fix and the Mission Control notices need MeowDisplay 2.1 on the Mac too.

Floating windows

New in MeowDisplay 2.1 for iPhone and iPad: in Window view, a Mac window can float over your panes instead of taking a place in the layout. Move it, resize it, tuck it against an edge, and put it back in the layout when you’re done.

Watch floating windows in action ›

• Float a window. Hold a pane’s title and choose Float This Pane (or Float This Tab), choose Open as Floating Window on a window in Stage Peek, or drag a window onto Float. While you drag, draw a circle with the window for about a second to switch between Pane and Floating.
• Move and resize. Drag the title on its top edge, or the short bar under it. Drag the curved grip at either lower corner to resize it. The picture scales with it and is never stretched.
• Tuck it away. Throw it toward any edge, or pull it more than halfway past one. A thin strip of the window stays in view as its handle. Tap the strip, or pull it, and the window comes back where it was.
• Back into the layout. Choose Add to Layout in its ⋯ menu. It becomes a pane again, or a tab when there’s no room for another pane.

Floats only change what you see on your iPhone or iPad. The real window on the Mac isn’t moved, resized or brought forward, and tucking a float doesn’t close it.

Prefer panes only?

Turn off Enable Floating Windows in the receiver’s Settings ▸ Controls ▸ Window Switcher. It’s on by default and applies to that device only. Turning it off moves every floating window, tucked ones too, into the layout as a pane, or as a tab when the layout is full, and hides the Float options. Turning it back on moves nothing.

Resize the real window on the Mac

Resizing a float changes only how it’s shown on your device. To change the window itself, use Fill Window on Mac in a pane’s menu, or in a float’s ⋯ menu under On Your Mac. It resizes the Mac window to fill its screen, below the menu bar and clear of the Dock, without making it full screen. Restore Previous Size on Mac puts it back. Both need control of the Mac.

Floating windows and Fill Window on Mac need MeowDisplay 2.1 on the Mac too. With an older Mac app, the Float options and Fill Window on Mac don’t appear. On iPhone and iPad; not on Android or Mac Receiver.

Stage Peek

On mobile, touch and hold the chosen screen edge to browse your Mac windows; tap one to select it. The Full Desktop card takes you back to Mirror/Extend. An older Window Rail remains available as an alternate switcher. Stage Peek is for Window view on iPhone, iPad and Android, not Mac Receiver.

In 2.1 on iPhone and iPad, starting a drag puts the search keyboard away, so the window you’re dragging stays in view.

Natural Touch

A more direct way to use macOS from a touch screen: tap to click, swipe to scroll with momentum, hold then move to drag, or hold longer for right-click. Choose Natural Touch in Direct Touch settings; Classic and Trackpad modes are also available. Defaults can differ by device and saved preferences. Your Mac must grant control first.

Mirror & Extend

Mirror

The receiver shows the same Mac display you see, and follows along as you work. When more than one physical display is connected, choose which one to mirror. Mirror needs an active physical Mac display.

Extend

Extend creates a virtual display on your Mac. The receiver shows that separate workspace. Move windows onto it and arrange it alongside your other displays in macOS. Where supported, Extend shape controls let you tune the virtual display to the receiver, including an option to use the full display.

Choose the mode in the Mac app, or ask for a switch from the receiver’s Settings; the Mac confirms the change.

Remote Finder

On iPhone, iPad or Android, tap Finder in Stage Peek to browse Mac files in a touch-friendly view. Prefer the real thing? Finder Windows in the browser’s menu shows Finder’s own windows in Stage Peek, and you can still open one in Window view as usual.

Browse and preview

• Like Finder. Locations, favorites, breadcrumbs and Back, list and icon views, sorting and filters, and search across folders.
• Quick Look. Your Mac draws the thumbnails with its own Quick Look, so almost anything your Mac can preview shows up. Images open at full size, PDFs show their pages, movies and audio stream with seeking, and text opens right away. On iPhone and iPad, other documents open in the system’s Quick Look when saving copies is allowed.
• Open on Mac. Open a file on the Mac in its default app or one you choose, or show it in its folder. This needs control of the Mac, and you can ask for it right from the browser.

Copy, add and organise

• Save to Device and Share copies of files or whole folders through the system picker and share sheet.
• Upload files and folders from the device, choosing Keep Both, Replace or Skip when a name is taken, or Merge for folders.
• New Folder, Rename, Duplicate, Copy, Move, Paste, Compress and Expand, plus Move to Trash with Undo and Get Info. Select several items for batch actions.
• A transfers list shows progress and speed, with Cancel and Retry. Interrupted downloads resume, and each part is checked so a file that changes mid-copy fails instead of arriving damaged.

File permissions on your Mac

• Off until you turn it on. Choose the folders devices may browse in the Mac’s Settings ▸ Displays. Hidden files and your Library folder never show, and links can’t lead outside an approved folder.
• The Mac asks first. When a device opens Remote Finder, the Mac asks: Not Now, Allow This Session, Always Allow Approved Folders or All Files… (which asks again to confirm). The buttons wake up after a moment, so a stray click can’t answer.
• Separate permissions. Viewing, saving copies, uploading, renaming and moving, and moving to the Trash are each allowed separately per device under Devices ▸ Files, with Ask, Always Allow or Block. The browser shows what you have, such as “View & Save · This Session”, and asks the Mac for more only when you need it.
• Always checked. Every request is checked again on the Mac. Revoke access and running transfers stop; Forget a device and its access goes with it. Always Allow can’t be granted while a device is controlling the Mac.
• Replaced and deleted items go to the Mac’s Trash. Files access never gives control of the Mac.

Remote Finder is on iPhone, iPad and Android, not on Mac Receiver. It is covered by automated and end-to-end tests, and real-device testing is ongoing.

Unified Clipboard

Copy on your Mac and paste on your iPhone, iPad or Android device, or the other way round.

• Off by default. Turn it on in the receiver’s Settings ▸ Clipboard, and choose the direction, the kinds of content, whether files are included, and a size limit.
• Mac to device. Copies from the Mac are written for that device only. Files copied on the Mac can be saved or shared on the device when you ask.
• Device to Mac. On iPhone and iPad, Send to Mac uses the system Paste button, and the iOS paste prompt is explained if you choose automatic sending. Android reads the clipboard only while MeowDisplay is in front and skips copies marked sensitive.
• Files sent to the Mac. Files received on the Mac are quarantined like any download, and each device can only send copies in its own name.

Mobile systems limit background clipboard access. Not available on Mac Receiver.

Devices

Receivers include iPhone, iPad, Android and another Mac. Android 2.0 is in closed testing. Mac-to-Mac keyboard/trackpad forwarding is implemented with automated tests but still awaits physical verification with two Macs. Each receiver pairs once with your Mac, then appears in Devices in the Mac app.

• Active Display lists each connected device and how it’s connected, such as “Mirroring to iPhone · USB”, with Pause and Disconnect.
• Known Devices lists paired devices as Connected, Paired · Nearby or Paired · Offline. Connect with Mirror or Extend, open a device’s settings, or Forget it.
• Nearby shows devices that aren’t paired yet, ready to Pair. Pair over Remote pairs a device over a private network.
• Automatically Allow Connections lets a paired device start sharing without asking, and each device can be set to Default, Always Allow or Block. None of these allow input.

Available settings differ by platform; iOS and Mac offer controls that are not yet present on Android. See the receiver parity guide.

On the Mac

In MeowDisplay 2.1 for Mac, the menu-bar icon is drawn from the MeowDisplay mark, and it fills in while a display is active. New installs show the app in the Dock and the menu bar; an existing install keeps its choice. Change it in the Mac app’s Settings ▸ System ▸ App Behavior ▸ Show app in.

Control your Mac

A receiver becomes an input device for your Mac, with touch, pointer, gestures, keyboard and shortcut trays, only when Allow Input is on, the Mac has Accessibility permission, and that session has been allowed to control the Mac. Pausing the stream also pauses input.

Allow Input

Allow Input in the Mac’s Input settings is the master switch for remote control. While it’s off, no connected device can control the Mac, no matter what it was previously granted. Devices can still connect and show the Mac.

Control requests

• Every new session starts with input off. Connecting never turns input on by itself.
• To control the Mac, the receiver has to ask. Use Request Control in the receiver’s Settings.
• Each device has an Input Requests policy on the Mac. Ask shows a prompt on the Mac for every request. Always Allow Requests skips the prompt, but the device still has to ask each session. Never Allow Requests declines them.
• Until a session has input, the receiver hides its control tray. Its Settings gear stays reachable.
• Take control back from the Mac with Revoke Control in the device’s settings, or give it back from the receiver with Turn Off.

Lock Mac & lock screen

Lock Mac locks your Mac from your iPhone or iPad. Find it in the receiver’s Settings ▸ Input and in Session Actions. In MeowDisplay 2.1, a device without control offers Request Control & Lock Mac, so the Mac allows it first.

While the Mac is locked, normal session content is not shown or sent. An authorized iPhone or iPad can request the lock-screen view described below. Your iPhone or iPad covers the picture with a notice that the Mac is locked, and your layout comes back when it’s unlocked.

Unlock from a trusted iPhone or iPad

New in 2.1: on a device your Mac trusts with control, tap Show Lock Screen to see macOS’s own lock screen, then type your Mac password there. macOS checks the password. MeowDisplay passes the keys to macOS and doesn’t check, log or keep them.

• Always Allow Requests: the device can use the lock screen, with no extra step.
• Ask: only if the device already had control before the Mac locked. Nobody can allow it while the Mac is locked.
• Never Allow Requests, or Allow Input off on the Mac: never.
• Allow Lock Screen Control in the Mac’s Settings ▸ Devices ▸ the device ▸ Input Authorization turns it off for that device, even with Always Allow Requests.

The lock screen ends when the Mac unlocks, when the device disconnects, or after two minutes without input. Lock screen control needs MeowDisplay 2.1 on the Mac and on iPhone or iPad. See Setup for what each device shows.

Input modes

Choose an Input Mode in the receiver’s Settings.

Direct Touch

Touch maps directly to the matching position on the Mac display. Tap a button and the pointer goes right there.

Trackpad

• The Mac pointer moves relatively, like a MacBook trackpad.
• Touching doesn’t jump the cursor to the spot you touched.
• Adjust Trackpad Sensitivity to suit the size of your receiver.
• Multi-finger gestures continue to work.
• Turn Video off in Settings to use the receiver purely as a trackpad and keyboard. The connection, trays and selected input mode stay active.

Precise Control

A fingertip covers exactly the spot you’re aiming at. Precise Control lets you keep one finger down and use another to fine-tune the pointer and click exactly where it points. It works in Direct Touch and Trackpad, and there’s nothing to turn on.

Direct Touch

• Touch near the target. The pointer goes there, as usual.
• Keep that finger down and add another finger anywhere on the screen. Pointer movement becomes relative, so the pointer no longer snaps under either finger.
• Move either finger to line the pointer up with small targets. It follows your movement on the picture, so pinching in to zoom the view makes it finer still.
• Tap the added finger to click at the pointer. Double- and triple-tap for double- and triple-click; tap, then hold and move, to drag from that exact spot.
• With one finger resting, tap two more fingers together to right-click.
• Lift every finger to finish. Your next touch is ordinary Direct Touch again.

Trackpad

• The pointer moves relatively from the first touch, so the finer control is there from the start.
• Rest one finger for a moment, then tap another to click at the pointer without moving it. Double- and triple-tap for double- and triple-click.
• Tap, then hold and move, to drag from where the pointer is.
• With one finger resting, tap two more fingers together to right-click. An ordinary two-finger tap still right-clicks too.
• Trackpad Sensitivity scales how far the pointer moves.

Smart Touch Experimental

Smart Touch uses interface context to make Direct Touch feel more natural. It asks the Mac what’s under your finger when you touch down, and acts only when the answer is clear. When MeowDisplay can’t identify the interface reliably, it falls back to normal Direct Touch.

• One-finger scrolling. In supported scrollable areas, such as lists, tables, documents, spreadsheets and web pages, a one-finger swipe scrolls with momentum instead of moving the pointer: up, down, sideways and diagonally. A clearly vertical or horizontal swipe stays locked to that direction; a diagonal swipe moves both ways, as in a large spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
• Hold a title bar to move the window. Touch and hold the title bar or empty toolbar space of a standard macOS window. A soft haptic builds while you hold; after half a second a short tick confirms, and the window follows your finger until you lift. Moving before the tick is ordinary Direct Touch, and a quick tap is still a click. Window buttons, toolbar buttons, search fields and other controls are never treated as title bar.
• Touch and hold for Direct Touch. Anywhere else Smart Touch acts, hold still for a moment before moving and that touch switches to normal Direct Touch, confirmed with a haptic.
• Smart Touch Haptics controls both hold haptics and is on by default. It stays silent whenever Haptics is off, and turning it off never changes the gestures, only the feedback.
• Optional and off by default. Turn it on under Input in the receiver’s Settings when Direct Touch is selected. It has no effect in Trackpad mode.
• It adds to Direct Touch rather than replacing anything: taps, double and triple taps, tap-then-hold drags, two-finger scroll, pinch, rotate and Mac gestures all work exactly as before.
• Works best with apps that expose standard macOS accessibility information. It uses the Accessibility permission the Mac app already has for input.

Pointer & clicks

Scroll, zoom & rotate

Scroll

Pan with two fingers to scroll on the Mac, with natural momentum.

Pinch & zoom

Choose what a two-finger pinch or spread does:

• Viewport: zooms the local MeowDisplay view on the receiver.
• App: an experimental option that sends configurable keyboard commands to the Mac app in front, such as zoom in and zoom out.
• Disabled: ignores pinch.

Rotate

Two-finger rotation offers the same choice of Viewport, App, or Disabled. Turn on Snap Rotation to settle the viewport at clean angles.

Reset the view

Double-tap with two fingers to reset or restore the manual viewport zoom and pan.

Mac gestures

Familiar multi-finger gestures reach macOS directly.

Apple Pencil

Use Apple Pencil for precise input on supported iPad models.

• Pencil strokes reach the Mac as pen-tablet input, separate from your fingers.
• Tilt travels with every stroke.
• On iPads that support Pencil hover, the pointer follows the tip before it touches the screen.
• Strokes are sent at the iPad’s full touch sample rate.
• Fingers resting on the screen are ignored while the Pencil tip is down.
• Tap to click and double-tap to double-click with the tip.

Apple Pencil support is still evolving, with additional capabilities and refinements planned for future releases.

Main Control Tray

The Main Control Tray keeps the keys a touch screen is missing close at hand: Command, Option, Control, Shift, Escape, Tab, Toggle Dock, Keyboard, and Settings.

• Modifier latching: tap a modifier to hold it for your next click, gesture, or key.
• Chords: latch several modifiers together, such as ⌘⇧.
• Chords: latch a modifier and a palette of matching shortcuts appears beside it — Copy, Paste and Undo with ⌘, Force Quit and Hide Others with ⌘⌥, Redo and Screenshot with ⌘⇧. Choose the actions each palette offers.
• Arrange: reorder controls and show or hide each one.
• Profiles: keep multiple setups and switch between them.

In Settings, use Show Control Tray, Collapse Control Tray, and Show Keyboard Button to decide how much of the tray you see. Haptics adds tactile feedback, Landscape Tray Side picks where the tray sits in landscape, and Avoid Notch keeps it clear of the camera housing.

Automatically hide the Control Tray

With Auto-hide, the Control Tray can automatically retreat after a short period of inactivity, leaving the display clear while keeping controls close at hand.

• Interacting with the tray keeps it visible, so it never hides mid-use.
• It’s easy to reveal again whenever you need it.
• Auto-hide works alongside manual Show, Hide, and Collapse, and can be turned off.
• Settings always remains reachable.

Function Tray

The Function Tray is a separate set of immediate, one-tap actions. By default it offers Zoom In, Zoom Out, Undo, and Redo.

• Works independently of the Main Control Tray, with its own profiles.
• Show or hide individual items, and reorder them.
• Place it on the Same Side as the Main Control Tray or the Opposite Side.

Keyboard

Type into your Mac from the receiver. Tap the tray’s Keyboard button to bring up the on-screen keyboard, or use a hardware keyboard connected to your iPhone or iPad. Latched modifiers from the Control Tray combine with the keys you type.

Arrow keys

New in 2.1 on iPhone and iPad: one small button gives the arrow keys. Tap it to open an ↑ ← ↓ → keypad, or swipe it to send a single arrow. The keypad has its own ⇧ ⌥ ⌘, which only the arrow keys use, so ⇧ with → selects while ⌘ on the Control Tray stays with your typing. It’s on by default; Show Arrow Keys in Settings hides it. With a Mac on an older version, the keypad’s modifiers work only while the tray holds none.

Zoom While Typing

With Zoom While Typing on (Settings ▸ Input ▸ Keyboard), the view enlarges the area you’re typing in. In 2.1 it keeps the line you’re typing on in view above the keyboard as you type, and returns to your view when the keyboard closes. Typing in Window view works with the on-screen keyboard too.

Audio

Mac system audio can stream to the receiver while the Mac keeps playing locally. Turn it on with the Audio toggle on the receiver. If sound and picture drift apart, adjust A/V Sync or tap Resync.

Picture in Picture

On iPhone and iPad, keep your Mac in view while you use another app. MeowDisplay uses the system’s own Picture in Picture window, showing the same live stream as the receiver.

• Starts when you leave. With Picture in Picture on (the default) and a live session showing your Mac, leaving MeowDisplay moves the picture into a floating window. You can also start it from the receiver’s Settings.
• View-only. The window is for glancing at what your Mac is doing. Touches in it never reach the Mac; all control stays in the full receiver.
• One tap back. The window’s restore button returns you to the full MeowDisplay receiver.
• Audio. If the receiver’s Audio is on, Mac audio can keep playing while the window shows. Leaving the app without Picture in Picture stays silent.
• Your choice. Turn Picture in Picture off in the receiver’s Settings and leaving the app never starts it.

Picture in Picture is new, and real-device testing is ongoing.

Clamshell & headless

Extend creates a virtual display in software, so your iPhone or iPad can be your Mac’s screen without an extra monitor or a dummy HDMI or display adapter.

• Clamshell. Close your MacBook’s lid and keep working from your iPhone or iPad with Extend. Keep the MacBook connected to power while the lid is closed.
• Headless. MeowDisplay is designed to work with no monitor attached, such as a Mac mini on a shelf. Headless setups are still being tested across more Macs, so treat them as a supported goal rather than a guarantee on every model.
• Mirror needs a display to copy. With no active physical display, MeowDisplay offers to switch the session to Extend instead of simply failing.

MeowDisplay targets a Mac with a logged-in user session that sleeps or locks. A Mac that is fully powered off or at the login window is outside the current supported workflow.

Connections

• USB (iPhone/iPad): plug in a data-capable cable and trust the Mac. Android USB is not implemented.
• Local Wi-Fi: discover the receiver on your network, including nearby peer-to-peer Wi-Fi.
• Remote Access: reach a paired Mac over a private network you control.

See USB & local Wi-Fi setup.

Remote & reconnect

Save a reachable endpoint for Remote Access, then Connect. Auto-Reconnect attempts to recover sessions when connectivity returns. Paired devices can share their own Tailscale addresses, with automatic dialing currently gated to verified Android–Mac IPv4 routes only. Other receivers and routes can continue using a manually entered address. This is not a tailnet-wide device directory.

Wake & Connect

MeowDisplay can remember what it needs to wake a paired Mac on its local network, where the Mac supports it. Wake & Connect sends a Wake-on-LAN packet, then tries to bring your session back.

• Turn on Wake for Network Access on the Mac. Compatible hardware and network setup are required.
• It works best when something on the Mac’s local network can deliver the wake packet.
• Over a private network such as Tailscale, a sleeping Mac can’t relay its own wake packet. Waking it remotely may need another reachable device, router or node on that network.
• It’s designed for a logged-in Mac that has gone to sleep or locked — not for a cold boot or a logged-out Mac.

Wake & Connect reaches the Mac; Auto-Reconnect restores the connection once it’s there. See Wake & reconnect in Setup.

Security

Devices pair once through trusted pairing: you compare a matching verification code (SAS) on both screens. After that, every connection is encrypted and mutually authenticated with TLS 1.3 against the pinned peer identity you trusted.

Read more in Privacy and the security model.

Platforms & release status

MeowDisplay 2.1 is released. iPhone and iPad 2.1 is on the App Store. Install the Mac 2.1 companion for the new features (stable Mac 2.1.0). Android 2.0 remains in closed testing and works with Mac 2.0 or later.

These features require compatible versions on both devices. See installation options and which versions work together.