How MeowDisplay
handles your data.

At a glance

MeowDisplay connects your own devices for display streaming, audio, and input. It does not require a MeowDisplay account, and MeowDisplay does not operate a hosted media relay or cloud account service.

The apps contain no analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs, and do not send telemetry. Screen, audio, and input data travel directly between your paired devices, not through servers run by MeowDisplay.

This page describes the current apps (Mac, iPhone and iPad, and Android) and this website. Last reviewed: 12 November 2026 (MeowDisplay 2.1 for Mac, iPhone and iPad, and the Android 2.0 closed test; adds the locked-Mac and lock screen control sections, which apply to MeowDisplay 2.1 or later).

Data on your devices

• Identity and pairing: your device’s private key, self-signed certificate, stable identity, and trusted peers’ public-key pins are held in the local Keychain. MeowDisplay does not enable iCloud synchronization for these Keychain items. On Android, the private key is created in the Android Keystore and never leaves it, and trusted pins and the device’s identity are kept in the app’s private storage.
• Preferences: app settings and device preferences are stored locally. The Android app excludes its settings and pins from cloud backup and device-to-device transfer, so a restored or new phone pairs afresh.
• Connection hints: saved remote hosts and ports, device identifiers, and Wake-on-LAN information are retained locally to reconnect to known devices. In 2.0, paired devices can optionally exchange their own Tailscale addresses. Reports are bound to trusted peer identities, expire if not refreshed, and can be forgotten with the automatic Remote Access setting.

No name, email address, or MeowDisplay account is required to use the app. Device names and network identifiers can appear in discovery, saved device information, and diagnostics.

What travels between devices

During a session, captured display content, system audio when active, input events, and connection-control information travel between the Mac and receiver. In 2.0, Remote Finder can transfer user-selected file copies and Unified Clipboard can exchange supported clipboard content with iOS/Android, subject to the Mac’s per-device permission choices. Clipboard sync is off by default. These contents are not sent to a MeowDisplay-operated server. Discovery advertises information needed to find nearby devices.

Sessions use mutually authenticated TLS 1.3. Pairing confirms a matching authentication code, then pins the other device’s public key. A network address is used for routing, not as proof of identity.

On iPhone/iPad, USB sessions stay within the device pair; Android does not have USB transport. Local-network sessions use the local network. Remote Access uses the reachable private network you configure.

When your Mac is locked

In MeowDisplay 2.1 or later, while macOS shows its lock screen, another user is switched in, or the Mac can’t tell which, the Mac treats itself as locked. It then sends connected devices no picture, sound, cursor, window titles, window or app lists, files, clipboard content or text-field position, and it ignores their input. The one exception is lock screen control, below.

The iPhone and iPad app covers the session with an opaque locked screen and drops the pictures, window names and app lists it was showing. After the Mac unlocks, content comes back only from new messages sent by the Mac.

Lock screen control

If you use lock screen control (MeowDisplay 2.1 or later), an iPhone or iPad that your Mac already trusts with input can show the Mac’s own macOS lock screen and send keystrokes and clicks to it, so you can type your Mac password on the iPhone or iPad. macOS’s login window checks the password. MeowDisplay does not check it and does not install a login helper.

• Which devices: a paired device set to Always Allow, or set to Ask and given control before the Mac locked, while Allow Input is on. A device set to Never Allow can’t use it. You can turn it off for each device with Allow Lock Screen Control in the Mac’s device settings; the Mac stores that choice with the device’s other settings. The Mac checks all of this for every input event.
• Your password: MeowDisplay does not store, save or remember your Mac password, on the Mac or on the iPhone or iPad. Each key is sent as an input event over the existing encrypted connection between your paired devices and passed to macOS. While the lock screen is shown, the Mac accepts only the keys and clicks needed to type a password.
• The keyboard: on iPhone and iPad, the lock screen has its own keyboard field. It requests secure text entry, turns off autocorrect and spell checking, and is not offered to QuickType predictions or AutoFill. It keeps no text, and shows a fixed label instead of the characters or how many you typed.
• Logs: characters typed for the lock screen are not written to MeowDisplay’s diagnostic logs on either device. If the Mac refuses lock-screen input, its log records only the reason, at most once per view, not the keys or how many.
• The picture: the Mac sends lock-screen video only to the device that asked for it, only while that view is open, and only frames captured after the request. MeowDisplay does not save it. When you leave the app, the iPhone or iPad covers the view before iOS takes its app switcher snapshot, and ends the view in the background. Picture in Picture is not used while the Mac is locked. The view also ends on unlock, on disconnect, when a permission changes, or after two minutes without input.

Anyone holding a trusted device that has control can try passwords on the Mac’s lock screen, under macOS’s own limits, as they could at the Mac’s keyboard. Turn Allow Lock Screen Control off for devices that shouldn’t.

Android permissions

The Android app uses only network permissions, which Android grants at install: to receive the session (internet), to tell Wi-Fi from other networks and to discover Macs on the local network (network and Wi-Fi state, multicast). It does not request broad location, contacts, file-storage, camera or microphone access. When you explicitly save or share a Remote Finder file copy, the Android system file picker or share UI controls the destination. It has no Google Play services, Firebase, advertising or analytics libraries. Try the Demo runs entirely on the phone and connects to nothing.

Because session data goes only to your own paired Mac, and a shared log goes only where you send it, the Google Play listing declares that the app collects and shares no data.

Third-party networks & services

Remote networking is supplied by you. If you use Tailscale or another service, that service’s infrastructure, policies, and account requirements apply separately. Traffic may traverse that provider’s relay infrastructure while the MeowDisplay session remains encrypted.

MeowDisplay does not operate its own relay or see session media through infrastructure it controls. External links on this website take you to services such as GitHub, which have their own privacy policies.

Diagnostics & logs

The apps keep local diagnostic logs for connection and playback troubleshooting. Logs can include device names, peer identifiers, network addresses, timings, and technical errors.

Mac logs are size-capped and rotated under ~/Library/Logs/MeowDisplay. The iOS receiver keeps a capped connection log in its app storage, with a share/export action. The Android app writes no log file: Settings → Help → Share Connection Log gathers the app’s own recent system log lines only when you tap it, and Android’s share sheet lets you choose where they go. Logs are not automatically submitted to a MeowDisplay analytics service.

If you choose to share a log or file a GitHub issue, review it first and remove private device names, endpoints, identifiers, and personal content. What you submit is handled by the service you use to share it.

Update checks: the publicly distributed Mac apps use Sparkle feeds for optional signed update checks; these requests can reach the configured release feed host. The public feed serves the stable Mac 2.1.0 release. iPhone/iPad updates are distributed through the App Store, and Android through Google Play. The app does not run an analytics collection service.

Your controls

Use Allow Input to control remote interaction, and macOS permissions to control screen capture and Accessibility access. Disconnect to end a session.

Forget Device removes that peer’s trusted pin; connecting again requires pairing. Saved remote endpoints can be removed in connection settings. Forgetting a peer does not mean every preference or diagnostic log has been erased.

Uninstalling the Android app removes its key, pins and settings. Uninstalling a Mac or iOS app may leave Keychain entries behind. For help with stored identity or trust, contact the maintainer through the project’s support channels.

This website

This static website adds no analytics, advertising pixels, cookies, fingerprinting, external fonts, or third-party embedded scripts. If you choose Light or Dark appearance, the site saves that preference in your browser’s local storage. Choosing Automatic removes the saved preference.

The site is served through Cloudflare. Like any web host, it receives ordinary technical request information, such as your IP address and browser details, to deliver and protect the site. That is separate from the app’s local diagnostics.

Questions & security

For privacy questions, visit the project’s issues. For sensitive security reports, use GitHub’s private vulnerability reporting as described under Security reporting. Don’t put private information or exploit details in a public issue.

The security description documents the implementation. It is not a claim of a completed independent audit or regulatory certification.