The old way of controlling a Mac with an iPhone or Android phone only works when both devices are on the same WiFi network. Lucid Gen knows you need more than that: being able to control your Mac remotely with an iPhone or Android phone, even on different networks. In this article, I’ll walk you through both methods in detail and refresh the old one, since macOS has changed and there’s a newer way to do it. Let’s get started!
What you can do when controlling a Mac from your phone
- Control a Mac with an iPhone or Android phone: Many people assume only an iPhone can control a Mac because they’re both part of the Apple family. In fact, Android phones can do it too.
- Full mouse control: Left click, right click, middle click, and scrolling are all available. You just need to get used to the gestures on your phone.
- Keyboard input: You can use your phone’s keyboard to type on the Mac.
- Works on the same or a different WiFi network: This is probably the feature you’re looking for.
- Zoom in and out: Don’t worry about the small screen making it hard to see the icons on the Mac desktop. Just use 2 fingers to zoom in on the area you want to see.
- Take screenshots of the Mac: The app lets you capture your Mac’s screen right from your phone.
Control a Mac with an iPhone on the same network
I’ll first go through the basic method built into the Mac by Apple. It’s slightly different from many guides online, because their method no longer works well: you can only see the Mac’s lock screen. The steps below suit current macOS versions better and let you control the actual desktop.
This method only lets you control a Mac with an iPhone or Android phone when both devices are on the same WiFi network. Setting it up on the computer is very easy, but the phone side is a little trickier.
Step 1: Open System Preferences > Sharing. On macOS Ventura and later, System Preferences is called System Settings, so go to System Settings > General > Sharing.
Step 2: Tick Screen Sharing (when you see “Screen Sharing: On” with a green light, it’s working). Now note down 1 of the 2 addresses circled in red in the image below. You’ll use it to connect from your phone.
Step 3 (optional): You can rename your Mac to something shorter that’s easier to type on your phone.
Step 4: Download and open the VNC Viewer app on your phone > tap the plus sign > enter your IP address or Name.local in the Address field > Save.
Step 5: Tap Connect > turn off Warn me every time and tap Continue > enter your Mac username and password, turn on Remember Password, and tap Continue.
You can find the username in System Preferences (or System Settings > Users & Groups on macOS Ventura and later), and the password is the one you use to log in to your Mac every time you start it.
Step 6: Start controlling your Mac with your iPhone or Android phone. You can open the mouse control panel or just use the gestures the app shows you.
Here are the gestures the app will show you:
- Use 2 fingers to zoom.
- Press with 1 finger and drag to move the mouse pointer.
- Tap once on the screen for a left click.
- Tap twice on the screen for a double-click.
- Tap with 2 fingers for a right click.
- Tap with 3 fingers for a middle click.
- Press with 2 fingers and drag up or down to scroll.
- Double-tap and drag to click and select an area.
You can type on your Mac using your phone’s familiar keyboard. When you’re done, tap the X to disconnect. VNC Viewer saves your device, so next time you just select it and VNC Viewer connects to your Mac automatically.
Control a Mac with an iPhone on a different network
Personally, I find AnyDesk better than older tools like TeamViewer. It’s flexible enough that devices can control each other without running the same version. With TeamViewer, I kept running into the problem of two different versions refusing to connect, so I had to update both machines to the same version, which was really annoying. Once you finish this article, give AnyDesk a try!
This method lets you control a Mac with an iPhone or Android phone on both the same and different networks. However, the setup is harder on the Mac, while the phone side is easy.
Step 1: Install and give permissions for AnyDesk on Mac. Create an Unattended Access profile so you can connect with a password.
Step 2: Download and open the AnyDesk app on your phone, then enter your Mac’s AnyDesk address to connect.
Step 3: Go back to the Mac and click Accept to allow the phone to control it. If you’ve already set a password, skip this step.
If you want to control your Mac from your phone without clicking Accept on the Mac every time, go back to Step 1 and set a password for Unattended Access (in older AnyDesk versions, this was the Set password option). Next time, you just enter the password and you’re in control of the Mac right away.
Step 4: Start controlling your Mac with your iPhone or Android phone. The first time, the app shows you how to use it:
- Swipe in from the edge of the screen to show the menu.
- Tap once for a left click.
- Tap and hold for a right click.
- Use 2 fingers to zoom the screen.
- Swipe in from the side to open the menu, then drop on the keyboard icon to use the keyboard.
- Double-tap an item and swipe to drag and drop it on the Mac screen.
This is the menu that appears when you swipe in from the edge. Drop on the keyboard to type, drop on the lightning bolt to take a screenshot, and drop on the X to disconnect. Your device is saved, so next time you just tap it to connect.
Conclusion
Each way of controlling a Mac with an iPhone or Android phone has its pros and cons. The Mac’s built-in Sharing feature is simple to set up, but it only works on a local network. AnyDesk takes a bit more effort to install because you have to grant the app permissions in macOS security settings, but the phone side is simple and you can control your Mac from a different WiFi network.
What do you think of this tutorial? Let me know in the comments below!
