Explore Mac
The app for the Mac you connect from.
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Explore Host
The menu bar app for the Mac you connect to.
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PocketRocket is a remote desktop for your Mac: see and control it from iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro or another Mac—at home or over the internet, end‑to‑end encrypted, with no VPN or router setup.
PocketRocket is a remote desktop for your Mac: see and control it from iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro or another Mac—at home or over the internet, end‑to‑end encrypted, with no VPN or router setup.
Install PocketRocket Host on the Mac you want to reach, then connect from a device signed in to the same Apple Account. Your Mac gets a virtual display shaped for your device, and its physical displays go dark during a session.
Install PocketRocket Host on your Mac from its disk image and allow the permissions macOS asks for, then install the PocketRocket app on your device, signed in to the same Apple Account—your Mac appears as a tile.
Coming soon: the PocketRocket app for iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro and Mac is coming to the App Store, and PocketRocket Host is a notarized download from this site.
PocketRocket Host needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26.1 or later, and the PocketRocket app needs iOS 26, iPadOS 26, visionOS 26 or macOS 26, or later.
The apps are available in English, Polish, French and German.
Only once: the first setup needs a display—or Screen Sharing—to grant permissions, and after that your Mac works without a monitor attached.
Check that both devices use the same Apple Account, that PocketRocket Host is running in the menu bar of your Mac, and that both are online.
Yes: PocketRocket finds your Mac through iCloud and connects over your local network, an optional VPN, a direct connection or an encrypted relay—whichever works first.
Through iCloud: PocketRocket Host publishes the name and public key of your Mac to your iCloud account, and devices on the same Apple Account get a tile for it automatically.
No: there are no codes—devices signed in to the same Apple Account find your Mac through iCloud.
No: PocketRocket works without port forwarding, and when your router supports NAT-PMP or UPnP, PocketRocket Host is designed to map a port only for the length of a session.
Yes: when a direct connection isn’t possible, your device and your Mac both connect out to the PocketRocket relay, and it has been tested on 5G and on hotel Wi‑Fi abroad.
Yes, optionally: add the VPN address of your Mac to a connection, and PocketRocket uses that path whenever the tunnel is up.
PocketRocket uses whatever path works first—often the relay—and moves the session to a more direct path when one becomes available, without dropping it.
The session resumes behind a single glass curtain instead of starting over, and it can stay alive in the background for as long as you choose—from 30 seconds to 10 minutes.
PocketRocket adapts without adding delay: it raises compression first, then lowers the frame rate, then reduces detail, with adaptive error correction and a mode for 5G radio losses.
Up to 60 frames per second; for a weak connection you choose the lowest acceptable rate—15, 20, 30 or 60—in PocketRocket Host, and Apple Vision Pro displays the session at 90 Hz.
Yes: the sound of your Mac plays on your device, encoded with Opus in mono or stereo at up to 256 kbps.
No: PocketRocket gives your Mac a virtual display in the exact proportions of your window—2752 × 2064 on the 13‑inch iPad Pro—so nothing is letterboxed or cropped.
Yes: when the Mac you’re using runs a HiDPI display mode, PocketRocket sends the full resolution, and you can switch between Retina 1:1 and More space.
Install PocketRocket Host on your Mac and PocketRocket on your iPhone, both signed in to the same Apple Account; your Mac appears as a tile, and one tap connects—on Wi‑Fi or 5G.
Yes: a Liquid Glass key bar adds ⎋, fn, ⌃, ⌥ and ⌘ plus the arrow keys, with modifiers that stay latched for the next key.
Tap with two fingers; in Touch mode you can also touch and hold for a second, and with a mouse or trackpad on iPad, right-click works as it does on a Mac.
Yes, for as long as you choose—from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, or not at all—while a Live Activity in the Dynamic Island shows the connection.
Yes, with a remote desktop such as PocketRocket: your Mac appears on your iPad over the internet, on a virtual display shaped like your iPad window.
Yes: hover, right-click, scrolling and ⌘-, ⇧- or ⌥-click work, pinch uses the zoom built into macOS, and a two-finger swipe goes back and forward.
Yes: shortcuts from a hardware keyboard go to your Mac, including ones iPadOS normally keeps for itself, such as ⌘F.
Yes: on iPad, Apple Vision Pro and Mac, each PocketRocket window can show a different Mac at the same time.
Apple Pencil support is in testing: pressure and tilt reach your Mac as tablet events, and this answer will be updated once it’s confirmed.
Yes: PocketRocket shows your Mac in a 16:9 window on Apple Vision Pro over the internet, sized from 1600 × 900 to 9600 × 5400 points and pinned in your space.
From 1600 × 900 up to 9600 × 5400 points in 16:9, and PocketRocket remembers the size you chose for each connection.
Look at an item and pinch to click, pinch and drag to scroll, or pinch and hold to drag—and a hardware keyboard works, too.
Install PocketRocket Host on the home Mac and PocketRocket on the MacBook, both signed in to the same Apple Account; the home Mac then opens in its own window over hotel Wi‑Fi or any other network.
Yes: the clipboard works both ways for text, images and files, up to a size limit you set on your device—16 MB by default.
Yes: during a session your iPhone or iPad works as a camera named PocketRocket Camera in apps on your Mac, wherever the Mac is.
Yes: for the length of a session, the microphone of your device appears on the Mac as PocketRocket Mic—automatically, with no switches.
Yes: the front camera, front with Center Stage, or the rear wide, ultra wide or telephoto lens, depending on your device.
Yes: your Mac works without a monitor attached—PocketRocket Host gives it a virtual display shaped like your iPad, so you see the whole desktop.
No: the physical displays of your Mac go dark for the session, and windows and the pointer appear only on the virtual display you’re using.
Yes: at the login window, PocketRocket types your Mac password after Face ID, Touch ID or Optic ID, using the password kept in iCloud Keychain on your device and sent over the encrypted channel.
Yes: in PocketRocket Host settings you can allow or switch off each path—local network, VPN, direct or relay—and cap the bandwidth.
It checks for updates at launch and every 24 hours and installs them quietly when no device is connected.
Yes: every channel is encrypted end to end with ChaCha20‑Poly1305, using fresh X25519 keys for each session, and your Mac refuses unencrypted traffic.
No: the relay only forwards encrypted bytes it can’t decrypt, and your Mac signs its identity, so the relay can’t pose as your Mac.
Your Mac only answers devices that prove they know its key, which is shared through your iCloud account; to anyone else, it stays silent.
PocketRocket releases the password of your Mac only after Face ID, Touch ID or Optic ID succeeds on your device and types it only over the end‑to‑end encrypted channel.
No: iPhone Mirroring shows your iPhone on your Mac, while PocketRocket shows your Mac on your iPhone—and on iPad, Apple Vision Pro and another Mac.
Apple describes Screen Sharing for Mac computers on your network, and its High Performance mode needs UDP ports 5900–5902 and a fast, steady connection; PocketRocket reaches your Mac over the internet without router setup.
Not according to Apple: Sidecar needs your iPad within about 10 meters (30 feet) of your Mac, or a USB cable.
Sidecar makes your iPad a display for your Mac, while Universal Control lets one Mac keyboard and pointer control up to two other nearby Mac or iPad devices, each showing its own screen.
Only when your iPad is away from your Mac: PocketRocket shows your Mac on iPad over the internet, but it doesn’t add a second display the way Sidecar does.
Not according to Apple: Mac Virtual Display needs your Mac and Apple Vision Pro within about 10 meters (30 feet) of each other.
Those features connect devices close together—within about 10 meters, according to Apple—while PocketRocket reaches your Mac from iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro or another Mac over the internet.
No: PocketRocket Host runs only on Mac computers with Apple silicon and macOS 26.1 or later.
No: PocketRocket is made only for Apple devices—the computer you reach is a Mac, and you connect from iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro or Mac.
No: camera sharing works from iPhone, iPad and Mac, not from Apple Vision Pro.
No: your Mac needs to be on, because PocketRocket can’t wake it from sleep—keep your Mac from sleeping in System Settings; during a session, PocketRocket Host keeps it from idle sleep.
No: a Mac running PocketRocket Host serves one device at a time, and a new device that connects takes over the session.
No: PocketRocket connects only devices signed in to the same Apple Account, so it’s made for your own Mac and devices.
On the Mac you want to reach. It lives in the menu bar.
On iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro or another Mac.
Use the same Apple Account, and your Mac shows up on its own.
PocketRocket Host needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26.1 or later. The PocketRocket app is coming soon to the App Store.