Splashtop your screen is being observed

Recently, we published a how-to guide titled Three ways to remotely access and control a Mac. As the title suggests, we outlined three ways Back to My Mac, Apple Remote Desktop, and Parallels Access to access and control a remote Mac. At the tail end of that post was a request for readers to add their suggestions for other remote control solutions, and we were amazed at the response. This post outlines many of the suggestions in those comments, and if you were one of the readers who provided a solution, please check out the bottom of this post

macOS Screen Sharing
This suggestion completely surprised me, as I either had never heard of it or had forgotten about it in the years since I was an Apple consultant. But as reader Chris pointed out, theres a Screen Sharing app hidden deep in the dusty basement of macOS that is used by Apples own support personnel to remotely control Macs.

The app can be found in /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications. This is the System library, not the User library. To find the app, open a Finder window, scroll down to the Devices, then click on the name of your Mac. In the Finder window will be icons for Macintosh HD [or whatever your Startup Volumeis named], any external drives, Network and Remote Drives if you dont see Macintosh HD, go to Finder Preferences, Sidebar, and checkthe box next to the drive name to add it to the Finder sidebar. Double-click the Macintosh HD icon, then open the System folder, then the Library folder, and finally the CoreServices folder [see image below]:

[The crooked path to CoreServices]

Inside the CoreServices folder is an Applications folder, and there youll find an app icon for Screen Sharing. Thats the app well using. Double-click the Screen Sharing icon, and all youll get is this small dialog:

[The minimalist Screen Sharing dialog]

On a local network, entering the hostname is probably the easiest way to connect to another machine. To find a Macs hostname, launch System Preferences, then open Sharing. Youll see the name of the Mac listed at the top, and just below that will be an name followed by .local. Thats the hostname [for example, Barbaras-imac.local]. While youre in the Sharing System Preferences pane, be sure to click the Screen Sharing service check box on the left side. This turns on the Virtual Node Controller [VNC] service on your Mac [see image below]:

[Be sure to turn on Screen Sharing in the System Preferences Sharing pane]

Now to control that other Mac, heres all you need to do. In the Screen Sharing app, just type in the hostname or the Apple ID that is associated with that Mac. You may be asked to enter the User ID and password for that remote Mac, and once that is done, the other Macs screen appears on your Mac [screenshot below]:

[Another Mac being controlled using macOS screen sharing]

Whats even more easy? Just connecting via an Apple ID. To do this, enter the Apple ID of the Macs owner into the Screen Sharing app, and the other Mac receives a request to allow sharing [image below]:

[Dialog seen when using an Apple ID to request remote control of another Mac]

Once that person accepts the invitation, they have an opportunity to allow others to control or just observe their Mac [see image below]:

[The Mac on the receiving end can choose to allow full control or just observation]

I tried this with my elderly father, who needs assistance with his MacBook Air on occasion. Its quite easy to set up initially for another person by enabling screen sharing, and once set up, I can request to control his Mac when he needs help. The only negative in this situation is that someone must be at the receiving end of the connection.

Team Viewer
Team Viewerwas the next most popular suggestion, with multiple readers suggesting this commercial service. Not only does Team Viewer allow remote control of Macs, but its one of the only solutions that also provides a way to remotely control iOS devices. Its free for personal use, which means that helping out a friend or relative doesnt require a pricy license.

After downloading and installing the Team Viewer app on both Macs, sign up for a free account so that you can associate a Mac with a particular email address. Youll need to verify that email address by clicking a link in a mail message that is sent to you and may also need to add the Mac to a trusted devices list on the Team Viewer website, but once thats done, connecting to and controlling the remote Mac is quite simple.

Just launch Team Viewer, and a screen similar to that seen below shows up [see screenshot below]:

[The Team Viewer app window]

To allow remote control of this Mac, I would give Your ID to the person who is trying to control my Mac. The opposite is true as well. If I want to connect to a remote Mac, I ask that person for their ID and click Connect to Partner. For test purposes, I installed the iOS client onto my iPhone 7 Plus and then used it to control my Mac [see screenshot below]:

Remote Mac being controlled through Team Viewer on iOS

Team Viewer does certain things to speed up the connection, such as turning the wallpaperof the Mac being controlled to a single color. It works very well, and I can see why it was a favorite of many readers of The Rocket Yard. One nice thing is that the remote machine does not need to be attended in order to take control, and the app can also be used to transfer files between machines.

VNC [includes RealVNC, Jump Desktop, Screens VNC, Splashtop Personal, Chicken]
Many of the solutions that were suggested involve Virtual Node Controller [VNC], a service thats built into macOS and is actually the service behind Screen Sharing. Due to the number of different methods of installing and configuring many of these apps, I wont go into detail on each. Instead, Ill just provide links for downloading the various apps.

RealVNC :Free to download and use for personal use, RealVNC is limited to 5 remote computers and 3 users.

Jump Desktop:Available in theMac App Store for $29.99 and the iOS App Store for $14.99, Jump Desktop uses the built-in VNC server [System Preferences > Sharing > Screen Sharing] on macOS.

ScreensVNC:Another VNC client, Screens VNCis available in the iOS App Store for $19.99 and theMac App Store for $29.99, and also connects to the built-in macOS VNC server.

Splashtop Personal:This VNC client is free if you wish to control Macs that are on the same network as yours. Download the macOS client hereor the iOS app[$1.99 on sale, with in-app purchases for remote control]. If you require control off of your local network, theres a subscription available for $16.99 per year.

Chicken of the VNC [AKA Chicken]:This is a VNC client thats been available for years and a Sourceforge open source project. As such, its a bit of a work in progressing requires some work to get things set up. For example, it may be necessary to use something like Port Mapper[$4.99] to configureport forwarding so that you can connect to that remote Mac.

Google Chrome remote extension:TheGoogle Chrome Remote Extension is perfect if you and the remote Mac use the Google Chrome browser. The browser is a free download from the Chrome Web Store, and once its installed, its simple to use your Google account to log into those other apps for remote support. It also works well if you wish to control a Mac from an Android smartphone or tablet and the Android client isfound in the Google Play store.

A Rocket Yard Thank-You to:

• Chris [macOS Screen Sharing]
• James Theodorou [Real VNC, plus clarification on Screen Sharing and ARD]
• Reese Boyd [Jump Desktop]
• Fastasleep [Screens VNC]
• Steve Kruse [Logmein.com]
• Ed Glassgow [Splashtop Personal]
• John Roach [Schnitz Remote Lite, Port Mapper, Chicken of the VNC, Google Chrome remote extension]
• Terry and Julian [Team Viewer]