FAQ
MacOn, answered.
The questions people actually ask, answered one at a time. If yours isn't here, email help@macon.id and a human replies.
The basics
What MacOn is and what you need to run it.
What is MacOn?
MacOn is remote control for a Mac from an iPhone or iPad. It comes in three parts that share one engine: a free Mac app that hosts the server your phone connects to, a free iPhone and iPad companion, and the open-source macon command line tool. Once they are paired you can see and drive the Mac's screen, wake and unlock it while it is asleep or locked, automate it, edit code on it, hand tasks to an AI that operates it, and run your iOS builds on it.
Is MacOn free?
Yes, on your own network. The macon CLI is MIT-licensed open source, the Mac app is free, and the iPhone and iPad companion is a free download. On your home Wi-Fi the screen, control and CompactOS are unlimited with no account and no trial clock. Reaching your Mac from anywhere else is capped at 40 minutes a day on the free tier, and MacOn Pro removes that cap.
What do I need to run MacOn?
A Mac running macOS 14 or later, and an iPhone or iPad running iOS or iPadOS 17 or later. The Mac app works on both Apple silicon and Intel, and it is signed and notarized by Apple so it opens like any other app. The companion is currently a free TestFlight beta.
Who is MacOn for?
MacOn is for people who leave a Mac at a desk and still want it while they are somewhere else. In practice that is iOS developers who need builds and Xcode away from the machine, anyone who needs one specific Mac app while travelling, and people running a Mac as an always-on box.
What it does
Six capabilities, and where the free tier stops.
Can I control my Mac from my iPhone?
Yes. MacOn streams the Mac's screen using hardware H.264 and gives you the cursor, a full keyboard and a virtual trackpad. The free tier streams at 1080p and 60 fps; Pro streams at full resolution and 120 fps. CompactOS refits a single Mac app to phone size, so you are driving one app rather than pinching around a whole desktop.
Does MacOn work when the Mac is asleep or locked?
Yes. A power assertion keeps the Mac reachable, a magic packet wakes it, and a 3D padlock in the companion unlocks it. Remote unlock is a Pro feature. One caveat worth knowing before you rely on it: if the lid is closed, the Mac has to be plugged into power. That is how macOS handles clamshell mode and not something MacOn can change.
Can MacOn reach my Mac when I'm not on the same network?
Yes, three ways: over the local network, through a free Cloudflare tunnel, or over iCloud. On the free tier, reaching the Mac from outside your own network is limited to 40 minutes a day. With Pro it is unlimited. Build monitoring, live logs, run and cancel, and push notifications are unlimited from anywhere on both tiers.
What can MacOn automate?
Two things. The Deck is a Stream Deck in your pocket with live tiles. Flows are visual automations you draw as blocks on strings, and they actually run on the Mac. The free tier includes six Deck keys and two Flows. Pro makes both unlimited and adds an AI composer that wires a flow from a plain description.
Can I write code on my Mac from my phone?
Yes. The companion has a file explorer, a tabbed editor that saves back to the Mac, and real zsh terminals, with Xcode in the loop through CompactOS. The free tier can browse files; the full editing workspace with terminals is Pro.
What does the AI in MacOn do?
Two separate things. Chatting with local models about the Mac itself is free, along with basic voice. The Pro agent goes further: it reads the screen, plans, and drives the Mac step by step with every step approved by you, and it can drive a browser through Playwright. The AI is optional, and any keys it needs stay on the Mac.
Can MacOn run my iOS builds?
Yes. The same Mac doubles as a local iOS CI runner. It watches a Bitbucket or GitHub repository, runs the workflows defined in a macon.yml in your repo, tests across iOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS simulators, and ships to TestFlight, all on hardware you own. Pipelines are Bitrise-style, with before_run and after_run composition and triggers that route branches and pull requests to workflows.
Is the CI part a paid feature?
No. The Mac app and the macon CLI that run your pipelines are both free, and watching builds from anywhere is free too: live logs, step timelines, re-run and cancel, and push notifications when a build finishes. Every runner also serves Prometheus metrics, so you can point a scraper at it for dashboards.
Price
What Pro costs, what it adds, and how billing works.
How much does MacOn Pro cost?
MacOn Pro is $39.99 a year, $4.99 a month, or $1.99 a week, after a 7-day free trial. The yearly plan works out at $3.33 a month. If you cancel inside the trial you pay nothing.
What does Pro add over the free tier?
Unlimited remote reach instead of 40 minutes a day, full resolution at 120 fps instead of 1080p at 60, remote unlock and the privacy curtain, the AI agent that drives the Mac, the full code workspace with terminals, unlimited Deck keys and Flows with an AI composer, all 17 worlds instead of 3, and unlimited paired Macs instead of one.
Why is remote the part you charge for?
Because it is the honest line. On your own network your Mac and your phone talk directly and it costs nothing to run, so it stays unlimited and free. Reaching your Mac from a café is the part with real infrastructure behind it, so that is the part that costs money.
Does Pro cover both my iPhone and my iPad?
Yes. It is one purchase on your Apple Account, and Restore Purchases brings it to any device signed into the same account.
What happens when the free 40 minutes run out?
The session ends cleanly, with a warning at five minutes and again at one minute, never a frame cut mid-action. It comes back at midnight. The Mac keeps the count rather than the phone, so it is the same 40 minutes across every device you have paired.
Can I buy MacOn outside the App Store?
Not yet. Checkout on macon.id will be handled by Paddle, and the receipt will carry a code that unlocks Pro in the app. For now the App Store is the way to buy it. Pasting a code to restore a purchase you already own works either way.
How do I cancel my subscription?
Subscriptions are billed by Apple through the App Store. On your iPhone or iPad open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. Refund requests go through Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. If anything about billing looks wrong, email help@macon.id.
Privacy and security
MacOn is built for one person on machines they own, and every remote power is off until you grant it.
Does my code or my data leave my Mac?
No. Your code stays on your Mac. Tokens, API keys and the unlock password live in the macOS Keychain, never in your repo, never in logs, and never on the phone.
What is switched on by default?
Nothing. Screen, control, CompactOS, flows, wake and unlock are all off until you turn them on, one capability at a time, on the Mac itself. MacOn treats every remote power as a privilege you grant rather than a default.
How does pairing work?
You pair once with a single-use code that lives for 15 minutes, is rate-limited, and is verified in constant time. Every device gets its own token, and you can revoke any of them.
Is remote access safe if someone finds my tunnel URL?
The address alone grants nothing. Remote access rides HTTPS and WSS through Cloudflare, and a pairing code plus a bearer token are always required. Knowing the URL gets an attacker nowhere.
Comparisons and licence
How is MacOn different from macOS Screen Sharing?
macOS Screen Sharing hands you a desktop and needs the Mac awake to do it. MacOn is built around a phone instead: it wakes and unlocks a sleeping Mac, refits one app to phone size with CompactOS, adds a Deck and Flows for automation, a code workspace with real terminals, an AI agent that can operate the machine, and a local iOS CI runner. The overlap is the screen; everything else is different in kind.
Is MacOn open source?
Partly. The macon CLI is MIT-licensed and public at github.com/alimusawa313/MaconKit, so you can read exactly what the engine does. The Mac app and the iPhone and iPad companion are free but not open source.
Where do I get help?
Email help@macon.id and a human reads it, usually the same day. The full reference is at macon.id/docs, and bugs and feature requests go to GitHub issues.