You Can View and Control Your IPhone From Your Mac
iPhone mirroring is one of the best new features in iOS 18 and macOS 15 Sequoia . It allows you to control your iPhone from your Mac, which has saved me a lot of time and is as useful as using AirPlay to mirror any app or window on your TV . With iPhone mirroring, my iPhone can now run in a small window on my Mac, and I can use that window to quickly respond to texts, use iPhone apps, and get work done without distractions. Here are a few of my favorite iPhone mirroring features to improve your workflow.
How to Mirror Your iPhone to Mac
iPhone mirroring is available for all iPhones and Macs that meet minimum system requirements. Here’s what you need:
-
A Mac running macOS 15 Sequoia, equipped with any Apple silicon chip (M series) orApple T2 security chip.
-
iPhone running iOS 18.
-
Your Mac and iPhone must be signed into the same Apple account.
-
You must have two-factor authentication enabled on your Apple account.
-
Your iPhone must be locked (or in standby mode) and next to your Mac.
-
Both devices must have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled.
Once you’ve installed the materials, follow these steps to start mirroring your iPhone to Mac:
1. In your Mac’s Dock, find the iPhone Mirroring app. It should appear automatically after updating to macOS 15 Sequoia and look like a square with an image of the iPhone inside.
2. If you don’t see the app in the Dock, press Command-Spacebar and search for iPhone Mirroring to open the app.
3. When prompted, unlock your iPhone using your passcode.
4. Unlock iPhone Mirroring on your Mac by entering your password.
5. Choose whether you want to allow notifications from your iPhone on your Mac, then choose whether you want to manually authenticate your iPhone mirroring (using a passcode and password) every time you open it, or whether you want your Mac automated this process.
6. Finally, iPhone Mirroring will boot up and display your iPhone’s home screen. Now you can start using your iPhone from your Mac.
7. To exit mirroring, close the iPhone Mirroring app or unlock your iPhone.
Keyboard shortcuts to mirror iPhone
The iPhone Mirroring app supports the following keyboard shortcuts:
-
Command-1 : Go to your iPhone’s Home screen.
-
Command-2 : Opens the application switcher.
-
Command-3 : Opens Spotlight search.
-
Command-+ or Command- – (minus): Increases or decreases the size of the iPhone mirroring window.
-
Command-0 (zero): Returns the iPhone mirroring window to its original size.
These shortcuts will allow you to quickly control the iPhone Mirroring application. Personally, I often use these shortcuts to access the Home screen and Spotlight search.
How to Access Home Screen Using Mouse While Mirroring iPhone
If you prefer to use a trackpad or mouse, you can still use them with iPhone Mirroring to open the app switcher or go to the Home screen. To do this, drag your mouse cursor just above the iPhone Mirroring window. You will see a border appear. In the upper right corner of this frame you will find two buttons. The left one (nine dots) opens the home screen, and the right one opens the application switcher.
Reduce notification overload
I’ve been able to use iPhone mirroring to stop looking at my iPhone while working, but if I allow all of my iPhone’s notifications while mirroring on my Mac, it quickly becomes counterproductive. That’s why I limited some notifications to just my iPhone and only allowed the most important ones on my Mac. Set this up by unlocking your iPhone and going to Settings > Notifications , then selecting the app you don’t want your Mac to receive notifications about. Scroll down and turn off the Show on Mac option. Your iPhone will still receive alerts for this app, but they won’t appear on your Mac.
Or on a Mac, go to System Preferences > Notifications > Allow iPhone Notifications . You can use this page to turn notifications on or off for specific apps and switch iPhone notification sounds.
Automatically authenticate your iPhone on Mac
By default, to download the iPhone Mirroring app, you will have to enter passwords for both your iPhone and Mac. However, if you are in a secure location where there is no fear of unauthorized access to your devices, you can ask the iPhone Mirroring app to automatically authenticate your devices. If you missed this during installation, you can enable it by opening iPhone Mirroring on your Mac and clicking the iPhone Mirroring menu in the top left corner of the screen. Select Settings and turn on Automatic Authentication .
Drag files from iPhone to Mac (and vice versa)
iPhone Mirroring makes it easy to drag and drop files from one device to another. I also found this to be a quick and easy way to transfer photos from my iPhone to Mac, so don’t skip this feature. It’s much faster than AirDrop and saved me a lot of time while working.
Change iPhone Home Screen from Mac
You can also use the iPhone Mirroring app to play with your iPhone’s home screen. To get started, simply long-press on any empty space on your iPhone’s home screen and you’ll see your apps and widgets jiggle. You can use your mouse to drag and drop apps and widgets and rearrange the home screen as you see fit. You can even tap the Edit button in the top left corner to add widgets, customize the Home screen, and edit various pages on your iPhone’s Home screen.
How to Prevent iPhone Mirroring on Your Mac
If you don’t want to use iPhone mirroring on your Mac, you can prevent your computer from accessing this feature. This is ideal for those who have multiple Macs and don’t want to have to choose which one to mirror to every time they open an app. Start by going to the Settings app on your iPhone and selecting General > AirPlay & Continuity > iPhone Mirroring . Click the “Change” button in the top right corner and then the red minus icon next to the Mac you want to remove from this feature. Finally, click the Remove button next to the Mac name.