Start where you’re stuck.

Nearby uses Bonjour discovery, so it needs a live advertisement on a network that allows it. Check, in order: (1) both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network, and it isn't a guest or corporate network that blocks Bonjour/mDNS; (2) Reach Host is running, with its menu-bar icon visible; (3) Local Network access is allowed on both the Mac and the iPhone or iPad — that is the permission discovery depends on. macOS often asks for it only once, so if you dismissed the prompt, turn it back on in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network. Screen Recording and Accessibility on the Mac are what make the session usable once it connects, not what makes the Mac visible.

Reach only treats Nearby as connectable while the Bonjour advertisement is actually live. A Mac you saved earlier still appears under its last-seen name, but that saved name on its own does not make it connectable — the advertisement has to be back before Nearby will dial it. To reach that Mac while it is off your network, use a saved Direct IP address, or sign in and use Internet Direct or Relay.

Pick the route that matches your situation. Signed out, only the first one is available.

• Manual Direct IP — no account needed. It currently requires a routable public IPv4 endpoint. A Mac that already holds a public IPv4 address needs no forwarding — enter its address and port directly. If the Mac is behind a router or NAT, forward or map the UDP port shown in Reach Host → Connection settings → Direct over Internet (8443 by default), then enter the external address and port in Reach Viewer. That mapping cannot be created through CGNAT. If that path is unavailable, sign in and use Internet Direct — which can select a public-IPv6 candidate — or Relay.
• Internet Direct — requires a Reach Account. Sign in on both the Mac and the iPhone or iPad, register the Mac to the account, and Reach tries direct internet candidates through the saved connection profile — endpoints discovered through NAT traversal, public IPv6 addresses, and router-mapped endpoints. Devices trusted through the same Reach account can connect without entering a pairing code. A reachable direct path is still required, and additional network configuration may be needed.
• Relay — requires a Reach Account plus your own Cloudflare TURN credentials. Follow the Cloudflare setup guide to choose the required permissions and save the credentials in Reach Host → Cloudflare relay → Manage…. Relay is the fallback for strict or symmetric NAT and CGNAT when direct routes fail. It still requires valid TURN credentials and a reachable TURN service, and it adds latency compared with a direct path.

Auto only tries routes that are eligible for your current sign-in state, so if you are signed out it will never silently attempt Internet Direct or Relay. You can also select a route explicitly, and Reach remembers that choice per Mac.

A Reach Account is optional. Signing in is done with a one-time email magic link or code — there are no passwords. Signed out you keep Nearby / LAN and manual Direct IP, with the full video, audio, and input session; nothing about the session itself is degraded. Signing in adds Internet Direct and Relay, and lets devices on the same account trust each other without a pairing code. Trust is not the same as reachability: a connection still needs a dialable direct candidate or a configured relay.

Account data includes email, device identifiers, trust, and connection information used for sign-in and device access. Authentication security, optional purchase entitlements, and operational logs have separate lifetimes and retention rules. See the privacy policy for current categories and deletion scope.

Use the account screen in Viewer or Host. Sign out ends sign-in on that device; Remove device and sign out revokes that device’s account registration. Delete account removes associated account-database records. Operational logs, abuse-prevention state, local settings, and Keychain credentials have separate scopes. See account deletion and device removal for details.

Yes. The workspace holds up to four independent workspace screens at once — several displays of the same trusted Mac, several Macs, or a mix. For each screen, the display picker lets you select a physical display, reuse an existing viewer-sized display, or create a virtual display. Virtual-display reuse checks refresh rate, so it will not select one running at the wrong rate.

Only one screen receives keyboard and pointer input at a time. The others keep streaming, and Request control moves input to the screen you are viewing. When two or more screens are active, Reach applies a workspace-wide frame-rate and bitrate ceiling to each participating stream. Each screen opens its own connection; the ceiling depends on how many screens participate, not on sharing a connection. This limit affects only the live stream. Saved quality settings stay unchanged, and returning to one screen lifts it.

Turn on Share system audio in Reach Host → Permissions. Reach captures system audio through ScreenCaptureKit; Reach Host does not request Microphone permission and ignores microphone samples. If permission needs repair, use the Screen Recording and system-audio settings Reach Host opens for you. It captures the Mac’s system audio output, not only audio from the selected display. No microphone input is captured or recorded; this permission is the gate for system audio.

Viewer audio follows the displayed video timeline. If audio drifts too far from the picture, Reach drops or resets the stale queue rather than playing it late, so a bad network moment can cost you a slice of audio instead of desynchronising the session.

Connect a Magic Keyboard or another Bluetooth keyboard to the iPhone or iPad. Reach sends hardware-keyboard input to the focused screen while that screen has input control. The on-screen keyboard remains available. If typing does not work, check the Mac’s Accessibility permission — grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and reconnect.

A direct connection on the same LAN subnet usually has low latency. If it does not, try Ethernet on the Mac; prefer 5 GHz or 6 GHz Wi-Fi over 2.4 GHz when supported; lower the frame rate or requested bitrate under Live settings in the side panel; and check for background uploads. To change resolution, choose a size before connecting or edit the preset, then reconnect. Reach streams hardware-accelerated HEVC and H.264 with adaptive bitrate over QUIC. If HEVC is unstable in your setup, use H.264. Relay latency depends on the network and relay path. Running several screens at once also lowers each participating stream’s ceiling, as described above.

Reach Host → Devices & Trust → Devices lists every trusted viewer with its fingerprint. Removing an entry revokes that pairing and closes any live session it owns. Removal also blocks automatic Reach Account and iCloud re-admission for the same fingerprint, so trusting the device again requires an explicit pairing code. To revoke the device’s account registration as well, remove the device from the account. Signing out only ends sign-in on that device.

Reach sends a hardware Caps Lock press from an iPhone or iPad keyboard as the Mac’s input-source switch. On a Mac configured with Korean and English input sources, this switches between them. Other input-source configurations follow the Mac’s settings. iPadOS delivers Caps Lock as an instant toggle, so there is no long-press variant. To lock capitals, use Caps Lock on the on-screen keyboard.

That's the cursor handle. It appears in Direct Touch mode and follows the Mac's cursor, so you can drag it for pixel-precise pointer movement instead of hunting with taps. You can switch it off for yourself in the in-session side panel under Touch input → Cursor handle, and turn it off for every viewer from the Mac with Reach Host → Devices & Trust → Advanced → Cursor Telemetry → Share cursor position with viewer. The Mac-side setting persists across sessions, and viewers clear the handle as soon as it is switched off.

Open the in-session side panel and find Scroll direction. Invert touch scroll and Invert trackpad scroll are separate switches, so you can flip two-finger touch scrolling without changing trackpad scrolling, or the other way around.

Reach Viewer ships through the App Store as Reach Remote: apps.apple.com/app/id6762804458. Reach Host, the Mac side, is a free notarized DMG downloaded from this site; once installed it checks for updates automatically and offers an install action in its menu.

On the Mac, open Reach Host → Devices & Trust → Advanced → Host activity log and use Copy or Export… to save the activity log as a .txt file. On the iPhone or iPad, a failed connection shows a failure card with Copy Report — that report carries the attempt details you need (route, timings, error) with identifying details redacted, and no screen content. Attach whichever you have to the GitHub issue or the email.