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Install Airnest for Mac and open it once — its icon settles into the menu bar and it starts listening for connections. Open the iPhone app: your Mac's name appears in the list within a second or two. Tap it, and you're connected.

No pairing code, no account. Reconnecting later is just as fast — the app remembers your Mac.

Check three things, in this order:

• The Mac companion app is running — its icon is in the menu bar, at the top right of the screen.
• Both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network, or Bluetooth is on for both.
• Airnest has been granted local network permission on the iPhone: Settings › Airnest › Local Network.

On a corporate or public Wi-Fi network, client isolation often blocks peer-to-peer discovery. Bluetooth works around it.

Download the disk image, open it, and drag Airnest into your Applications folder. Launch it once: the icon appears in the menu bar and it starts automatically at every login.

The app is notarized by Apple and signed with a Developer ID, so macOS opens it without warning.

That's expected. To move the cursor and send keystrokes, the Mac companion needs Accessibility access: System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility, then enable Airnest.

This permission stays on your Mac. It gives Airnest no access to your files, your screen or your data.

The trackpad screen understands the same gestures as the trackpad built into your Mac:

• Tap anywhere to click.
• Double-tap to double-click.
• Two fingers, slide to scroll — lift and it keeps gliding with momentum.
• Two fingers, tap to right-click.

Cursor movement is velocity-adaptive, so a slow drag stays precise while a fast swipe covers the whole screen.

Open the Settings tab in the iPhone app and adjust Cursor speed and Scroll speed. The cursor is velocity-adaptive: it accelerates with a fast swipe and stays precise on a slow one, so a mid setting usually fits both.

⌘C and ⌘V on the iPhone's keyboard send real copy and paste commands to the Mac — a small notification confirms each one. Anything on the Mac's clipboard behaves exactly as if you'd pressed the keys locally.

Tap the ⌘⇥ shortcut above the keyboard to open the App Switcher, then tap again — or wait about 2.5 seconds — to confirm the switch. It works exactly like holding ⌘ and tapping ⇥ repeatedly on a physical keyboard.

Any of them. The keyboard sends real keystrokes, including modifiers, so every macOS or app shortcut works. Shortcuts used most often — App Switcher, Mission Control, Spotlight, show/hide the Dock — are one tap away above the keyboard.

Tap the media icon to open the playback overlay: previous, play/pause, stop and next control whatever's playing on the Mac, and two sliders adjust system volume and display brightness in real time. The panel closes itself after a few seconds of inactivity, or tap elsewhere to dismiss it.

Yes, over Wi-Fi, using Wake on LAN. Connect once while the Mac is awake so Airnest can record its hardware address, then enable Wake the Mac in Settings.

Your Mac must also allow it: System Settings › Energy Saver (or Battery, on a laptop) › Wake for network access.

Yes — that's the point. Everything runs over your local network, peer-to-peer, with no server involved. Airnest works on a plane, in a cabin, or on a Wi-Fi network with no internet connection at all.

iPhone on iOS 17 or later, and Mac on macOS 15 or later. Both apps are universal and run natively on Apple Silicon.

Close the app, or walk out of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth range — the Mac companion notices within a few seconds and stops listening for input. There's nothing to sign out of and nothing left behind.