Screen#

See and control a computer's screen from the phone or a browser. Screen shows the current server: the computer the Mewla daemon runs on. The picture and your input travel over the same signed connection as everything else, so Screen opens no new port and needs no extra password.

Which computers#

Screen works on Macs for now. On another computer the Screen page says Screen works on Macs for now; in the app, Choose a computer opens Settings, where you add the Mewla running on your Mac and switch to it.

Turn it on#

1. Open Screen from the menu and tap Turn on Screen.
2. At the computer, allow your device in the dialog that appears. Each device asks once; someone has to be at the computer to answer.
3. If the computer needs permissions, the Screen page lists them, and the operating system shows its own prompts. Grant them at the computer, or tap Open settings to show the right settings page there, then tap Check again. Some permissions apply only after Mewla restarts; the page then shows Restart Mewla, which restarts it on the computer and reconnects.

On macOS the permissions are Screen Recording (to see the screen) and Accessibility (to click and type), both under System Settings → Privacy & Security. When mewla boot install runs Mewla, both lists show Mewla with its icon. Without it they show mewla or the terminal app that started it. You grant them once: Mewla signs itself with an identity kept on this Mac, so they stay granted after updates. If mewla boot status reports an ad hoc signature, macOS asks again after each update; turn Mewla off and on in both lists.

To start Mewla when the computer starts, so Screen is there after a restart, see Keep it running.

Use it#

Use as trackpad in the options menu switches to a pointer you push with one finger, like a laptop trackpad. Tap clicks where the pointer is; tap, then press and drag, drags.

The bar under the screen has the keyboard, the ⌘ ⌃ ⌥ ⇧ modifiers, Esc, Tab, the arrows, Delete and Return, then common shortcuts. Tap a modifier once to apply it to the next key, tap it twice to hold it, and a third time to release it. Text you type with the phone's keyboard, including Chinese and accented letters, arrives as typed, whatever input source the computer uses. Keys pressed with ⌘, ⌃ or ⌥ arrive as shortcuts.

The view rotates to landscape on this page only. The badge in the corner shows the network round trip, the time from your tap until the screen redraws, frames per second and bandwidth, with the computer's power state below. Tap it to hide it. Screen sends only the parts of the screen that changed and never queues more than two frames, so the picture keeps up with your input on slow connections.

Keep the computer reachable#

While a device is allowed, Mewla keeps the computer awake so you can still reach it when you're away. The display may still sleep; connecting wakes it, and a locked computer shows its login window, where you can type the password. Let this computer sleep in the options menu, or mewla screen enable -allow-sleep at the computer, turns this off. The hold ends when Mewla stops.

On macOS Mewla holds the same assertion as caffeinate -i -s. macOS still sleeps when:

• a MacBook's lid is closed and no external display is connected. Keep the lid open; Screen warns you when it is closed.
• it runs on battery and the battery runs low. Leave the charger connected.

Wake for network access does not help: a sleeping Mac drops off Tailscale and cannot be woken through it.

Who can use it#

Only paired devices that someone allowed at the computer. A newer viewer takes over from an older one, and the older one is told why. The computer shows a notification every time a device connects or leaves. Revoking a device ends its session within seconds.

At the computer:

mewla screen status     # support, permissions, allowed devices, keep-awake
mewla screen disable    # turn Screen off: viewers close and every device must be allowed again
mewla screen enable     # allow devices to ask again