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Screenbay

Getting started

What You Need

Section titled “What You Need”
  • A Mac with Apple silicon running macOS Sonoma 14 or later. Screenbay uses the High Performance mode of the Screen Sharing built into macOS, which needs both.
  • An iPad running iPadOS 17 or later.
  • A network between them: the same home or office network, or a private network such as Tailscale (away from home).
  • The user name and password of an account on the Mac that is allowed to share its screen.

Nothing is installed on the Mac.

1. Turn On Screen Sharing

Section titled “1. Turn On Screen Sharing”
  1. On the Mac, open System Settings → General → Sharing and turn on Screen Sharing.
  2. Click the ⓘ button beside it and allow the user who will sign in, or allow all users.
  3. Screen Sharing must also allow High Performance connections.
  4. Note the Mac’s name or network address shown there, such as studio-mac.local.

2. Add It In Screenbay

Section titled “2. Add It In Screenbay”
  1. Open Screenbay on the iPad and add a Mac. Screenbay can find Macs with Screen Sharing on your local network, or you can type the name or address from step 1.
  2. Enter the user name of the Mac account.

iPadOS asks whether Screenbay may find and connect to devices on your local network. Allow it. Screenbay uses this only to reach the Macs you add.

3. Connect

Section titled “3. Connect”

Select the Mac and sign in with that user’s password. Screenbay saves the password in this iPad’s Keychain, on this device only, so the next connection does not ask again. Deleting the Mac from the list deletes its saved password.

Fit to iPad uses a virtual display sized for the iPad: the Mac’s own screens turn off while you are connected and come back when you disconnect. You can also show the Mac’s screen as it is.

If It Does Not Connect

Section titled “If It Does Not Connect”
  • The Mac cannot be reached. Check its name or address, that it is awake, and that the iPad can reach it on the same network or private network. Check the iPad’s Local Network permission for Screenbay in Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network.
  • The Mac answered but refused the connection. Turn on Screen Sharing in System Settings → General → Sharing, and check that TCP port 5900 is reachable.
  • The user name or password is rejected. Check the Mac account’s user name, password and Screen Sharing permission. If AutoFill entered a password, check that it belongs to this Mac account.
  • Signed in, but no picture appears. UDP ports 5900 and 5901 must pass between the iPad and the Mac. Disconnect and try again.

Still stuck? See Support.