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Away from home

At home, Screenbay connects to your Mac over the local network. Away from home, it connects over a private network that you run, such as Tailscale. Screenbay has no relay server of its own: the session goes from your iPad to your Mac and nowhere else. Screenbay does not set up the private network for you.

  1. Install Tailscale on the Mac and sign in.
  2. Install Tailscale on the iPad and sign in to the same Tailscale network (tailnet).
  3. In the Tailscale app or admin console, note the Mac’s Tailscale name (for example studio-mac, or the full studio-mac.<tailnet>.ts.net) or its 100.x.y.z address.

Tailscale’s own documentation covers installation and sign-in: tailscale.com/kb.

In Screenbay, add the Mac (or a second entry for the same Mac) with its Tailscale name or address instead of its .local name, and connect as usual. With Tailscale on, the iPad reaches the Mac wherever both are online.

Never forward port 5900 on your router or otherwise expose the Mac’s Screen Sharing to the internet. Screenbay does not support that setup, and it puts the Mac’s sign-in in front of every scanner on the internet.

Over Tailscale, the session travels over the network you set up, under Tailscale’s terms. Screenbay does not talk to Tailscale or any other provider itself. See the privacy policy.