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the Mac with the iPhone - this is how it works

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Control iTunes via iPhone
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Control your Mac completely remotely with your iPhone
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Control someone else's Mac remotely with the iPhone
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There are many reasons to remotely control your Mac with an iPhone. Depending on the application, you need different apps..

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iphone and Mac are an ideal duo. Also because the Mac can be wonderfully controlled remotely with the smartphone. Regardless of whether it is about media content or about managing the computer: With the iPhone you can also access your Mac while on the move - provided you use the right app and keep a few setup steps in mind.

Control iTunes via iPhone

Everyone knows that: You are listening to beautiful music on the iMac and suddenly one of these songs comes out of the media library that you really don't like. Now the run starts: Let's go to the Mac, press the key to exit the screen saver, enter your password or thumbprint, bring iTunes to the front and select the next song. This would be much more convenient with the iPhone, because you have it in your pocket anyway. All you need is the free iTunes Remote app from the AppStore.

1st step:

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First, open iTunes on your Mac. Click " Storage "> " Home Sharing "> " Home Sharing Enable ".

2nd step:

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Enter your Apple ID and the associated password and click on " Activate private sharing ".

3rd step:

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Confirm the activation message with " OK ". Private sharing is now activated, the remote app can access your iTunes computer via WiFi.

4th step:

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Download the free remote app from Apple from the app store and install it on your iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/itunes-remote/id284417350?mt=8

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Start the app. This now asks whether you want to use private sharing . Tap the appropriate button.

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The remote app now offers you your Apple ID as a private sharing account. Confirm with " Login ". Usually no password is requested.

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The iPhone now reports that Home Sharing is activated. Confirm this with " OK ".

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The iTunes remote app now shows a button " Library ". Tap on it.

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You will be connected to the media library and will now see a list of all playlists . Alternatively, you can list artists or albums or search for a specific song.

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If you tap the song on iPhone, it will play on Mac. With the forward and backward buttons you can switch to the next song or play another song, artist or another playlist from the library. The app also brings the Mac out of sleep mode if necessary. So now you can play music from Mac with iPhone anytime.

Control your Mac completely remotely with your iPhone

Of course, you can also control the entire Mac remotely with the iPhone. There are many ways to do this, the simplest is likely to be the " screen sharing " function : This is a so-called VNC connection. "VNC" stands for "Virtual Network Computing" and allows Macs and PCs to be controlled by other devices. The setup is very easy:

1st step:

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Open the system preferences of your Mac and click on " Shares ".

2nd step:

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Activate " Screen sharing " in the sharing options by ticking the box. This activates the Mac's VNC server. If necessary, make a note of the address displayed by the Mac, for example ("Computer name.routername"): Depending on the VNC app on the iPhone, this is necessary to establish a connection.

3rd step:

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For more security, click on “ Computer settings ” and tick “ VNC viewers can control the screen with the following password ” and assign a password . This prevents everyone in the network from being able to access the computer.

4th step:

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Attention : For security reasons, VNC cannot connect to the currently logged in user on current macOS versions. So you either have to log out of the Mac in order to be able to use VNC via iPhone. Or you have to enter the following command in the terminal: sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.RemoteManagement VNCAlwaysStartOnConsole -bool true Here we explain how to get into the terminal.

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That was about the default settings on the Mac. Now switch to the iPhone and download the free VNC Viewer app from the app store: https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/vnc-viewer-remote-desktop/id352019548?mt=8

6th step:

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Start the app and swipe through the info screens until you read “ Get Started ”. Tap the button.

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Tap on “ Bonjour ”, this is Apple's network protocol, which enables Macs to be networked particularly easily.

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All of the VNC Macs on the network will now show up. You should at least see your Mac . Touch it.

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You can safely ignore the warning that the connection is not encrypted. Tap on “ Connect ”.

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VNC Viewer now asks for the password that you assigned in step 3. Enter it and activate the " Remember Password " switch . That saves the annoying password entry on the iPhone later. Then tap on “ Done ”.

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VNC Viewer now connects to the Mac and offers a tutorial for certain operating gestures. Because operating a desktop computer on a small iOS device is not entirely trivial. So feel free to take a look at the tutorial.

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You can now control your Mac remotely over the network. If you want to do this remotely, you can set up a VPN connection to access your network from your iPhone. If you only see the login screen, you did not pay attention in step 4: You have to log out or enter the terminal command mentioned there.

Control someone else's Mac remotely with the iPhone

Last but not least, the third variant: You are on vacation and suddenly your grandpa calls that he has a problem with his Mac or PC. For these cases (or for a simple connection to the Mac at home without VPN) there is the wonderful TeamViewer app: This allows remote control in a few simple steps. That's how it works:

1st step:

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Tell those who need help to go to www.teamviewer.com and click on “ Download QuickSupport ”. A simple TeamViewer variant is then downloaded to the target computer.

2nd step:

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The “target person” must now activate the downloaded “TeamViewerQS” image . The TeamViewer QuickSupport app is located there . This can, but does not have to, be installed in the Applications folder.

3rd step:

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At the same time you can download and install the free TeamViewer remote control app from the AppStore on your iPhone ( https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/teamviewer/id692035811 ).

4th step:

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Now tell the person who needs help to start TeamViewer QS . An ID and password will then be displayed for the person to give you.

5th step:

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Enter the ID and password in the TeamViewer app on your mobile phone. This is how you establish a connection.

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That's it: TeamViewer on the iPhone is connected to the target computer. You can now help your friend or relative at the computer as if you were sitting in front of the Mac.

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