iPhone Mirroring Is One of the Best Hidden Features on the Mac

My iPhone is almost never out of reach, but that doesn’t mean I want to pick it up multiple times a day to check notifications or use its apps. With iPhone Mirroring on my Mac, the phone can stay on my desk or in a pocket, and I can still use it normally in a window like any other app. (I also detail eight more reasons why you would want to use iPhone Mirroring.)

See also: What about control someone else’s phone remotely for family technical assistance? You can also do this using FaceTime.

iPhone Mirroring only works when the iPhone is locked and not in use, presumably for security reasons, but also to prevent concurrent interactions of two people. If the phone is charging and in horizontal orientation, sleep mode is still active and you can switch between views without disturbing mirroring.

Here’s how to make it work on your devices.

What devices support iPhone mirroring?

You’ll need a Mac capable of running macOS Sequoia or later, which includes:

• iMac: 2019 and later
• MacBook Air: 2020 and later
• MacBook Pro: 2018 and later
• MacBook Neo
• Mac Studio: 2022 and later
• Mac Mini: 2018 and later
• Mac Pro: 2019 and later
• iMac Pro: 2017 and later

And on iPhone, the following models will run iOS 18 and later:

• iPhone 11 and later
• iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone SE (2nd generation or later)

How to Start iPhone Mirroring on iOS 26 and MacOS Tahoe

Make sure both devices are signed into your Apple account in System Settings > Apple Account (your name) on your Mac and Settings > Apple Account (your name) on the iPhone. Also lock the phone if it’s not already in sleep mode: iPhone mirroring only works when the phone is not in use.

Next, on a Mac running macOS Sequoia or macOS Tahoe, open the iPhone Mirroring app. You can search for it in Finder.

Launching the application triggers the connection; Enter your Mac login password or use Touch ID to start mirroring. The first time you sign in, you’ll need to enter your device’s passcode and approve the connection on iPhone.

If you are in a trusted environment, you can bypass the security prompt by going to iPhone Mirroring > Settings and choosing Authenticate automatically.

You can now navigate your iPhone remotely

There’s a certain irony to using the mouse pointer to control the popular touchscreen iPhone, but otherwise you’re still pointing and clicking (or tapping, if you’re using a trackpad) to control the interface.

Being able to enter text on the iPhone this way is a revelation if you type faster on a physical keyboard than with your thumbs. But that’s not all: the iPhone Mirroring app uses three keyboard shortcuts (or View menu items) to quickly navigate:

• Cmd-1: Home screen
• Order-2: App Switcher (same as swiping up to view recent apps)
• Order-3: Spotlight Search

You can hover the pointer just above the iPhone window to reveal a frame around the app that includes icons for activating the Home screen and the App Switcher. Or, when you’re in an app, a quick way to return to the Home screen is to click once on the black or white bar at the bottom of the iPhone window — the one you’d slide up when the phone is in your hand.

For the most part, you can do anything on your phone through iPhone Mirroring that you could do with it, including running apps, checking widgets, and viewing notes or photos that aren’t synced through iCloud. If you have locked or hidden apps, you enter your MacOS password or use the Mac’s Touch ID sensor to authenticate instead of Face ID or Touch ID on the phone.

Certain limitations apply. Anything that uses the accelerometer (step tracking, for example, or apps that use it as a controller, like racing games) won’t work because it requires physical movement of the phone. Additionally, the orientation will rotate if you launch an app that needs to be in a horizontal layout, but there is no control to switch between portrait and landscape when connected to the iPhone.

The camera doesn’t activate, so you can’t use it as a security camera to keep an eye on your pets in the next room or take FaceTime video calls. FaceTime Audio calls can pass through Apple’s continuity framework, which passes calls from iPhone to Mac if you have Calls on other devices activated in Settings > Applications > Phone.

You can reposition and resize the iPhone Mirroring window

To move the window elsewhere on the screen, drag the top of the frame. Or use the Move and Resize options in the Window menu to position it in sections such as the right edge or upper left corner. To resize the iPhone window, go to See menu and choose Bigger (Cmd-+) or Smaller (Cmd-–); or choose Actual size (Cmd-0) to return to the default.

Manage iPhone notifications

Many notifications are automatically sent to multiple devices through the use of a shared Apple account. Texts from the Messages app, for example, will display on both the iPhone and Mac unless you’ve set one to suppress notifications. But what about notifications for apps that only exist on the iPhone?

When mirroring is active, these alerts appear in the upper right corner of the Mac screen, alongside the rest of the notifications. You’ll recognize the iPhone-specific ones because they have an iPhone badge. Since the Mac knows where they’re coming from, clicking on an alert opens the associated app on the iPhone in the iPhone Mirroring app. (You won’t be able to pretend you didn’t see a notification because your phone was put away, sorry.)

Drag and drop files

This feature may prove to be the most useful part of iPhone Mirroring. You can copy files from iPhone to Mac or vice versa by dragging them from one window to another. No need to wait for Photos to sync images via iCloud or use an intermediary like Dropbox or iCloud Drive.

On the iPhone, make sure there is an open target that will accept the file you want to drag. iPhone mirroring does not treat the entire iPhone as an external hard drive. For example, open the Messages app and drag an image into one of your conversations to add it as an outgoing text message. Or open the Files app and drag any document to a destination, such as iCloud Drive. Before publishing the file, you can navigate the file hierarchy by pausing on folders and even pausing on the Back button to navigate to the previous folder. The file is copied only when you publish it.

Choose which iPhone is mirrored

After activating a new iPhone, I got a surprise: iPhone Mirroring kept connecting to my previous iPhone. If you bought a new iPhone or have multiple iPhones signed into the same Apple account, it’s not clear how to choose which device will be mirrored.

Indeed, the option is not buried in the iPhone Mirroring app settings, but in the system settings. On Mac, go to System Settings > AirDrop and Continuity (under MacOS 18, you will find it at Settings > Desktop & Dock) and scroll to Widgets and iPhone Mirroring section. Below iPhone, There is a context menu that lets you choose which device to use for mirroring. (This option only appears if multiple iPhones are connected to your account.)

Once you’re done, here’s how to end iPhone mirroring

There is no kill switch in the iPhone Mirroring app to disconnect the phone, other than exiting the app. If you want to break the connection, the best way is to unlock the iPhone (assuming it’s near a place where you can physically access it).

The app indicates that the iPhone is in use. Lock the phone and click the Try Again button to resume mirroring.

iPhone mirroring is just one of many new features in iOS 18 and iOS 26. Be sure to find out how to use iPhone Mirroring. RCS and text formatting tools in Messages and how personalize your home screen.