WaystoneHow to use an app from one Mac on another Mac
To use an app from one Mac on another, either share that Mac's whole screen with Screen Sharing, or share just the app's window with Waystone. Either way, the app keeps running on its own Mac, so there's nothing to install, copy or sign in to again.
Why use an app from another Mac at all?
Usually because the app is set up where it is. It might be a heavy app that needs the Mac Studio's power, a library of files that lives on the Mac mini, or an app that's signed in and configured just the way you want. Installing it on the second Mac means another license, another sign-in and two copies of everything to keep in step. Using it from where it already runs avoids all of that.
Apple's built-in options
Screen Sharing
Screen Sharing is built into macOS. Turn it on in System Settings › General › Sharing on the Mac with the app, then open the Screen Sharing app (in Applications › Utilities) on the other Mac and connect. You see the other Mac's entire desktop in a window, and in Control mode you can click and type in it. On a fast network, the High Performance mode can even give you virtual displays at high resolution.
It's excellent for full remote control: fixing settings, helping someone, or working on a Mac you can't reach. The catch is that it's all or nothing. You get the whole desktop, with its own Dock and menu bar, inside one window on yours. The app you wanted isn't a window on your Mac; it's a window inside a picture of the other one.
Universal Control
Universal Control lets the keyboard and trackpad of one Mac control up to two other nearby Macs or iPads signed in to the same Apple Account. You push the pointer past the edge of your screen and carry on using the other Mac. You can drag files between them and copy and paste.
It's great when both screens are in front of you. But each Mac still shows its own apps on its own screen: the app stays on the other Mac's display, so it doesn't help when that display is the smaller one or you want the window next to your others.
Share just the window with Waystone
Waystone is a Mac menu bar app that moves one app window from one Mac to another. The app keeps running on its home Mac, with that Mac's CPU, GPU, network and sign-ins, and its window shows up on the Mac you're using as a real window. It sits next to your other windows, and appears in Mission Control, Spaces and Cmd-Tab.
- 1Install Waystone on both Macs. It lives in the menu bar. The Mac that runs the app asks for Screen Recording and Accessibility, so it can show the window and pass your clicks and typing to the app.
- 2Pair them once. The Macs find each other on your local network. Pick the other Mac and type the six-digit code it shows.
- 3Open the app's window. From Waystone's menu bar list, pick an app the other Mac shares. Its window opens on the Mac you're using.
What it's like to use
- Click, type and scroll as though the app were local. Hover states and tooltips work.
- New windows the app opens, such as an email, a document or a dialog, open on the Mac you're using.
- Copy on one Mac and paste on the other, in both directions.
- Resizing the window resizes the app on its own Mac, so text reflows instead of stretching.
- Pin a window to bring it back with one click.
The two Macs connect directly over your local network, encrypted. There's no account, no server and no relay, and nothing outside your network can reach it. Each Mac chooses which of its apps the other can open, and blocking an app closes its windows on the other Mac straight away.
Which should you pick?
If you need the whole other Mac, use Screen Sharing. If both screens are in front of you and you just want one keyboard, use Universal Control. If you want one app from the other Mac to live on this one, as a window among your windows, that's what Waystone is for. Many people use Universal Control and Waystone together.