Remote’s widget would also benefit from including a customizable set of Mac functions. I’d especially like Siri shortcuts for launching a series of apps and opening websites on my Mac as I start my day. It’s a testament to the utility of Remote’s Siri shortcuts that I want more. Remote also shows the power that is possible when iOS and macOS are used together, which is something I hope is part of Apple’s plans to bring iOS apps to the Mac. Instead of grabbing my iPhone, finding the app, and hunting for the command I want, I can take care of waking my Mac and turning on the lights with one Siri command. Remote Control for Mac is another excellent example of an iOS utility that Siri shortcuts makes more useful. In the evening, I do the opposite, telling Siri ‘I’m finished working,’ which turns off the lights and my Mac’s display. In the morning I say ‘Hey Siri, start workday,’ and the lights come on and my Mac wakes up. Using Remote’s new Siri shortcuts as actions, I’ve created custom shortcuts that include Siri commands to start and end my workday. As I described on AppStories, I’ll stop working for the day, go to bed, and then discover the next day that my display has been on all night. I’ve had issues with my Mac’s display failing to turn off as scheduled in System Preferences. Remote has Siri shortcut support for system actions and has custom conrols for popular media providers. Each of these events can be scheduled in Remote to occur automatically at a particular time or added as a Siri shortcut. You can log out, restart, shut down, lock, sleep, and wake your Mac as well as start and stop the screensaver and turn your display on and off. The final tab of Remote allows users to control system events. The combination is sure to be useful as I set up more automation on my headless Mac mini. Remote also works well as an app launcher and window manager side-by-side or in Slide Over mode with Screens because it allows me to do things I take for granted with a pointing device, which is harder when using a Mac interface on iOS. With Screens connected to a keyboard, I can make use of keyboard shortcuts on my Mac, but if I don’t have a keyboard handy Remote’s Menu tab is a better alternative to zooming in and out of my Mac’s screen to try to tap menu items. With Screens in trackpad mode, I can use my finger to control the pointer on my Mac. I’ve been experimenting with using Remote and Screens together on an iPad, and it’s a powerful combination. You don’t have the benefit of seeing what is happening with the app you control from Remote’s Menu tab, but it’s great for using your Mac without a keyboard if it’s connected to a TV or with an app like Screens on an iPad.Ĭontrolling a headless Mac mini with Screens and Remote Control for Mac. The Menu tab lists all the menu commands for an active app, plus any Services that can be activated from that app using a keyboard shortcut. If you have a lot of apps installed and only use a few with Remote, marking the ones you use as Favorites is a nice way to manage the list in Remote. You can launch, quit, and minimize any of your Mac apps, enter full-screen mode, bring an app to the front, make an app a Remote Control for Mac favorite, force quit an app, and launch or quit apps according to a schedule. There are also buttons for moving the text insertion point one character at a time in either direction, triggering Mission Control and Launchpad, and opening Remote’s Input Settings. Along the top of the view is an option to mirror your Mac’s screen on your iOS device, which is handy if you’re using the keyboard to enter text on your Mac, for example. The Input section allows you to use the surface of your iOS device like a trackpad and keyboard, complete with buttons to replicate clicks. I’ve tried the feature with my Mac, and they work well, but I don’t have a Mac hooked up to a media center, so they’ve only come in handy when I leave the room for some reason without pausing iTunes and am too lazy to head back to my desk to stop playback. There are also controls accessible from a toolbar at the top of the screen for system features like brightness, arrow key controls, and AirPlay, as well as specific media apps and sites like iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. There are buttons for play/pause, skipping forward and back, volume up and down, and mute. The media tab is handy if you use a Mac as a media center.
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