Shadow a remote session
View or control a signed-in desktop on another device in your network from the Windows or macOS app — setup, starting a session, consent, tools, and what is recorded.
Updated · ·By Ivan Vyshniak
Nothing on this page changes with your selection.
Shadowing lets you see, and if allowed control, the desktop of someone signed in to another device in your network: for remote support, or to reach your own machine. The session travels over the same end-to-end encrypted connection as other Peerlify traffic.
Who may shadow whom is set by shadowing rules in the access policy. A new network lets any device shadow any other device, with control, after the person at the device accepts a prompt.
Platforms
| Windows | macOS | Linux | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Be shadowed | ✓ | ✓, after setup on that Mac | – |
| Shadow others | ✓ (tray app) | ✓ (menu-bar app) | – |
There is no command-line or web-console way to start a session.
Set up a Mac to be shadowed
A Mac can't be shadowed until the person using it turns shadowing on:
- Open the Peerlify menu-bar menu, choose Settings…, and under General → Shadowing click Set Up…. The section appears when the network allows shadowing.
- Choose Turn On Shadowing.
- Grant Screen Recording when macOS asks. For remote control, also grant Accessibility.
Until then, requests to shadow that Mac are refused with "The target hasn't finished setting up shadowing". Recent macOS versions periodically ask to confirm the Screen Recording permission again.
Windows devices need no setup; any Windows device covered by a rule can be shadowed.
Start a session
- Open the Peers window: on Windows, choose Peers… in the tray menu or double-click the tray icon; on macOS, choose Peers… in the menu-bar menu (it's there while the Mac is connected).
- Right-click the device and choose Shadow…. It's available when the device is online.
- Under SESSIONS, choose the session to view. Only sessions with a signed-in user are listed.
- Under ACCESS, choose View only (the default) or Control. If the rule doesn't allow control, Control (blocked) is shown.
- Click Start shadow.
If the rule asks for consent, the person at the device is asked first; otherwise the session starts immediately. The note under ACCESS tells you which.
What the person at the device sees
With consent required, a window titled Peerlify — Remote session request names your device and what you asked for: view and chat, or view and control including clipboard, files sent to their Downloads folder, chat and audio. They choose Allow or Deny. If they don't answer within 30 seconds, the request is declined.
During the session, a strip on their screen shows who is viewing or controlling, with a blue Stop button. They can end the session at any time with Stop, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+S on Windows (⌃⌥S on a Mac). Only their own keyboard and mouse count: shortcuts you send from the viewer reach their apps as usual, and clicking Stop from the viewer does nothing. Stop also works when the shortcut doesn't, for example while a password field is focused on a Mac. On Windows the strip also has a Chat link; on a Mac, the chat window opens when the viewer sends a message.
In the viewer
The window title shows the device and (control) or (view only). You can't switch between view and control during a session; start a new one.
Toolbar, in every session:
- Monitor: one monitor or all screens.
- Zoom: Fit to window or Actual size (1).
- Screenshot: saves a PNG.
- Quality: Auto, Sharp, Smooth or Low bandwidth.
- Stats, Chat, Refresh, Full screen (Ctrl+Alt+Break on Windows, ⌃⌥⌘F on macOS), Disconnect.
Only in control sessions:
- Keys for common shortcuts (Windows key, Alt+Tab, Task Manager, lock screen and others). Ctrl+Alt+Del can't be sent from the viewer; to open Task Manager on the remote machine, use Keys.
- System keys → remote: sends shortcuts such as Alt+Tab and the Windows key to the remote machine. On by default in full screen.
- Clipboard: share text up to 1 MiB, both ways. Off until you turn it on.
- Audio: hear the remote machine. Off until you turn it on.
- Files: drag files onto the remote screen to copy them to the user's Downloads folder (up to 4 GB each; no folders).
Windows devices send updated screen areas as compressed images; Macs send H.264 video. A Windows viewer needs the system's H.264 decoder to view a Mac.
When a session is refused or ends
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Access controls don't allow you to shadow device. | No enabled shadowing rule matches you and that device. |
| Shadowing is disabled on this network. | Allow shadowing is off in Settings → Device Management. |
| That session isn't covered by the shadowing rule. | The rule's Allowed sessions doesn't include that session's user. |
| device's user declined the request. / didn't respond in time. | The person at the device chose Deny, or didn't answer within 30 seconds. |
| device isn't reachable, or the session is gone. | The device is offline, the session ended, or the device isn't in your peers list. |
| Shadowing isn't supported on this target. | The device is a Linux machine. |
| This target streams video only. Update Peerlify on this computer to shadow it. | A Windows viewer without the system's H.264 decoder tried to view a Mac. |
| Screen Recording was turned off on the target. Ask the target's user to allow it again. | The Mac's Screen Recording permission was removed during the session. |
| The person at device ended the session. | The person at the device chose Stop on the strip or pressed Ctrl+Alt+S (⌃⌥S on a Mac). |
| The target hasn't finished setting up shadowing (shadow host or Screen Recording permission). | The Mac hasn't turned shadowing on. |
| The remote host couldn't start the shadow session. | The helper on the device failed to start. |
| device didn't respond. | No answer within the time limit. |
A running session also ends without a message if Allow shadowing is turned off or the rule stops allowing it. A Mac with no display attached accepts a session and ends it straight away.
What is recorded
On Business and Enterprise plans, each session is recorded in Logs → Shadowing, as reported by the device being shadowed. On other plans, nothing is recorded.