MacFormat UK – September 2019

Yo u c a n

access your

Mac from a

non-Apple

machine

APPLE SKILLS Mac software

46 | MACFORMAT | SEPTEMBER 2019

Remote access using VNC

Get access to your Mac from another computer or mobile device

IT WILL TAKE

10 minutes

YOU WILL LEARN

How to share your

screen using VNC

YOU’LL NEED

Your own Mac

and another macOS

or iOS device

Back in 2007 Apple

introduced its own Screen

Sharing feature for OS X 10.5

(Leopard) to provide an easy

way to share your desktop with other users.

Although this is a fantastic feature, it has its

drawbacks: for instance, if you want to share

your screen with someone else, they need a

valid user account password.

Fortunately, macOS also supports VNC

(Virtual Network Computing). This is a slightly

older system for screen sharing across

networks and is supported on all platforms.

This means you can access your Mac from a

non-Apple machine or even a mobile device

like an iPhone.

Easy sharing

VNC works through using a dedicated

password to connect, which means you don’t

have to give out your user account password

to share your screen. Sadly, the protocol

doesn’t encrypt your data by default over local

networks, so it’s quite easy for snoopers to

see what you’re doing on your Mac. If this is

a worry, return to System Preferences >

Sharing to disable ‘Screen Sharing’.

In this guide, you’ll discover how to start

the VNC service on your Mac and set a

password to allow others to connect. You’ll

also discover how to connect to your Mac

via VNC. This is supported out of the box on

macOS. For other devices, you’ll need to install

a special VNC client app such as RealVNC’s

VNC Viewer. Nate Drake

VNC enables you to connect to a Mac remotely from your

iPhone, but you’ll need an app like VNC Viewer to do this.

Image credit: RealVNC