How to use iPhone Mirroring on a Mac

Use your iPhone in a window on your Mac, with the keyboard and trackpad. What you need, how to set it up, which iPhone it uses, and how to fit its window in.

Guide · Updated 22 October 2026

What is iPhone Mirroring?

An app on the Mac, called iPhone Mirroring, that shows your iPhone's screen in a window. You use it with the Mac's keyboard and trackpad: open apps, type, swipe, and answer notifications. The iPhone itself stays locked.

How do I set it up?

  1. Open iPhone Mirroring from Applications, or with Spotlight.
  2. Follow the steps. You confirm on the iPhone once.
  3. Next time, it connects when you open the app, as long as the iPhone is nearby and locked.

What do I need?

  • A Mac and an iPhone recent enough for the feature, signed in to the same Apple Account.
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on for both, and the iPhone near the Mac.
  • The iPhone locked. Unlocking it ends the session on the Mac.

It is not offered in every country or region.

How do I choose which iPhone it uses?

In System Settings, Desktop & Dock, the iPhone setting picks which iPhone is used for iPhone Mirroring and for iPhone widgets on the desktop.

Where should the window go?

It is a phone shaped window that does not stretch to fill a screen. It works well floating in a corner, or at the end of your other windows.

iPhone updates in the menu bar: Live Activities. An iPad as a screen: Sidecar.

Checked on 22 October 2026 on a MacBook Air (M1) running macOS 27.0.1: the iPhone Mirroring app is in /System/Applications, and the iPhone setting for mirroring and widgets was read from Desktop & Dock.

Questions

How do I mirror my iPhone to my Mac?

Open the iPhone Mirroring app on the Mac and follow the steps.

Does my iPhone need to be locked for iPhone Mirroring?

Yes. Unlocking the iPhone ends the session on the Mac.

How do I choose which iPhone to mirror?

Set the iPhone in System Settings, Desktop & Dock.

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