Open source macOS 15+ MIT
Screen sharing that feels like sitting at the same Mac.
Tailscreen streams one Mac’s screen to another over your own Tailscale network — encrypted, peer-to-peer, at 60 fps. No meeting link, no server in the middle, no port to forward.
Free and open source. The only account it needs is the Tailscale login you already have.
ScreenCaptureKit grabs the pixels, VideoToolbox encodes them in hardware, and Tailscale’s WireGuard tunnel carries them straight to the other Mac — direct when the network allows, through Tailscale’s DERP relays when it doesn’t. Your screen never touches a third-party server.
Sharp where it counts
Video that keeps up
Hardware HEVC (H.264 when the other side needs it), wide color that survives the trip on P3 displays. And when the network turns ugly, Tailscreen fights back instead of freezing: selective retransmission, forward error correction, and adaptive bitrate and frame-rate control degrade smoothly — then snap back to full quality the moment the link recovers.
Remote control, on your terms
A viewer can request your mouse and keyboard — nothing happens until you grant it. One grantee at a time, pointer confined to what you’re sharing, auto-revoked the instant they disconnect. Take it back with one click, or hit ⌃⌥. from anywhere when you want it back right now.
Everything else you’d expect
Approval, on by default
Nobody sees a single frame until you Accept them. Remember peers as Always Allow — or Deny & Block.
Finds your Macs for you
Tailscreen probes your tailnet and lists who’s sharing. You’ll never type an IP address.
Voice & system audio
Talk over the same tunnel, and share what your Mac is playing — all Opus-encoded. Viewers hear both; everyone gets a mute button.
Draw on the screen
Two-way annotations ride a reliable back-channel, so strokes land even when the network is dropping video packets.
A real viewer window
Cursor-anchored zoom and pan, a live stats overlay, and quality presets for when bandwidth is precious.
Leaves no trace in your tailnet
Every session runs an ephemeral Tailscale node that vanishes when you stop. No ghost machines in your admin console.
How it works
You hit Start Sharing
Pick a display, a window, or an app from the native macOS picker.
They hit Browse Shares
Your Mac shows up by name on their menubar. They click it.
A window opens
That’s the whole thing. No links, no PINs, no calendar invite.
What you need
- macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later, on both ends. Earlier macOS versions, iOS, and Linux aren’t supported.
- A Tailscale account — the free personal tier is fine.
- Screen Recording permission; macOS asks the first time you share. (Accessibility too, but only if you ever grant remote control.)
- A Swift 6 toolchain — only if you’re building from source.
Your screen, on their Mac, in seconds.
Install it, sign in to Tailscale, hit Start Sharing.