Help
Set up, pair, and get the smoothest picture.
Pairing your Macs
Two Macs pair once; after that they find each other whenever both are on.
- Same licence key: paste the same key on each of your Macs (Licence… in the menu bar). They trust each other automatically, with no code to compare.
- 6-digit code: on the viewing Mac, click oriel in the menu bar and choose the other Mac. Both screens show a 6-digit code. If the codes match, click Allow on the sharing Mac. If they don't match, click Deny: something else answered.
- To unpair, remove the other Mac in oriel's settings on either Mac.
Macs in different places (Tailscale)
On the same network, Macs find each other by themselves. When they're apart (the Mac Studio at the office, you at home), use Tailscale, a free private network between your own devices. oriel connects straight through it; nothing goes through tealmac.
- Install Tailscale on both Macs and sign in to the same Tailscale account on each.
- Check that both Macs show as connected in Tailscale's menu.
- In oriel on the viewing Mac, add the other Mac by its Tailscale name (for example
studiowith MagicDNS) or its 100.x.y.z address. - Pair as usual: same licence key, or compare the 6-digit code.
oriel listens on TCP port 47820. If you use Tailscale access controls, allow that port between your Macs.
A headless Mac mini or Mac Studio
A Mac with no display works well as a sharing Mac. Set it up once:
- Connect a display for setup, or use macOS Screen Sharing from another Mac.
- Install oriel on it (steps 1 to 6 of the install guide), including Screen Recording and Accessibility.
- In oriel's Settings › Licence › Pair without a prompt, paste your licence key. Your licensed Macs then connect without asking, and it doesn't use one of your 3 Macs.
- In System Settings › General › Login Items, add oriel, and turn on automatic login if the Mac should be usable straight after a restart.
- Unplug the display. Its windows show up on your other Macs whenever it's on.
With no display attached, macOS can choose a small screen size. If beamed windows look cramped, an HDMI dummy plug gives the Mac a larger screen to draw on.
The smoothest picture
- Wire the sharing Mac if you can (Ethernet or a Thunderbolt cable between the two Macs). This matters most for a Mac mini or Mac Studio.
- On Wi-Fi, use 5 GHz or 6 GHz, not 2.4 GHz, and keep the Macs near the router. Wi-Fi 6E or 7 on both ends is best.
- Over Tailscale, a direct connection is much faster than a relayed one. Run
tailscale status: “direct” is what you want. - 120 fps needs a 120 Hz display on the viewing Mac (ProMotion) and a fast network between the two Macs.
- Fluid mode keeps text sharpest, because the window on the other Mac is the same size as yours and nothing is scaled.
Shortcuts and everyday tips
- Quick Open: press
Control-Option-Spacein any app, type part of a window's name, and press Return. You can turn the shortcut off in Settings › Viewing. - Start an app on the other Mac: open the Mac in oriel and choose Apps. Click an app to start it there; its window opens on your Mac when it appears.
- Starred windows: hover over a window and click the star. Starred windows open by themselves whenever that Mac connects.
- After sleep: if a Mac drops off, oriel reconnects by itself for about two minutes and reopens the windows you had open. If the Mac is asleep, click Wake. Waking needs Wake for network access turned on, in System Settings › Battery or Energy on that Mac.
- In a shared window:
Control-Command-Tkeeps it on top,Control-Command-Ishows its frame rate, bandwidth and delay, andControl-Command-Sstars it. - Stop sharing at once:
Control-Option-Command-Pturns off sharing from any app. Everyone watching is disconnected. - Slow connection: choose Data saver in Settings › Viewing. It keeps each window to 30 frames a second and at most 4 Mbit/s.
When something doesn't work
- The other Mac isn't listed: check oriel is running there, that Local Network is allowed for oriel on both Macs, and that both are on the same network (or use Tailscale).
- A window is black or missing: Screen & System Audio Recording must be on for oriel on the sharing Mac. Password managers and hidden windows are never listed, and neither is any app you hid in Settings.
- Clicks or typing don't arrive: turn on Accessibility for oriel on the sharing Mac, then quit and reopen oriel there.
- No sound: the app's audio plays on the viewing Mac only while its window is open; check the viewing Mac's output device.
Questions and answers
It opens a window from one of your Macs on another of your Macs as a real, native window: you can resize it, type into it and click in it, it is sharp on Retina displays and runs at up to 120 fps. You can share one window or a whole display, and put windows from several Macs on one desktop.
Yes. Install it on the Mac whose windows you want to share and on the Mac you want to see them on. Sharing a Mac's windows is free forever; viewing them needs oriel, with a 3-day free trial on each Mac and no card.
$7.99 once at launch, until 4 Nov, then $14.99 once. No subscription and no account. One licence covers 3 Macs, and the Macs that share the same licence key pair with each other automatically.
No window does. Your Macs talk to each other directly, on your network or over Tailscale, and everything between them is end-to-end encrypted (X25519 key exchange, ChaCha20-Poly1305). oriel contacts our server only to check your licence. Share links pass through a relay, which sees only encrypted bytes: the key is in the part of the link after #, which browsers never send.
Macs that have the same licence key pair automatically. Otherwise, choose the other Mac in oriel and both screens show the same 6-digit code: if they match, click Allow on the sharing Mac. A paired Mac is remembered.
They decide what happens on the sharing Mac. Stay put leaves the window where it is, so people there see it working. Fluid resizes the window on the sharing Mac to match yours, pixel for pixel. Send over takes the window off the sharing Mac's screen until you send it back.
Yes, with a share link. It shows one window in any web browser, view-only unless you allow control, and lasts from 1 hour to 7 days. Your guest installs nothing. The link is end-to-end encrypted: the relay that carries it can't see the window.
macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs, on both ends. A headless Mac mini or Mac Studio works too: pair it once with your licence key.
oriel is in English at launch.
oriel isn't notarised by Apple yet, so macOS asks you to confirm the first launch. Open it once, click Done, then go to System Settings › Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway next to the oriel message. You do this once per Mac. The install guide shows each step.
From any Download button on this site, or the install guide, which walks through every step on both Macs.
Yes, within 7 days of purchase if oriel doesn't work as described on your Macs and we can't fix it. Try it first: viewing is free for 3 days on each Mac. Email hello@tealmac.com with your order email.