Security and privacy

Teleroam lets a phone or a browser see your Mac's screen and type on it. That is a lot of access, so this page says plainly who gets it, what travels, and what Teleroam can't do.

Who can get in

• Your own devices use a link with a key in it, shown as a QR code in the Teleroam window on the Mac. The key lives on your Mac, not on a server.
• Anyone else needs the code, and your yes. The Mac shows a 6-digit code that changes every ten seconds. A new device types it, and then your phone (or the Mac) asks you to allow it. A device you didn't allow can't connect, even with the code.
• Owners and guests. Devices you mark as your own can see the code and let others in. Everyone else is a guest: they can use the Mac and nothing more. Guests never see the code, the device list, or an approval prompt.
• Every device checks in daily. A key is good for 24 hours. After that, your own devices confirm with Face ID or Touch ID (a passkey held by the device, checked by your Mac); guests have to be allowed by you again. A session that passes the 24-hour mark is cut, not left running.
• The Mac keeps the list. Which devices are allowed lives on your Mac. Remove one, from the Mac or from your phone, and it's disconnected at once and out.
• Planned: signing in with your Apple Account, so your own devices find the Mac without a QR code and approvals arrive as Apple notifications.

While someone is connected

• The Mac's menu bar shows how many devices are connected. The Teleroam window lists each one: the device, whether it's at home or away, and for how long.
• Your phone can be asked, as a notification, when someone enters the code or when a guest's daily check-in is due.
• You can disconnect any device from the Mac or from your phone, or remove it for good.

What travels, and where

• The picture of your screen, your taps and clicks, your typing, and text you choose to paste. Nothing else.
• At home, on the same network, it goes straight from your Mac to your device.
• Away from home, a relay run on Cloudflare passes the connection along, so it works from cellular, a hotel, or an office without a VPN. The connection to the relay is encrypted (HTTPS) on each side.
• Being direct about the relay: today the relay could in principle see the session's bytes while passing them on, the same as any relay that isn't on your own hardware. It does not record or store anything. End-to-end encryption, where the relay carries only ciphertext it can't read, is being built, and this page will say when it ships.
• Teleroam doesn't record sessions and doesn't keep your screen or typing on a server.

What the Mac app is allowed to do

macOS makes Teleroam ask for two permissions, and you can see and turn off both in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

• Screen Recording, so the screen can be shown on your phone.
• Accessibility, so your taps and typing reach the Mac.

Turn either one off and Teleroam stops being able to do that part. Quitting the menu-bar app ends access completely.

What Teleroam can't do

• It can't get past the Mac's lock screen. If the Mac asks for a password, someone has to type it on the Mac.
• It can't reach a Mac that's asleep, turned off, or stopped at the password screen after a restart.
• It doesn't know your Mac password, and it doesn't change your security settings.

That limit protects you. Anyone who walks up to the Mac still meets the lock screen. Turning the lock screen down so Teleroam works while you're away is only safe if nobody else can get to the Mac. The setup guide covers that choice.

On a computer that isn't yours

• Nothing gets installed, and closing the tab ends the session.
• That computer can still see what's on its own screen. If it's a work computer, your employer may be able to see or record it, including your Mac's screen while it's open there. Only open what you'd be fine with them seeing.
• Text you paste goes through that computer's clipboard.
• On a shared or public computer, close the tab when you're done, and remove that device from your phone's device list if you won't use it again.

What gets stored

• On your Mac: the list of allowed devices, their keys, and their passkeys for the daily check-in.
• On the relay: your Mac's relay id and a one-way hash of the key it uses to connect. No screen, no typing, no names.
• Payments: nothing is for sale during early access. When there is, it will go through Apple; Teleroam won't take card numbers.
• This website: no accounts, no forms, and no analytics. Cloudflare hosts it and keeps its own connection logs.

The full policy is on the privacy page.

Things you can do

• Keep a password on your Mac account.
• Don't allow a device you don't recognize. If your phone asks about a device you didn't expect, say no.
• Look at the device list now and then, and remove anything you don't use anymore.
• Leave the lock screen on if other people can reach the Mac.

Reporting a problem

A security contact isn't set up yet. It will be listed here before the apps are public.