Privacy Policy

When you connect, the Mac's picture, its sound if you turned sound on, your pointer and keyboard input, and text you copy on either device travel between your Mac and your iPhone or iPad. Every session is encrypted with TLS 1.3, and both devices accept only the keys they exchanged when you paired them, so nobody else can read or join it.

At home, the session goes directly between your devices, over your own network. Away from home, it goes directly between them over the internet where the networks allow, and otherwise through a relay, which forwards encrypted packets it can't read.

The apps don't record your screen, your sound, or what you type. They don't keep any of it after the moment it's shown or played, and they never write it to their logs.

While Allow Access from Away is on in ElseScreen Host, which it is unless you turn it off, your Mac keeps a connection to the ElseScreen connection service, which runs on Cloudflare. When your iPhone or iPad isn't on your Mac's network, it uses the service to find your Mac:

• The service stores your Mac's public key, so that your paired devices can check they reached the right Mac. It doesn't store your Mac's name, your name, or anything about your devices.
• Your device sends your Mac its network addresses and a one-time secret, encrypted so that only your Mac can read them, and your Mac answers the same way. The service passes these messages on and can't read them.
• To pass them on, the service handles your devices' IP addresses and a code made from your Mac's key, only for as long as that takes. It keeps no logs of addresses or connections.
• When your Mac has to use the relay, Cloudflare's relay forwards the session's encrypted packets between your devices and keeps none of them.

Turning off Allow Access from Away disconnects your Mac from the service. While it's on and your Mac is plugged in, ElseScreen Host keeps your Mac from going to sleep, so that you can reach it.

To remember each other, the apps keep a few things on your own devices:

• each device's own security key, and the keys and names of the devices you paired it with, in the Keychain;
• your preferences, such as the quality mode, the display you looked at last on each Mac, and whether sound is on;
• the names you gave your Macs and their displays, and which Macs are your favorites;
• each paired Mac's network addresses, so your iPhone or iPad can wake it from sleep;
• whether you asked ElseScreen to require Face ID, if you did.

Removing a paired device in ElseScreen Host deletes its key. Forgetting a Mac in ElseScreen deletes its key and everything else kept about it. Deleting an app deletes its preferences; iOS and macOS can keep its Keychain items, which no other app can read.

ElseScreen Host asks for Screen Recording, to show your screen and play its sound on your device, and for Accessibility, so your device can control the pointer and keyboard. It uses them only while a device you paired is connected. While nobody is connected, it captures nothing.

ElseScreen for iPhone and iPad asks for Local Network access, to find your Mac and connect to it, and for the camera, only to scan the pairing code your Mac shows. The camera's picture isn't stored or sent anywhere.

If you turn on Require Face ID, iOS checks your face or passcode and tells ElseScreen only whether it matched.

If you choose to share analytics with app developers in your device's settings, or send feedback through TestFlight, Apple passes crash reports and what you sent on to us. They describe the app and your device, not your screen. We use them only to fix problems.

This website uses no cookies and no analytics. Its host, Cloudflare, handles the technical details every visit carries, such as your IP address, to deliver the pages and protect the site.

If you write to us, we use your address and your message only to answer you, and we don't share them.

The apps, the connection service, and this website collect nothing from anyone, children included.

If this policy changes, the new version will appear on this page with a new date. We won't start collecting anything without saying so here first.

Questions about privacy go to support@elsescreen.com.