How to use Remotype

Before you start: what Remotype needs

Remotype turns your phone into a keyboard, trackpad and remote for your computer — for most of it, your phone and computer must be on the same Wi-Fi and a small free app must be running on the computer.

There are three pieces. Two of them are almost always needed:

1. The Remotype app on your phone — iPhone or Android.
2. Remotype Host on your computer — a small free companion app for Mac, Windows or Linux. It has no window; it lives in the Mac menu bar, or the system tray on Windows and Linux. Almost nothing works without it.
3. The same Wi-Fi network — the phone and the computer must be on the same network name, not just "both online".

There is one exception, and it is Android only: an Android phone can act as a real Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, with nothing installed on the computer at all. See Android: use it with no computer app (Bluetooth).

An iPhone cannot do this. Apple does not allow an iPhone to be a Bluetooth keyboard, so on iPhone it is always Wi-Fi plus Remotype Host.

What costs money: the Keyboard, Trackpad and Both modes are free forever, and so is finding and connecting to a computer normally. Every new install gets 14 days of everything; after that the extras run on 30 minutes a month unless you buy. In this part of the manual, the premium items are Connect by IP address, switching between multiple computers, Use as a TV remote, and reconnecting from the History list.

Install the app on your phone

Get Remotype from the App Store or Play Store, open it, and let the first-run walkthrough take you to the connect screen.

iPhone

1. Open the App Store.
2. Search for Remotype and install it.
3. Open the app.
4. The first time it tries to find your computer, iOS asks whether Remotype may find and connect to devices on your local network. Tap Allow. Without this the app can never see your computer.

Android

1. Open the Play Store.
2. Search for Remotype and install it.
3. Open the app.
4. On Android 12 and newer, the app asks for Bluetooth permission (and, on Android 13+, notifications). Tap through and allow.

The first-run walkthrough

The first time you open Remotype it plays a short illustrated walkthrough, and you can replay it any time from Settings.

The walkthrough opens by itself on first launch and covers, in order: what Remotype is, 1 · Run the host (titled 1 · On your computer on Android), 2 · Connect, typing, the modifier strip, the trackpad, and a closing page.

1. Tap Continue to move forward, Back to go back, or Skip (top of the screen) to jump straight to the connect screen.
2. On the last page the button reads Start typing. Tap it and you land on the connect screen.

To see it again later:

1. Tap the gear in the top-right of the connect screen (or of the deck once you are connected).
2. Open Help.
3. Tap Replay walkthrough.

The same Help page has Product help (this manual) and Feedback, which opens an email to the Remotype team.

Install Remotype Host on a MacMac computers only

Download the free Remotype Host app on the Mac itself, drag it into Applications, and open it. A short setup window walks you through the rest.

1. On the Mac (not the phone), open a browser and go to remotype.custavia.com.
2. Click Download for macOS. You get a file ending in .dmg.
3. Open your Downloads folder and double-click that file. A window opens with Remotype Host and an Applications folder.
4. Drag Remotype Host onto the Applications folder.
5. Open Applications and double-click Remotype Host. If macOS asks whether you're sure, click Open.
6. A Welcome window appears and helps you allow the two permissions the Mac needs — see Give your Mac the two permissions.

After that, a small keyboard icon sits in the menu bar at the top-right of the screen, near the clock. Click it any time to see how Remotype Host is doing. Listening for iPhone… and No device connected mean it is working and waiting for your phone.

Remotype Host only talks to devices on your own Wi-Fi. It never connects to the internet, and it does not update itself — new versions are on the website.

You can also find the download from the phone app: on the connect screen, tap Get the computer app.

Give your Mac the two permissionsMac computers only

A Mac won't let any app type or show its screen until you say so. Remotype Host needs Accessibility to type, and Screen Recording only if you want to see or hear the Mac on your phone.

What each one is for

• Accessibility — needed. It lets Remotype type and move the pointer on this Mac. It never reads your screen or what you type.
• Screen Recording — optional. Only needed to see the Mac's screen on your phone, hear its sound, or cast it to a TV. Nothing is recorded or saved.

The easy way — the setup window does it with you:

1. The first time you open Remotype Host, a setup window titled Two permissions to allow appears. (Later, click the menu-bar icon and choose Set up permissions….)
2. It opens the right page of System Settings for you. Find Remotype Host in the list and switch it on. You may need your Mac password.
3. macOS only notices the change after the app restarts, so you'll see Turned it on already? Restart to apply. Click Restart and finish — Remotype Host restarts and picks up where it left off.

When both are done, the menu shows Accessibility granted and Screen Recording granted (screen + sound).

From your phone — if a permission is missing, the phone shows a warning with a Fix button that opens the right setting on the Mac. See "Permissions needed on your computer".

If a permission looks switched on but typing still does nothing

1. Click the menu-bar icon and choose Reset permissions…. This clears the old setting and restarts the app.
2. Allow Accessibility again when asked.

You can take either permission away at any time: Reset permissions… in the menu, or System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security.

Install Remotype Host on a Windows PCNeeds the computer app

Download and run the Remotype Host installer, then follow the short setup window. The one step that really matters is letting it through the Windows firewall.

1. On the PC, go to remotype.custavia.com and click Download for Windows. You get a file ending in setup.exe.
2. Open it. If Windows shows a blue Windows protected your PC box, click More info, then Run anyway.
3. The installer asks a few questions. Leave Allow Remotype Host through Windows Firewall ticked — without it your phone can't find the PC. You can also choose a desktop shortcut and whether it starts when you sign in.
4. When it finishes, a window titled Set up Remotype Host opens:
   • Step 1 · Let your phone reach this PC — turns green by itself once your phone gets through. If Windows shows a firewall question, tick Private networks and click Allow access.
   • Step 2 · Connect your phone — open Remotype on your phone and tap this PC. The first time, the PC shows a pairing code for you to type on the phone.

A Remotype icon then lives in the system tray, bottom-right near the clock (you may need to click the small ^ arrow). Hover over it to see the port number. Right-click it for the menu:

• Set up Remotype Host… — opens the setup window again.
• Pair a phone… — shows a new pairing code.
• Paired phones — see the phones allowed to use this PC, remove one, or Remove all phones.
• Re-advertise on network — helps your phone find the PC again.
• Repair firewall access — fixes the firewall if your phone can't reach the PC.
• Show activity, About Remotype Host and Quit.

Install Remotype Host on a Linux computerNeeds the computer app

Install the package, sign out and back in (or start it from a terminal), and read the pairing code off the notification or the tray icon.

1. On the computer, go to remotype.custavia.com and click the Linux download. You get a .deb for Ubuntu, Debian, Mint and relatives on x64. An ARM64 .deb and a tarball for any other distribution are linked right under the buttons.
2. Install it. Double-click the .deb and click Install, or in a terminal: sudo dpkg -i remotype-host_1.1.1_amd64.deb. From the tarball: unpack it and run sudo ./install.sh.
3. Recommended: sudo apt install libxkbcommon-tools libnotify-bin — the first makes non-US keyboard layouts type correctly, the second shows the pairing code as a desktop notification.
4. Sign out and back in. The host starts with your desktop session from then on. To start it right now instead, run remotype-host in a terminal.

A Remotype icon appears in the system tray with the same menu as on Mac and Windows: Listening on port …, Pair a phone…, Paired phones (remove one or all), About and Quit. When your phone asks to pair, the code appears as a notification — and in the terminal if you started it there.

Connect your phone to your computer over Wi-FiNeeds the computer app

With Remotype Host running and both devices on the same Wi-Fi, your computer appears in a list on the phone. Tap it — and the very first time, type the code the computer shows.

1. Make sure Remotype Host is running on the computer (keyboard icon in the Mac menu bar, or the Remotype icon in the Windows or Linux tray).
2. Open Remotype on the phone. It starts looking for computers straight away.
3. Your computer appears with its name and Wi-Fi · ready, under ON THIS WI-FI — or under RECENT if you've used it before.
4. Tap it.
5. The first time only: the phone asks for a pairing code, and the computer shows one. Type it on the phone and tap Pair. See Pairing your phone with a computer.
6. The keyboard appears. Click into a text box on the computer and type on your phone.

To search again, tap the circular arrow next to the section title.

To go back to the list of computers, tap the small square R at the top-left of the keyboard screen.

Pairing your phone with a computerNeeds the computer app

The first time your phone connects to a computer over Wi-Fi, the computer shows a code and you type it on the phone. You only do this once per computer.

Why there's a code: it makes sure only your phone can type on your computer. Someone else on the same Wi-Fi can't, because they can't see the code on your screen.

1. On the phone, tap your computer in the list.
2. The phone shows Pair with and your computer's name, with a box that says Enter pairing code here.
3. On the computer, a small window titled Pair a phone shows a code — twelve letters and numbers.
4. Type the code on the phone and tap Pair.
5. The computer says Paired with your phone. From now on this phone connects without a code.

Can't see the code? Open Remotype Host on the computer and choose Pair a phone… — from the menu-bar icon on a Mac, or the tray icon on Windows and Linux. On Linux the code also appears as a notification.

After pairing, everything between your phone and the computer is encrypted, and a phone that isn't paired can't type, click or read your clipboard.

Removing a pairing

• On the computer: the Remotype Host menu lists your paired phones. Choose Remove next to one, or Remove all.
• On the phone: gear ▸ Paired computers. Remove one, or Remove all computers. Each computer will ask for a code again next time.

When your computer does not show upNeeds the computer app

After about seven or eight seconds of finding nothing, Remotype stops guessing and tells you what it actually detected on your phone.

The app runs real checks and shows a card headed Couldn't find a computer, listing what it found — for example that you are on mobile data instead of Wi-Fi, or that a VPN is switched on. It also prints the network range your phone is on, as Your phone is on 192.168.1.x — the computer must be on the same range.

Work through this list:

1. Is Remotype Host actually running on the computer? Look for the keyboard icon in the Mac menu bar or the Remotype icon in the Windows or Linux tray.
2. Are both on the same Wi-Fi network name? Check the computer's Wi-Fi menu and the phone's. Two bands of the same router often count as separate networks.
3. Windows: was the firewall allowed? The card says so explicitly. Re-allow Remotype Host for private networks.
4. Turn off any VPN on the phone, then tap Try again (Android) or Scan for hosts (iPhone).
5. iPhone only: if the card says the phone is not on Wi-Fi or you suspect you denied the prompt, check Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Local Network ▸ Remotype and switch it on.
6. Windows: right-click the tray icon and choose Repair firewall access, then Re-advertise on network, and search again on the phone.
7. Still nothing? On Android the card itself offers Connect by IP and Get the app. On iPhone the card only has Scan for hosts — use the Connect by IP address and Get the computer app rows at the bottom of the connect screen.

Android: use it with no computer app at all (Bluetooth)Android only

An Android phone can pretend to be a genuine Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, so a locked-down computer that lets you pair Bluetooth but not install software still works.

This is Android only. Apple does not allow an iPhone to be a Bluetooth keyboard, so on iPhone this path does not exist.

1. In the Remotype app, if you see the banner Bluetooth permissions, tap Grant Bluetooth permissions and allow.
2. On the computer, open its Bluetooth settings and leave the screen open.
3. On the phone, open Android's own Bluetooth settings and pair with the computer the normal way — tap its name and confirm the matching code on both devices.
4. Go back to Remotype. Once the phone has registered itself as a keyboard you see the line Bluetooth keyboard ready on the connect screen.
5. Tap Reconnect to dial the computer you last used over Bluetooth.

Once connected you get the keyboard, the trackpad and media keys, and Android keeps the link alive in the background with a permanent notification that carries a Disconnect action.

The same Bluetooth link also powers the Android-only TV mode in the mode list (announced as "TV remote"), which drives a television, streaming box or console that accepts a Bluetooth keyboard — again with nothing installed on the other side. That same mode can instead drive an Android TV or Google TV over Wi-Fi, with no pairing over Bluetooth; see the TV remote chapter.

Connect by IP address (Tailscale, VPN, or a network that hides computersNeeds the computer app

When the computer cannot be discovered automatically — Tailscale, a VPN, or Wi-Fi that isolates devices — you can type its address instead.

This is a premium feature. The row is on the connect screen, near the bottom: Connect by IP address, subtitled For Tailscale or a network that hides computers.

1. Find the computer's address. On Tailscale it is the 100.x.y.z address shown in the Tailscale app on that computer. On a normal network it is its local IP.
2. Find the port. It is 50808 unless something else was already using it — on Windows, hover over the tray icon to see the real number.
3. On the phone, tap Connect by IP address.
4. iPhone: a sheet titled Connect by IP opens with a field reading 100.x.y.z or hostname and a Port field already filled in with 50808. Type the address and tap Connect.
5. Android: a dialog titled Connect by IP opens with Host IP and Port. Type both, then tap Connect.

The computer is remembered afterwards: it appears under RECENT with the line By IP · …, and tapping that row redials the saved address.

Using more than one computerNeeds the computer app

You can keep several computers connected at once and hop between them from a row of chips above the keyboard.

Connecting to several at once

1. On the connect screen, press and hold one computer's row. A checkmark appears.
2. Tap the other computers you want.
3. Tap the button at the bottom of the list — it reads Connect for one, or Connect 2 computers for two. (Tap Cancel to clear the selection.)

The first one becomes the computer you are controlling; the rest join as warm standbys.

Switching

1. Above the deck you now see a row of chips, one per computer.
2. Tap a standby chip to take control of that computer immediately.
3. Tap the active chip for its menu: Rename this computer and About this computer (which shows whether it is Controlling now, Standby — ready to switch or Standby — reconnecting, plus a Disconnect button).

Adding another computer while connected

1. Tap the + chip at the end of the row.
2. Pick a computer by name, or choose Add by IP…, or choose Arrange computers.

Arranging them like your desk

1. Open Arrange computers from the + menu. The sheet is titled Arrange your computers.
2. Drag each computer so the layout matches where the real machines sit.
3. Leave Switch at screen edges on to change computers by pushing the pointer off the edge toward its neighbour; use Edge resistance to set how hard you must push. While you push, the phone shows Keep pushing to switch.
4. Tap Done.

Auto-connect, recents and renaming your computersNeeds the computer app

Remotype remembers the computers you use, redials the last one when you open the app, and lets you give them friendlier names.

Auto-connect is on by default: opening Remotype redials your most-recent computer and drops you straight into the deck. To change it:

1. Tap the gear top-right.
2. Open Multi-computer.
3. Switch Auto-connect off to pick a computer from the list each time instead.

Recents. The connect screen shows your three most recent computers under RECENT. Tap See all N computers to open the full list — Your computers on iPhone, and the History screen on Android.

Previously connected. The bottom row Previously connected — Every computer this phone has controlled — opens the History screen. The row only appears once this phone has connected to at least one computer.

Renaming. While connected, tap the active computer's chip and choose Rename this computer. The new name is used in the chips and in the recents list on the connect screen.

Telling Remotype which kind of computer it is. Under Settings ▸ Host, the Mac / Windows switch sets the modifier key labels and shortcut behaviour (⌘ versus Win). The same page has a Get Remotype Host link.

"Permissions needed on your computer" — the orange warning triangleMac computers only

When your Mac is missing a permission, an orange triangle appears in the phone's header and can send you straight to the right settings page on the computer.

1. Connect to the computer as usual.
2. If an orange warning triangle appears in the header of the deck, tap it.
3. A sheet titled Computer permissions opens, explaining that your computer needs a couple of one-time permissions for Remotype Host.
4. Each permission is a row. Accessibility is marked required — Lets Remotype type and move the pointer on this Mac. Screen Recording is optional — Needed for TV screen-mirror and computer audio.
5. Tap Fix next to the one that is missing. The computer opens the matching System Settings pane by itself.
6. On the computer, switch Remotype Host on in that pane.
7. Come back to the phone. The rows update on their own, and when everything is granted the sheet says All set — every permission is granted.
8. Tap Done.

Disconnecting and getting back to the list of computersNeeds the computer app

The brand tile at the top-left of the deck is the way back to the connect screen; the host app on the computer can end things from its side too.

From the phone

1. Tap the small square R brand tile at the very top-left of the deck. It is labelled "Back to the connect screen" and drops the link.
2. You are back on the list of computers and can pick another one.

On both phones, Settings (the gear) carries a red Disconnect row at the bottom while you are connected. To drop just one pooled standby computer, press and hold its chip — a plain tap switches to it instead — and use Remove from pool (iPhone) or Disconnect (Android).

From the computer

• Mac: click the menu-bar keyboard icon and choose Quit. The status line returns to No device connected if you only disconnect the phone.
• Windows or Linux: click the tray icon and choose Quit.

Android over Bluetooth: pull down the notification shade and tap Disconnect on the Remotype notification.

Keyboard mode: typing on your computer

Keyboard mode turns your phone into a keyboard for the computer you are connected to — it is free, forever, on both iPhone and Android.

Everything on this page only works once your phone is connected to a computer. If you still see the list of computers, connect first — nothing you type goes anywhere until then.

1. Connect your phone to your computer.
2. Look at the top of the screen for the coloured pill that shows the name of the mode you are in right now (for example Keyboard) with a small arrow next to it. Tap it.
3. A panel slides in from the right listing every mode. Tap Keyboard.
4. Click into a text box on your computer — a document, a search bar, anywhere the cursor is blinking.
5. Start typing on your phone. The letters appear on the computer.

The very first time you open the app, that panel is already open, so you can just tap Keyboard straight away.

Two neighbouring modes are also free: Trackpad (mouse only) and Both (keyboard and trackpad on one screen). Numpad and the rest are premium.

Swipe or Tap: the two ways to type

Remotype gives you two typing surfaces — your phone's own keyboard (Swipe) or Remotype's built-in keys (Tap) — and you switch between them with one control.

In Keyboard or Both mode there is a two-part switch near the top of the typing area reading Swipe | Tap. Tap either half to change.

• Swipe — your phone's normal keyboard comes up, exactly the one you use for texting. You get glide/swipe typing, autocorrect, spellcheck and word prediction, and your own languages. This is the default and it is what most people want.
• Tap — Remotype's own on-screen keyboard: a number row, the letters, shift, backspace, space and return. No autocorrect, no prediction. One tap, one keystroke on the computer.

Your choice is remembered and used the next time you open the app. You can also set the starting choice in Settings — open the mode panel, tap Settings, then Typing, and pick Swipe or Tap there.

Swipe typing: using your phone's own keyboard

In Swipe mode you type into a box on the phone and Remotype forwards every change to the computer as it happens.

With Swipe selected you will see a slightly sunken box. On Android it reads Swipe-type here — keys go to the host; on iPhone it reads Swipe-type here. Your phone's keyboard comes up on its own.

1. Type or glide-type into that box, normally.
2. Each letter appears on the computer as you go.
3. Press return on your phone's keyboard to send a real Return to the computer.
4. Press backspace on your phone's keyboard to delete on the computer.

The box is a scratch pad, not a document. It is there so your phone's keyboard has something to autocorrect and predict against. When autocorrect changes a word you already typed, Remotype works out the difference and sends just the correction — a few backspaces and the new letters — so the computer ends up with the same text you see on the phone.

Backspace keeps working even when the box is empty: Remotype forwards a real backspace to the computer, so you can delete text the computer already had before you started.

The tap keyboard

Tap mode gives you Remotype's own keyboard, where every tap is exactly one keystroke on the computer.

Choose Tap on the Swipe/Tap switch. You get a number row, three rows of letters, a shift key, backspace, space and return. Nothing is corrected or predicted — what you tap is what the computer gets.

Shift on Android cycles through three states as you tap it:

1. Tap once — shift is on for the next key only. The caps change to capitals and to the symbols above the numbers (! @ # and so on). It switches itself off after one letter.
2. Tap again — shift locks on and the key shows ⇪. Everything stays capital until you tap a third time.
3. Tap a third time — shift off.

Shift on iPhone has two states: tap once to arm it for the next key, tap again to switch it off. There is no caps-lock on the iPhone tap keyboard.

Small layout difference: the Android tap keyboard's bottom row also carries a comma and a full stop either side of the space bar. The iPhone bottom row is just space and return — use the symbol row on the key strip above for punctuation, or switch to Swipe.

Ctrl, Alt/Option, Cmd/Win and Shift

The four modifier keys sit in a row above the typing area and work two different ways — hold them, or quick-tap them.

The top row of the key strip has four keys. What they say depends on which computer you told the app you are using:

• On a Mac: ctrl, alt, cmd, shift, each with a small ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ ⇧ mark in the corner.
• On Windows: ctrl, alt, win, shift, with no corner marks.

Each one gives you two ways to build a shortcut:

1. Quick-tap (a short press) arms the modifier for the next key only. The key fills with colour and gets a ring around it. Now tap the letter or key you want — for example, quick-tap cmd, then tap c to copy. The modifier releases itself afterwards.
2. Press and hold keeps the modifier physically down on the computer, so you can tap another key with a second finger and the modifier stays held. This is what you need for app switching: on a Mac hold cmd, on Windows hold alt, tap tab repeatedly to walk the list, then lift your finger off that modifier to land on the app.

Armed modifiers stack. To send Ctrl+Shift+Esc, quick-tap ctrl, quick-tap shift, then tap esc.

To change whether the third key says cmd or win: open the mode panel, tap Settings, then Host, and choose Mac or Windows.

Keyboard shortcuts while swipe-typing

You can build a shortcut using your phone's own keyboard — arm a modifier on the strip, then type the letter normally.

Normally, letters typed into the swipe box travel to the computer as plain text, which means a modifier could not attach to them. Remotype handles this for you.

1. Quick-tap a modifier on the strip — cmd, for example. It lights up.
2. Type a single letter on your phone's own keyboard — a.
3. The computer receives Cmd+A (select all), not the letter a.

Stack as many modifiers as you need first — quick-tap ctrl, then shift, then type the letter. This works in both Swipe and Tap, on iPhone and Android.

Esc, Tab, arrows, Home/End and the symbol row

Below the modifier row sit the keys a phone keyboard does not have: escape, tab, the arrows, and a few programmer symbols.

The navigation row (eight keys, left to right):

• esc — Escape.
• Tab.
• Backspace.
• Return.
• Left, Up, Down and Right arrows.

The symbol row (below it):

• ~ { } /
• home and end
• fn, which opens the function-key drawer — see the next section.

All of these combine with armed modifiers. Quick-tap shift then tap the Right arrow to select a character; quick-tap cmd then tap Left to jump to the start of a line on a Mac.

These keys always go straight to the computer, even while you are swipe-typing — they never land in the box on your phone.

If you use a very large text size on your phone, these rows split themselves over two lines instead of squeezing. The key order never changes.

The fn drawer: F1–F12 and media keys

Tapping fn unfolds a drawer with the twelve function keys and a row of media, volume and brightness keys.

1. Find fn at the right-hand end of the symbol row.
2. Tap it. The drawer opens and the little arrow on the key flips over.
3. Tap what you need. Tap fn again to fold it away.

Function keys: f1 through f12, on two rows.

Media row (icons, no text): Previous track, Play/Pause, Next track, Mute, Volume down, Volume up, Brightness down, Brightness up. Each one flashes a short coloured underline when you press it.

The function keys respect armed modifiers, so quick-tap ctrl then tap f5 to send Ctrl+F5.

Numpad mode

A proper PC number pad for spreadsheets and data entry — this one is a premium mode.

Numpad is not free: it is covered by the 14-day full trial, then the 30 minutes a month allowance, or a purchase. Tapping it while locked opens the purchase screen instead of switching.

1. Tap the coloured mode pill at the top of the screen.
2. Tap Numpad.
3. Click into the cell or field on your computer.

What is on it:

• A row of arrow keys along the top — Left, Up, Down, Right.
• Backspace, / and *.
• The digits 7-8-9 / 4-5-6 / 1-2-3, a double-width 0, and .
• A tall column on the right: -, + and Enter.

These are genuine keypad keys, not the number row — so spreadsheets and accounting software see a real numeric keypad, and the Enter key here is keypad Enter.

The modifier and navigation strips stay above the pad, so armed modifiers work on the numpad keys too.

Both mode: keyboard and trackpad together

Both puts the typing surface and the trackpad on one screen, so you can type and move the pointer without switching modes.

1. Tap the mode pill at the top of the screen.
2. Tap Both.

You get the key strips and your chosen typing surface on top, and the trackpad filling everything below. The Swipe | Tap switch works here exactly as it does in Keyboard mode.

To give the trackpad more room, tap the small keyboard icon beside the Swipe/Tap switch — the typing surface collapses and the pad grows into the space. Tap it again to bring the keyboard back.

Both is free, like Keyboard and Trackpad.

Making room: hiding the keyboard and folding the key strips

Two separate controls free up screen space — one hides the typing surface, the other folds away the modifier and special-key rows.

To hide the typing surface (the swipe box or the tap keyboard):

1. Look just to the right of the Swipe | Tap switch for a small button with a keyboard icon.
2. Tap it. The typing surface collapses, and on iPhone and Android your phone's own keyboard goes away with it.
3. Tap it again to bring both back.

To fold the key strips (the modifier row, the navigation row and the symbol row):

1. Look in the top bar of the app for a small chevron, near the mode pill.
2. Tap it. All the strips fold up and the arrow flips over.
3. Tap it again to unfold them.

The fold is remembered per mode, so you can keep the strips folded in Trackpad and open in Keyboard. Trackpad starts folded.

Typing settings: default mode, haptics and key sound

Three settings change how typing feels — which surface you start in, whether the phone buzzes, and whether keys click.

To reach them: tap the coloured mode pill at the top of the screen, then tap Settings at the bottom of the panel.

Settings → Typing

• A Swipe | Tap switch that sets which surface you start in.

Settings → Feel

• Haptic feedback — "Vibrate on each key." On by default.
• Key sound — a click on each key press.

How your typing actually reaches the computer

Remotype can reach a computer two different ways, and which one you are on decides which characters survive the trip.

Over Wi-Fi, with Remotype Host. You install the free companion app on your Mac or Windows PC, and both devices sit on the same Wi-Fi. This is the only option on iPhone, and it is what the computer screen, computer audio, clipboard sync, casting, computer vitals and multi-computer switching all need — none of those work over Bluetooth.

Over Bluetooth — Android only. Your Android phone pretends to be an actual Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The computer, TV or games console just sees a keyboard, with nothing to install on the other side. An iPhone cannot do this; Apple does not allow it.

Underneath, both paths send keystrokes, not text — the same thing a real keyboard sends. That has one consequence worth knowing:

• Bluetooth (Android): plain English letters, digits and standard punctuation only, and the computer must be set to a US keyboard layout to see the right symbols. Anything else — emoji, accented letters, other scripts — is silently dropped.
• Wi-Fi to a Mac: same limitation. Standard letters, digits and punctuation; other characters are dropped.
• Wi-Fi to a Windows PC: more forgiving. Ordinary text is injected as real characters and respects whatever keyboard layout the PC uses, so accented letters generally work. Most emoji still do not. Keyboard shortcuts are mapped to your PC's own layout.

Using your phone as a trackpad

Trackpad mode turns the phone screen into a laptop-style trackpad that moves the pointer on your computer.

Trackpad is free forever, on both iPhone and Android. You never need to pay to use it.

1. Connect the phone to your computer first. Nothing you do on the pad has any effect until the app is connected.
2. Tap the button in the top-right of the screen that shows the name of the mode you are in now (for example Keyboard) with a small arrow next to it. The dock slides in from the right.
3. Under MODES, tap Trackpad — the row is labelled Move the mouse pointer.
4. The dock closes and a large recessed pad fills the screen, with the word TRACKPAD etched faintly in its top-left corner and two buttons underneath: left and right.

If you want to type and point without switching back and forth, choose Both instead (Keyboard and trackpad together). Both is also free forever, and the pad in Both behaves exactly like the one in Trackpad mode.

While your finger is on the pad, everything around it — the header, the buttons, the strips — fades almost all the way out. That is deliberate, so the whole screen reads as the pad. It comes straight back when you lift your finger.

Every trackpad gesture

Drag to move, tap to click, two fingers to scroll, two-finger tap to right-click — with a couple of extras on iPhone.

On both iPhone and Android:

• Drag one finger — moves the pointer. Speed is scaled by your pointer-speed setting.
• Tap once with one finger — left click.
• Tap with two fingers — right click.
• Drag two fingers — scroll.

iPhone only, in addition:

• Two-finger drag scrolls both ways — up and down and sideways.
• Pinch two fingers — zoom in and out.
• One-finger drag starting at the right edge of the pad — scrolls, like a mouse wheel. See the scroll-strip section.

On Android, a two-finger drag scrolls up and down only, and there is no pinch-to-zoom on the pad.

A tap only counts as a click if you keep still and lift quickly. Move your finger more than a hair, or hold it down for about a fifth of a second, and Remotype treats it as a drag instead — which is what stops the pointer clicking every time you nudge it.

When you click, the thin outline around the pad winks once in your accent colour. A right-click winks brighter and thicker. That is your confirmation that the click was sent, without looking at the computer.

The left and right buttons (dragging and selecting)

The two buttons under the pad are hold-down mouse buttons — use them to select text or drag something across the screen.

Under the pad are two wide buttons labelled left and right. They are not simple click buttons: the mouse button goes down when you touch one and stays down until you lift your finger.

To drag or select something:

1. Move the pointer over what you want to grab, using the pad.
2. Press and hold the left button with one thumb, and keep holding.
3. With your other finger, drag on the pad. The item drags, or the text selects, as the pointer moves.
4. Lift your thumb off the button to let go.

The right button works the same way for the right mouse button.

On Android, if you are using a screen reader, both buttons also respond to a normal double-tap, which sends a plain press-and-release click.

The one-finger scroll strip (iPhone)iPhone only

On iPhone, a narrow strip down the right-hand edge of the pad scrolls with a single finger, like a mouse wheel.

Look at the right edge of the trackpad well. There is a faintly shaded lane with a small up-and-down arrow in it. That lane is a dedicated scroll wheel.

1. Put one finger down inside that right-edge lane.
2. Drag up or down. The computer scrolls, exactly as if you had used two fingers on the pad.

It follows the same direction rule as two-finger scrolling, so your Natural scrolling setting applies here too.

Pointer speed

One slider decides how far the pointer travels for a given swipe.

1. Open the dock (the button in the top-right showing the current mode) and tap Settings at the very bottom.
2. Under the HOW IT FEELS heading, tap Trackpad. The row already shows your current speed, for example 1.6×.
3. Drag the Pointer speed slider. The number above it updates live, from 0.6× (slow and precise) to 3.0× (a flick crosses the screen).
4. Go back. The change applies immediately — there is nothing to save.

The default is 1.6×. If you are on a very large or high-resolution monitor and find yourself swiping several times to cross it, raise this. If you keep overshooting small buttons, lower it.

Scroll direction (natural scrolling)

A single switch flips which way the page moves when you scroll.

1. Open the dock, tap Settings, then Trackpad under HOW IT FEELS.
2. Find the Natural scrolling switch. Its description reads: Content follows your fingers (macOS default). Off = traditional.
3. Turn it on if you want the page to move the same way your fingers move — the way a Mac trackpad or a phone screen behaves.
4. Leave it off for the traditional direction, where dragging your fingers down scrolls the page up. Off is the default.

The setting applies everywhere Remotype scrolls: the two-finger scroll on the pad, the right-edge scroll strip on iPhone, and the trackpad inside the screen-mirror views.

Making the trackpad taller or shorter

A small grip handle above the pad drags the pad's height up and down, and the size is remembered.

Above the pad there is a short horizontal grip — a small rounded bar centred on the screen. Press it and drag up to make the pad taller, or down to make it shorter. The grip turns your accent colour while you are dragging it. Your chosen height is remembered for next time.

On Android, the grip sits in Trackpad mode between the key strips and the pad. It only appears while those key strips are showing — if you have collapsed them with the chevron in the header, the pad is already using every spare pixel and the grip is hidden because there is nothing left for it to do.

On iPhone, the trackpad normally stretches to fill all the space it can, so there is no grip to drag. The grip appears in Trackpad mode when the screen mirror panel is switched on — then dragging it trades height between the live picture of your computer and the pad below it.

If you use a screen reader, the grip is announced as Trackpad size. On Android it offers Make trackpad taller and Make trackpad shorter actions instead of a drag; on iPhone it is an adjustable control you swipe up or down to change.

Air mouse: point by tilting the phone

Hold a pad and tilt the phone in the air to steer the pointer — built for using a computer from the sofa.

Air mouse is a premium mode. It is included in the 14-day full trial, and after that it draws on your free 30 minutes of premium each month unless you buy.

1. Open the dock and tap Air — the row reads Point by moving the phone.
2. You get a big pad labelled AIR MOUSE that says Hold to aim, with the hint Hold and tilt to move.
3. Press and hold anywhere on that pad. The phone buzzes once, the label changes to Aiming, and the border glows in your accent colour.
4. Keeping your finger down, tilt the phone — turn your wrist left and right to move the pointer sideways, tip it up and down to move it vertically.
5. Lift your finger to freeze the pointer exactly where it is.
6. Tap left or right below the pad to click.

Think of it as a laser pointer, not a mouse. You aim, you let go, then you click.

The motion sensor only runs while your finger is actually on the pad, so leaving Air mouse open does not drain your battery in the background.

Air mouse sensitivity and inverted tilt

Two controls live under the air-mouse pad: how far a tilt travels, and which way up counts as up.

Scroll to just below the left and right click buttons in Air mode. You will see a small etched caption reading SENSITIVITY.

1. Tap Low, Med or High. Low is for careful work at a desk; High is meant for pointing at a large TV from across the room. Med is the default.
2. Below that, turn on Invert vertical if tilting the phone up should move the pointer up rather than down.

Both settings apply the moment you tap them — you can keep testing without leaving the mode.

Switching modes with the dock

The dock is the labelled list of every mode and tool, and it is how you move between keyboard, trackpad and everything else.

The dock is switched on by default on both phones.

1. Look at the top-right of the screen. There is a coloured pill showing the icon and name of the mode you are in right now — Keyboard, Trackpad, Air, and so on — with a small arrow.
2. Tap it. A panel slides in from the right edge.
3. Under MODES, each row has a name and a plain-English line underneath it: Type on the computer, Keyboard and trackpad together, Move the mouse pointer, Point by moving the phone, Numbers for spreadsheets, Play, pause and volume, Highlight things on screen, One-tap shortcut tiles, Type passwords securely, Speak, the computer types. Android has one more: Use the phone as a TV remote.
4. Tap a row. The mode switches and the dock closes.

Below the modes, a divider separates a TOOLS section (things you turn on rather than switch to), and at the very bottom sits Settings.

To close the dock without choosing anything: tap the dimmed area to the left of it, or swipe right anywhere inside the dock.

The dock opens by itself the first time you use the app, so you can see what is available. After you close it once, it stays closed until you tap the button.

The mode row and the swipe carousel (with the dock switched off)

If you turn the dock off, you get the older switcher instead: a row of mode chips you can tap, plus a drag-to-scrub picker.

The dock replaces an earlier switcher. You can still have the old one:

1. Open the dock, tap Settings, then under ON SCREEN tap Dock.
2. Turn Mode dock (beta) off. Its description reads: Replaces the mode row and tool icons with a labeled dock on the right edge.

Now a full-width band of small mode chips sits under the header. The chip for the mode you are in is filled with your accent colour and shows its name; the rest are icons only.

• Tap any other chip — switches straight away.
• Double-tap the active chip — jumps back to the mode you were in before.
• Drag sideways anywhere along the band — a full-screen picker appears with three big tiles: the previous mode, the current one and the next. Keep dragging to scrub through them; the middle tile is the one you will get. It says Release to switch (Android shows it in capitals, RELEASE TO SWITCH). Lift your finger to commit.
• While that picker is open, drag up or down instead. Once you have moved far enough it changes to Release to cancel and lifting your finger changes nothing.

Jumping back and forth between two modes

There is a one-tap shortcut back to whichever mode you were in last — handy for point, type, point, type.

With the dock on (the default): look in the header for a small button showing a left-right arrow next to a mode icon. That icon is the mode you were in before this one. Tap it to go straight back. Tap it again to return. It is announced to screen readers as "Back to <mode> mode".

With the dock off: double-tap the highlighted chip in the mode row to do the same thing.

Remotype remembers this only for the current session — it is not saved when you close the app.

Choosing which modes appear

Presets and per-mode switches decide what shows up in the dock (and, if you use it, the mode row and carousel).

1. Open the dock, tap Settings, then under ON SCREEN tap Modes. The row shows which preset you are on.
2. Under LAYOUT, pick a preset:
   • Simple — Keyboard, trackpad and the screen — nothing else
   • Presenter — Spotlight, media keys and casting up front
   • Power user — Everything visible
3. Or scroll to MODES and use the switch beside each mode to show or hide it individually. Turning any switch changes your preset to Custom.

On iPhone the footer explains it plainly: Choose which modes appear in the switcher. Hidden ones stay off the rail and the swipe carousel — turn any back on here. Android words the same idea slightly differently.

When the pointer will not move

The usual causes, in the order worth checking.

1. Are you actually connected? Nothing on the pad is sent while the app is disconnected. Go back to the connect screen and connect first.
2. On a Mac, grant Accessibility. The Remotype Host app on the Mac needs it before it can move the pointer or type at all. On the phone, tap the orange warning triangle in the header to open Computer permissions: the Accessibility row is marked required and reads Lets Remotype type and move the pointer on this Mac. Tap Fix and the right System Settings page opens on the Mac — switch Remotype Host on there, then come back. You can also do it on the Mac itself: System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Accessibility.
3. If the Accessibility toggle already looks switched on but input still does nothing, use Reset permissions… in the Remotype Host window on the Mac, then grant it again. macOS ties these permissions to the exact version of the app, so an update can leave a stale entry that looks correct and does nothing.
4. Check the two devices are on the same Wi-Fi. Both must be on the same network for the phone to find your computer. Guest networks and "client isolation" on hotel, café and office Wi-Fi block devices from seeing each other, and the computer will simply never appear in the list.
5. Clicks not registering? Tap faster and lighter. A press that lasts longer than about a fifth of a second, or drifts even slightly, is treated as a drag rather than a click.
6. Pointer moves but far too slowly or too fast? Adjust Pointer speed in Settings ▸ Trackpad.

Spotlight mode: what it is and how to open itNeeds the computer app

Spotlight turns your phone into an aiming pad that draws a highlight on your computer's screen, so everyone watching — in the room or on a screen share — can see what you are pointing at.

Spotlight draws on the computer, not on the phone. Because of that it only works when your phone is connected to a computer running Remotype Host. It does not work over the Bluetooth keyboard connection.

To open it:

1. Install Remotype Host on the computer and make sure it is running (macOS: the R icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen; Windows: the R icon in the system tray, near the clock).
2. Put the phone and the computer on the same Wi-Fi network.
3. Open Remotype on your phone and connect to the computer. The status dot at the top turns green when you are connected.
4. In the strip of mode chips just under the header, tap Spotlight.

You will see a row of four tools across the top — Spotlight, Square, Pointer, Draw — a large pad below it, and a row of controls under the pad.

The pad is a live preview: whatever you see inside it is exactly what the room sees on the big screen. You never have to turn around and look at the projector.

Spotlight is a premium mode. It is included in the 14-day full trial, then in the free 30 minutes per month allowance, or with a purchase. The keyboard and trackpad stay free forever.

Aim and Live: the long-press that everyone missesNeeds the computer app

The pad has two states — aiming (you move the real mouse pointer) and live (the highlight is on screen) — and a touch-and-hold switches between them.

Look at the small pill at the top of the pad. It tells you which state you are in:

• Aim the cursor · hold to start — you are aiming. Dragging your finger moves the computer's real mouse pointer. Nothing is highlighted yet, so the audience just sees your slides.
• Live · hold to stop — the highlight is on screen and follows your finger.
• Drawing · hold to stop — the same, in the Draw tool.

To use it:

1. Drag on the pad to put the crosshair over the thing you want to highlight.
2. Touch and hold anywhere on the pad for about half a second, without sliding your finger. The pill flips to Live, the pad border lights up, and the phone gives a short buzz.
3. Drag to move the highlight around.
4. Touch and hold again to turn it off and go back to aiming.

The highlight stays on screen when you lift your finger, so you can put the phone down mid-sentence and the spotlight stays where you left it.

The four tools: Spotlight, Square, Pointer, DrawNeeds the computer app

Four chips across the top of the pad choose what the audience sees: a dimmed room with a circle of light, a rectangle of light, a glowing laser dot, or freehand ink.

Tap a chip to switch. The active one is filled with your accent colour.

• Spotlight — darkens the whole screen except a circle that follows your finger, with a coloured glow ring around it. Best for pointing at one line, one number, one face.
• Square — the same idea, but the cut-out is a wide rectangle instead of a circle. Better for a row in a table, a headline, or a wide chart.
• Pointer — a glowing coloured dot with a white-hot centre, and no dimming. This is the replacement for a laser pointer, and unlike a real laser it shows up in a screen share and in recordings.
• Draw — freehand ink you draw with your finger. See the Draw section below.

For all four, aim first, then touch and hold to go live.

Draw: writing on the screen, and clearing itNeeds the computer app

Draw lets you scribble on top of your slides with your finger; the ink stays until you clear it.

1. Tap the Draw chip.
2. Touch and hold the pad to go live. The pill reads Drawing · hold to stop.
3. Drag to draw. Lift, move, and drag again to draw a second stroke — earlier strokes stay on screen.
4. To wipe everything, tap Clear — the wide button under the pad.

A small dot shows the pen tip so you can see exactly where the next stroke will start.

Draw is the one tool where the ink layer stays on the computer's screen even when you drop back to aiming, so you can annotate, go back to aiming to move the pointer or advance the slide, and come back to add more without losing what you drew.

Options: size, dim, colour, and how the pad movesNeeds the computer app

The settings for the highlight are folded away behind an Options chip so the aiming pad gets the space; open it to change size, darkness, colour, or the way your finger maps to the screen.

Tap Options in the row under the pad. What appears depends on which tool you are in.

Move (labelled MOVEMENT on Android) — choose how your finger maps to the screen:

• Absolute — the pad is the screen. Touch the top-left of the pad and the highlight jumps to the top-left of the screen. This is the default and the one to use on stage: you can put the light on a spot in one motion without looking.
• Relative — like a laptop trackpad. Your finger nudges the highlight from where it already is. Better for small, careful adjustments.

Size — how big the circle, rectangle or dot is. Available in Spotlight, Square and Pointer.

Dim — how dark the rest of the screen goes. Only in Spotlight and Square. Turn it down in a bright room, up in a dark one. At the lowest setting there is no darkening at all.

Colour — five circles: Cobalt (blue), Red, Amber, Green, White. The colour tints the glow ring around the cut-out, the laser dot, and your ink. The selected one has a ring around it.

Your choices are remembered for next time.

Blanking the presentation screenNeeds the computer app

Blank covers the computer's whole screen in solid black or white, so the room looks at you instead of your slides.

The Blank chip lives in the row of controls under the Spotlight pad, at the far left.

1. Open Spotlight mode.
2. Tap Blank.
3. Choose Black screen or White screen.
4. The chip changes to Blanked and turns amber, so you can tell at a glance that the room is looking at a blank wall.
5. To bring the slides back, tap the chip again and choose Restore.

Use Black screen for a discussion, a question, or a break. Blanking and the highlight tools are mutually exclusive on the computer: tapping Spotlight, Square, Pointer or Draw while the screen is blanked clears the blank, so you cannot draw on top of a white screen.

This blanking is drawn by Remotype Host, so it works over whatever is on the screen: slides, a browser, a video, your desktop. The presentation app does not need to know anything about it.

The presentation timer (the countdown that buzzes)Needs the computer app

A countdown for your talk that lives in the Spotlight controls and taps you on the wrist at the checkpoints you choose, so you can stay on time without looking at your phone.

The timer sits in the middle of the row under the Spotlight pad, showing a small icon and a time like 20:00.

1. Open Spotlight mode.
2. Tap the small chevron at the right-hand end of the timer chip to open Presentation timer.
3. Under LENGTH, pick how long your talk is: 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60 or 90 minutes.
4. Under BUZZ ME AT, switch on the checkpoints you want: Halfway, 5 minutes left, 2 minutes left, Time's up. All four are on to begin with.
5. Tap Done.
6. Back on the main screen, tap the time itself to start. Tap it again to pause.

While it runs, the phone buzzes twice at each checkpoint and three times when time is up — a double buzz is recognisable in a pocket in a way a single tap is not.

The colour of the number is your at-a-glance status: normal, amber in the last two minutes, and red once you are over. Past zero it does not stop — it counts up with a minus sign, because when you are over-running, the number you actually need is how far over.

To put it back to the start: on iPhone, use the Reset to … button in the timer settings; on Android, tap Reset at the bottom of the same dialog. Changing the length also resets it.

Showing the countdown to the roomNeeds the computer app

You can put the same countdown on the computer's screen so the audience sees it too — useful for a Q&A, an exercise, or a break.

1. In Spotlight mode, tap the chevron on the timer chip.
2. Find SHOW ON THE PRESENTATION SCREEN.
3. Pick one of three:
   • Never — the countdown stays on your phone only. This is the default.
   • Always — the countdown is on the computer's screen for the whole talk.
   • Only when blanked (shown as When blanked on Android) — the countdown appears only while you have blanked the screen, and disappears when you restore your slides.
4. Tap Done.

Only when blanked is the setting worth knowing about. It keeps the clock off your slides while you talk, then puts a big countdown up for exactly the break or Q&A the blank screen is covering. Blank the screen, and the room gets a black screen with the time remaining on it.

The number the room sees is the same number you see — the phone owns the clock and tells the computer what to draw, so the two can never disagree. It sits in the lower third of the screen, clear of slide titles, and turns red for the last two minutes and stays red while you are over time. The amber stage is on your phone only — the room sees plain, then red.

The small Remotype mark on a blanked screenNeeds the computer app

When you blank the presentation screen, a faint "R Remotype" mark appears in the bottom-left corner — that is deliberate, and there is no setting for it.

A projector showing nothing at all looks broken, and someone in the room will always assume the laptop has crashed and start stage-whispering about it. The small mark in the corner says the blank is on purpose.

It is drawn deliberately faint — around a third opacity — so it never competes with you, and it appears only while the screen is blanked. Restore the slides and it goes with them. It scales with the screen, so it stays small and quiet on a big projector.

It is shown by both the macOS and the Windows companion, and it is not adjustable from the phone.

Play, pause and volume without leaving SpotlightNeeds the computer app

A Media chip in the Spotlight controls drops down a row of six buttons, so you can start a video or mute the laptop without switching away from your highlight.

1. In Spotlight mode, tap the Media chip in the row under the pad.
2. A strip of six small icon buttons appears just below it.
3. Left to right they are: previous, play/pause, next, mute, volume down, volume up.
4. Tap Media again to fold the strip away.

These are the computer's own media keys — the same thing as pressing play/pause on a keyboard. That means they work on whatever is playing, without the app knowing anything about Remotype: an embedded video in your deck, a browser tab, a music app.

The buttons are icons only, with no text labels. Screen readers announce them as "Previous", "Play or pause", "Next", "Mute", "Volume down" and "Volume up".

Media mode: Playback

A full-screen deck of big buttons for controlling whatever the computer is playing — designed to be pressed without looking.

1. In the strip of mode chips under the header, tap Media.
2. At the top, make sure the toggle is on Playback (the other side is Present).

The deck has three rows:

• Top row — previous track, a double-width play/pause in the middle, next track. Play/pause is deliberately the biggest target on the screen so you can hit it without looking down.
• Middle row — rewind and fast-forward, which scan within the current track rather than skipping to the next one.
• Bottom row — mute, volume down, volume up.

Every one of these is a standard media key, so it drives whatever app the computer considers to be playing.

Media is a premium mode: it is in the 14-day trial, then the 30 minutes per month allowance, or a purchase.

Media mode: Present (slide arrows, blank, end show)

A dedicated slide-clicker deck: next and previous slide, a blank-screen key, an end-show key, and a stopwatch — all in large buttons you can press blind.

1. Tap Media in the mode strip.
2. Tap Present on the toggle at the top.

The deck has:

• A timer panel at the top — see the next section.
• A big pair of arrows: previous slide on the left, and a double-width next slide on the right. Next is the bigger target because it is the button you press fifty times a talk.
• blank — a key with a small b printed in its corner.
• esc — ends the slideshow.

The arrows send plain Left and Right arrow keys, which is what PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Slides all listen for, so this works everywhere without any setup.

While Present is on screen, your phone is kept awake — you can put it in your hand for a 40-minute talk and it will not lock on you mid-slide.

Which timer is which

Remotype has two timers and they do different jobs — one counts down and buzzes, the other counts up.

They look similar and they are in different places, so it is worth knowing which one you are looking at.

• The presentation timer — in Spotlight mode, in the row under the pad. It counts down from your talk length, buzzes at checkpoints you choose, turns amber then red, goes into negative numbers when you over-run, and can be shown to the audience on the computer's screen. This is the one to use for a talk with a time slot.
• The stopwatch — in Media mode, on the Present deck, in the panel marked TIMER. It counts up from 00:00 with start, pause and reset beside it. It does not buzz, has no target length, and the audience never sees it. Use it when you just want to know how long you have been talking.

Both keep counting when you move around the app, and neither is reset by switching modes — only by you.

Presenting on the free plan

Keyboard and trackpad are free forever; the presenter tools are premium, with a full trial and a small monthly allowance after it.

When you first install Remotype you get 14 days with everything unlocked. After that:

• Keyboard, Trackpad and Both stay free, forever, with no time limit.
• Spotlight and Media — and with them blanking, the presentation timer, the audience countdown, and the slide deck — are premium.
• After the trial you get 30 minutes a month of premium use for free. The clock only runs while you are actually connected, with the app open, and sitting in a premium mode.
• Or you buy it once and stop thinking about it.

A premium mode you cannot currently use appears dimmed with a small lock in the mode strip. Tapping it opens the purchase screen instead of switching.

Show your computer's screen on your phone (TV mode)Needs the computer app

TV mode puts a live, zoomable picture of your computer's screen right on your phone, so you can see what you're doing from across the room.

This needs the free Remotype Host app running on your computer, and your phone connected to it over Wi‑Fi.

1. Connect your phone to your computer in Remotype, so you're looking at the deck (the keyboard/trackpad screen).
2. Near the top of the screen there's a row of small icons. Tap the tool called Computer screen — a small screen icon (a TV-style glyph on iPhone, a screen-with-a-phone on Android).
3. A short menu opens. Pick what you want:
   • Off — no picture, no sound.
   • Screen + audio (on Android: Screen + audio here) — the picture, plus your computer's sound played on the phone.
   • Screen only (Android: Screen only here) — the picture, no sound.
   • Audio only (Android: Audio only here) — sound with no picture.
4. The live picture appears in a panel above the deck, with a small LIVE badge in its corner.

While it's on, a Screen chip appears at the top of the screen. Tap that chip any time to change the mode or turn it off — it opens exactly the same menu.

If you use the optional Dock (Settings → Dock), the same Computer screen row is in the dock too.

The screen mirror is a premium feature. It's open during the 14-day trial, then covered by your free 30 minutes each month or by Remotype Pro. Without an active membership the iPhone menu offers only Off and Unlock Computer screen, and on Android picking any screen row opens the purchase sheet instead. Turning the screen off is always free.

Choosing what the magnified view follows, and how far it zoomsNeeds the computer app

The phone shows a zoomed-in slice of your computer's screen, and you choose whether that slice chases the mouse pointer, the typing cursor, or just shows everything.

1. Tap once on the picture. The controls appear (they fade away again after about 4 seconds so they don't cover the screen).
2. Next to the LIVE badge you'll see three small pills:
   • Mouse — the view follows your computer's mouse pointer.
   • Keys — the view follows the blinking text cursor as you type.
   • Full — no magnifying, the whole screen fits in the panel.
3. Tap one to switch. The current one is filled in with your accent colour.
4. Use the zoom slider along the bottom of the picture to magnify, from 0.4× (wider than the screen) up to 8×.
5. In the small inline panel there's also a 1:1 button beside the slider. Tap it and the computer picks the sharpest possible zoom — one screen pixel per phone pixel. Tap it again and the view returns to 2× zoom.

Moving the view by hand, and making the panel biggerNeeds the computer app

You can drag the picture to look somewhere else on your computer's screen, and drag a grip to trade space between the picture and the keyboard or trackpad below it.

To look at a different part of the screen

1. Drag one finger across the picture. The view slides with your finger.
2. Pinch with two fingers to zoom in or out.

This actually moves the slice your computer is capturing, so it stays put until you move it again.

To resize the panel

• On iPhone: switch to Trackpad mode. A short grey grip bar sits between the picture and the trackpad — drag it up or down. (With VoiceOver it's called "Trackpad size" and you can swipe up/down to adjust it.)
• On Android: the grip bar sits just under the picture in every mode — drag it up or down.

Your chosen size is remembered.

Watching your computer's screen fullscreenNeeds the computer app

Fullscreen fills your whole phone with the computer's screen and hides everything else, like a video player.

1. Turn on the screen (see "Show your computer's screen on your phone").
2. Tap the picture once so the controls appear.
3. Tap the expand button — the round button with outward arrows at the bottom-right of the panel. (Its spoken name is "Fullscreen".)
4. The picture fills the phone. Tap anywhere to show the controls; they hide again after about 4 seconds.
5. To leave, tap the X at the top-right ("Close TV" on iPhone, "Close fullscreen" on Android).

Extra gestures on iPhone: swipe up on the picture to reveal the controls, and swipe down to shrink back to the small inline panel.

On Android you can also press the system Back gesture or button to leave fullscreen.

Typing and pointing while you're in fullscreenNeeds the computer app

Fullscreen has its own pop-out keyboard and trackpad, plus buttons to switch apps and windows, so you never have to leave the picture.

Tap the picture to bring up the top bar. From left to right it holds:

• Switch apps — tap to cycle through your computer's open apps; press and hold to commit to the one you're on.
• Switch windows (Android: Switch window) — same, for windows of the current app.
• Show keyboard / Hide keyboard.
• Show trackpad / Hide trackpad.
• Cast to a TV.
• Close (the X).

To type while watching:

1. Tap Show keyboard.
2. A typing strip docks below the picture — it never covers it.
   • On iPhone you get whichever style you chose in Settings → Typing: the swipe field (with your phone's own keyboard underneath) or the tap QWERTY.
   • On Android you get the swipe field plus a row of esc, tab, ↵ and the four arrow keys.

To move the pointer while watching:

1. Tap Show trackpad.
2. In landscape the pad docks to the right of the picture; in portrait it docks below it. The picture is never covered.

Hearing your computer's sound on your phoneMac computers only

Remotype can stream your computer's audio to your phone, so you can put in headphones and hear whatever is playing on the computer.

There are two ways to switch it on.

The quick way

1. Tap the Computer screen icon at the top of the deck.
2. Choose Screen + audio (Android: Screen + audio here). This turns the sound on for you.

From Settings

1. Tap the gear at the top of the screen.
2. Open Host.
3. Turn on Computer audio. The description reads: "Hear your computer's sound on this phone over Wi-Fi. Needs Screen Recording permission for Remotype Host."

Computer audio is a premium feature. The keyboard and trackpad are free forever; premium extras are open during the 14-day trial, then you get a free 30 minutes each month, or you can buy Remotype Pro. Turning the switch on without an active membership opens the purchase sheet instead.

Audio only — sound with the screen offMac computers only

If you just want to listen, Audio only streams your computer's sound and skips the picture entirely, which uses much less of your Wi-Fi.

1. Tap the Computer screen icon at the top of the deck (or the Screen chip if it's already on).
2. Choose Audio only (Android: Audio only here).
3. A small card takes the panel's place reading Listening to and your computer's name, with the line "Computer audio — screen off" and the volume buttons underneath.
4. To go back to the picture, open the same menu and choose Screen + audio or Screen only; choose Off to stop everything.

Changing the computer's volume from the screen controlsNeeds the computer app

The little mute / down / up buttons that sit with the live picture change your computer's volume, not your phone's.

You'll find the same three buttons — Mute, Volume down, Volume up — in three places:

• Top-right of the small inline picture panel (tap the picture first if the controls have faded).
• In the bottom bar when you're fullscreen.
• On the Audio only card.

1. Tap the picture so the controls appear.
2. Tap Volume up or Volume down to step your computer's volume, or Mute to silence it.

When the computer screen doesn't show upNeeds the computer app

Every blank or stuck panel has a message in it — here's what each one means and what to do.

"Showing your computer screen…"
The connection is fine and the phone is waiting for the first picture. If it never arrives, check that the Remotype Host app is still running on the computer.

"Update Remotype Host on your computer for TV mode."
The companion app on your computer is an older version. Get the current one from remotype.custavia.com and reopen it.

"Your Mac needs Screen Recording permission for Remotype Host…" (Android words it "Your computer needs Screen Recording permission…")

1. On the Mac, open the Remotype Host app and click Grant Screen Recording…, or go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording and switch on Remotype Host.
2. Quit and reopen Remotype Host — macOS only applies the change on a relaunch.

You can also do this from the phone: if an orange warning triangle appears at the top of the deck, tap it to open Computer permissions, then tap Fix next to Screen Recording — that opens the right settings pane on the computer for you.

"TV mode needs macOS 12.3 or newer on the computer."
The Mac's system is too old for the screen-capture feature Remotype uses. Everything else still works.

"Can't capture the screen right now — the computer's display may be asleep."
Wake the computer's display (move its mouse or press a key on it). The picture starts again by itself.

Using your phone as a TV remote (no computer needed)

Remotype has a separate D-pad remote for your television — it doesn't involve your computer at all, and it's a different feature from putting your computer's screen on your phone.

Open it from the app's first screen, before you connect to any computer:

1. On the first screen (the list of computers), scroll to the bottom.
2. Tap Use as a TV remote — the row says "Android TV and Google TV — no computer needed".
3. The remote opens fullscreen. Tap Done (Android) or the back chevron (iPhone) to leave it.

On Android there's a second way in: while you're connected, the mode strip has a TV chip — tap it to get the remote inside the deck.

There are two ways the remote can reach a television:

• Over Wi‑Fi — works on iPhone and Android, but only with Google TV / Android TV devices (a Chromecast with Google TV, a Google TV or Android TV set, an NVIDIA Shield, and so on).
• Over Bluetooth — Android only. Your phone pretends to be a Bluetooth keyboard, so it can drive almost any TV, game console or tablet that accepts one, with nothing installed on the other device.

The TV remote is a premium feature: it's open during the 14-day trial, then covered by your free 30 minutes each month or by Remotype Pro.

Pairing the remote with a Google TV or Android TV over Wi‑Fi

Pairing takes about a minute: pick your TV from a list, then type the six-character code it shows on screen.

1. Make sure the TV is switched on and on the same Wi‑Fi as your phone.
2. Open the remote (first screen → Use as a TV remote).
3. Open the TV list:
   • iPhone: the very first time it opens by itself. Otherwise tap Connect a TV at the top right (it says TVs once you're connected).
   • Android: tap the TV-shaped button labelled Connect a TV in the top row of the remote.
4. Under ON THIS NETWORK, tap your TV's name.
5. Your TV puts a six-character code on screen. Type it into the 6-character code box. It sends itself as soon as you've entered six characters.
6. The sheet confirms that the D-pad, Back, Home, Search and volume now drive this TV over Wi-Fi (on iPhone it lists Power too). Tap Done.

Next time, the TV is listed under PAIRED — tap it to reconnect. To end the link deliberately, open the sheet and tap Disconnect.

If your network hides devices from each other, tap Connect by IP… and type the TV's IP address instead.

The Bluetooth TV and console remote (Android only)Android only

On Android your phone can pretend to be a real Bluetooth keyboard, so it can drive TVs, game consoles and tablets with nothing installed on them.

1. When Remotype asks for permission to find and connect to nearby devices, allow it. Bluetooth won't work without it.
2. Open the remote (first screen → Use as a TV remote).
3. Tap Connect a TV, then tap Pair over Bluetooth instead at the bottom of the sheet.
4. A short guide appears, titled "Use your phone as a TV remote". Follow it on the TV:
   1. On your TV, open Settings → Remotes & Accessories
   2. Choose "Pair remote or accessory"
   3. Pick "Remotype" from the list
5. Tap Got it. Once the TV has paired with the phone, the D-pad, Back, Home, Search and volume all drive it over Bluetooth.

The same trick works on a games console or a tablet: they simply see a Bluetooth keyboard, so the D-pad arrows move the highlight and ok selects.

What each button on the TV remote does

The remote is one screen: a search row on top, the big D-pad in the middle, then Back/Home and the playback row.

Top row

• The text field — type here and the letters go to the TV. On iPhone it reads "Type to search your TV…"; on Android it's the swipe field, so you can glide-type into it.
• Search (magnifier) — opens the TV's search.
• Connect a TV (Android, TV icon) — opens the pairing sheet. On iPhone this button is at the top right of the header.

The D-pad

• Up, Down, Left, Right move the highlight.
• ok in the middle selects.

Middle row

• back — goes back one step.
• Home — jumps to the TV's home screen.
• power — switches the TV on or off. It only works over Wi‑Fi; on Android the button appears once a TV is connected that way, because Bluetooth can't power a TV on.

Bottom row

• Play or pause
• Mute
• Volume down
• Volume up

When the TV remote won't connect

The pairing sheet tells you exactly what went wrong — here's what each message means.

"Searching for TVs… make sure your TV is on and on the same Wi-Fi."
Nothing has been found yet. Wake the TV, check both devices are on the same Wi‑Fi (not a guest network), and give it a few seconds. If your network blocks device discovery, tap Connect by IP… and enter the TV's address.

"That code didn't match. Try again."
Retype the six characters shown on the TV.

The TV never answers / times out
The sheet says the TV never answered. Wake it, check both devices are on the same Wi‑Fi, and try again — and if the TV asks to allow a new remote, say yes.

"…refused the pairing." (iPhone wording; Android just says it couldn't connect)
There may be a stale pairing on the TV. On the TV, go to Settings › Remotes & Accessories, remove Remotype, then pair again from the phone.

The connection drops
The message says the TV closed the connection — usually it went to sleep or changed network. Tap the TV again under PAIRED to reconnect.

The power tools at a glance

Macros, Secrets, Dictate, the clipboard bridge and computer vitals are the five "power tools" — here is what each one is and what it needs before it will work.

Five features in Remotype go beyond plain typing and pointing. They live in two places: three of them are modes you pick from the mode rail (the row of chips just above the keyboard), and the other two are elsewhere — the clipboard is an icon in the header row, and computer vitals live with the computer itself, in the strip of computer chips at the top of the screen.

• Macros (a mode) — a grid of tiles. One tap fires a keyboard shortcut, types a block of text, runs a chain of shortcuts, or types a stored password.
• Secrets (a mode) — a small password vault on your phone. Tap a name, unlock with Face ID / Touch ID / your fingerprint, and the password is typed onto the computer as keystrokes.
• Dictate (a mode) — speak, and the computer types what you said.
• Clipboard (a header tool) — move text and files between your phone and your computers, including copying on one computer and pasting on another.
• Computer vitals — a live readout of the computer's CPU, memory, volume and what it is playing.

What needs what. Macros, Secrets and Dictate only need a connection — they work over Wi-Fi with Remotype Host, and on Android they also work over the Bluetooth keyboard connection, because everything they do is just keystrokes. The clipboard bridge and computer vitals are different: they need Remotype Host running on your computer over Wi-Fi, and a reasonably recent version of it.

Free vs paid. Keyboard, Trackpad and Both are free forever. Everything on this page — Macros, Secrets, Dictate, clipboard sync and computer vitals — is premium. New installs get a 14-day full trial; after that you get 30 minutes of premium use per month, or you can buy. Tapping a locked mode or tool opens the purchase screen instead of doing nothing.

Opening Macros and adding your first tile

Macros is a grid of one-tap tiles; here is how to open it and create your first one.

Connect your phone to the computer first, then:

1. On the row of mode chips, tap Macros.
2. The first time, you will see a short card explaining what tiles do, and nothing else. Your personal grid is called My Macros and its name shows in the picker at the top left.
3. On iPhone, tap the wide Add tile button under the grid. On Android, tap the + tile marked add at the end of the grid.
4. iPhone: a sheet titled Add tile opens. Pick a Type at the top, fill in the Label, fill in the details for that type, then tap Save.
   Android: a dialog titled Add macro asks which kind you want first — tap one, then fill in the label and details and tap Save.
5. Back on the grid, tap the tile to run it.

The Label is what is printed on the tile. It can be up to 14 characters, so keep it short — "Bold", "Sig", "Screenshot" all work.

The kinds of macro tile

Each tile does one of four things (five on iPhone): fire a shortcut, type text, run a chain of shortcuts, open an app, or type a stored secret.

When you add or edit a tile you choose its type. The names below are exactly what the app calls them.

• Key combo — one keyboard shortcut. Turn on any of ctrl, alt, cmd (shown as win when your computer is set to Windows) and shift, then pick the key. Tapping the tile presses them together. Android describes it as "One shortcut, like Cmd+Shift+4."
• Text snippet (called Snippet on Android) — a block of text typed out exactly as written, line breaks and tabs included, up to 1024 characters. Good for an email signature, an address, a support reply.
• Key sequence (called Sequence on Android) — up to 16 shortcuts run one after another, top to bottom. Each step has its own modifiers and key, and you can reorder or remove steps while editing.
• Open app — iPhone only. Type the app's name on the computer exactly as it appears there, for example Safari or Visual Studio Code, and the tile launches it.
• Secure type-out — types one of your stored Secrets after Face ID / Touch ID / your fingerprint. See the Secrets sections below.

Editing, reordering and deleting tiles

Long-press any tile in My Macros to edit it, move it, or delete it — and change how big the tiles are.

1. Go to Macros and make sure the picker at the top says My Macros.
2. Press and hold the tile you want to change.
3. Choose from the menu: Edit, Move up, Move down, or Delete (shown as Delete… on Android).
4. Edit reopens the same form you used to create the tile. Change what you need and tap Save.
5. Delete asks you to confirm first. Confirm and the tile is gone.

Tile size. To fit more tiles on screen, open the … button beside the deck picker (its menu is called Macro options on Android). On iPhone pick Tile size → Large, Medium, Small or Tiny. On Android drag the Tile size slider. Your choice is remembered.

Macro sets: the built-in Excel pack, importing and exporting

Besides your own grid, Remotype ships a ready-made Excel shortcut pack, and you can import packs from a file or export your own.

The control at the top left of the Macros screen is a deck picker. It starts on My Macros; tapping it lists every installed set as well.

1. Tap the picker and choose Excel. The description reads "Most-used Microsoft Excel shortcuts."
2. The 22 shortcuts are grouped under headings — Editing, Navigation, Formatting, Data, Workbook.
3. Tap any item to run it on the computer. On iPhone, press and hold an item and choose Details to see its full name and what it does.
4. To turn a whole set into editable tiles of your own, tap Duplicate to My Macros at the bottom of the set.

Importing and exporting. Tap the … button beside the picker:

• Import set… — pick a Remotype macro set file (a .json file) from your phone's file picker. It installs and the picker jumps to it.
• Export My Macros… — saves your personal grid as a shareable set file.
• iPhone only: while an imported set is selected, the same menu offers Remove for that set. Built-in sets cannot be removed.

Secrets: storing a password on your phone

Secrets keeps passwords and codes encrypted on the phone and types them onto the computer for you — this is how to add one.

1. Tap the Secrets chip on the mode rail.
2. Tap Add secret.
3. In Name, type something you will recognise in the list — "Work login", "Router". The name is not secret; it is shown in plain text.
4. In Value, type the password itself. To check what you typed: on Android tap Show / Hide beside the field; on iPhone tap the eye button beside the field.
5. Tap Save.
6. Your phone asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your fingerprint — the prompt is titled Save <name>. Approve it and the secret is stored.

The value is encrypted in the phone's own secure storage. It never goes to iCloud or a device backup, it is never written to any log, and it never touches any clipboard.

Typing a stored password onto the computer

Tap the secret, approve the biometric prompt, and it is typed straight into whatever is focused on the computer.

1. On the computer, click into the password box you want filled.
2. On the phone, open Secrets. Each row shows the name and •••• tap to type.
3. Tap the row. Your phone prompts for Face ID, Touch ID or your fingerprint; the prompt is titled Type out <name>.
4. Approve it. The password is typed on the computer, and the row briefly reads typed. (iPhone flashes Typed. above the list).

To remove a secret, tap the trash button at the right of its row and confirm. iPhone warns that "The stored value can't be recovered." — deletion is permanent.

Putting a password on a macro tile

A "Secure type-out" macro tile is a one-tap shortcut to a secret you have already stored.

1. Add the password in Secrets first — the tile only points at it, it does not store a copy.
2. Switch to Macros, and add a tile (Add tile on iPhone, the + add tile on Android).
3. Choose the type Secure type-out. Android describes it as "A stored secret, behind your fingerprint."
4. Give the tile a Label, then pick which stored secret it should use.
5. Tap Save.

Tapping the tile behaves exactly like tapping the row in Secrets: biometric prompt, then the password is typed onto the computer. iPhone spells out the rule in the editor: "Unlocks with Face ID every time the tile is tapped, then types straight to the computer — never through a clipboard."

Dictate: speak, and the computer types

Dictate turns speech into keystrokes on the computer, with the recognition happening on your phone.

1. On the computer, click into the document or text box you want to fill.
2. On the phone, tap the Dictate chip on the mode rail.
3. The first time, your phone asks for microphone access (and on iPhone, speech recognition access). Allow both.
4. Tap the big microphone button. It fills with colour and gently pulses, and the line beneath changes from Tap the mic to dictate to Listening….
5. Speak normally. Words appear in the TRANSCRIPT box and are typed on the computer as you go.
6. Tap the microphone again to stop.

Nothing but the finished keystrokes leaves the phone. The empty transcript box says it plainly: "Tap the mic and speak. Speech stays on this phone — only keystrokes leave."

Fixing what dictation typed

The transcript box, the Clear button, the small row of edit keys and the built-in trackpad let you correct text without leaving Dictate.

Under the microphone sits a read-only TRANSCRIPT box, then a row of seven small keys, then a trackpad.

• Clear (top right of the transcript, only shown when there is something to clear) empties the box on the phone. It does not delete anything already typed on the computer.
• The seven edit keys act on the computer: left, up, down and right arrows, Backspace, Forward delete, and Delete word.
• The trackpad below works like the normal Trackpad mode — slide to move the pointer, tap to click, two fingers to scroll — so you can reposition the cursor and keep talking.

You can leave the microphone running while you correct things. Remotype notices that you moved the cursor and quietly re-syncs before your next words, so it does not retype what is already there.

Sending your phone's clipboard to the computerNeeds the computer app

Copy something on the phone, then push it onto the computer's clipboard in one tap.

1. Copy the text on your phone the usual way.
2. Make sure the phone is connected to your computer over Wi-Fi, with Remotype Host running there.
3. In the header, tap the Clipboard icon.
4. The clipboard panel opens. Tap Send phone clipboard to <your computer> at the bottom. Android confirms with "Sent to computer clipboard."; iPhone flashes "Sent."
5. On the computer, paste as normal.

Copying from the computer to your phoneNeeds the computer app

Pull whatever is on the computer's clipboard onto the phone.

On Android this is its own header icon:

1. Copy something on the computer.
2. In the header, tap Copy from computer (the second clipboard icon).
3. A line flashes "Copied from computer." and the text is now on your phone's clipboard — paste it into any app.

On iPhone the same idea lives inside the clipboard panel, but it works slightly differently — see the next section. Tapping Pull there stores the text in Remotype's own list rather than on the iPhone's system clipboard.

Copy on one computer, paste on anotherNeeds the computer app

The clipboard panel holds text you have pulled from one computer so you can paste it onto a different one.

This is the phone acting as a courier between machines. Both computers need Remotype Host, and the phone needs to be able to reach each of them.

1. Connect to the first computer and copy something there.
2. On the phone, tap the Clipboard icon in the header. The panel opens with a heading ON <COMPUTER> NOW showing a preview of that computer's clipboard.
3. Tap Pull. The line "Pulled into the app clipboard." appears and the item joins the list under APP CLIPBOARD.
4. Switch the phone to the other computer.
5. Open the panel again and tap the paste button on the item you want — or tap Paste latest at the top right for the most recent one.
6. The line reads "Pasted to <computer>." The text is placed on that computer's clipboard and pasted into whatever is focused there.

To throw an item away, tap the trash button on its row. Tap Close at the bottom left to dismiss the panel.

Moving a file between two computersNeeds the computer app

Copy a file in Finder or File Explorer on one computer, carry it on the phone, and paste it on another.

1. On the first computer, copy the file itself in Finder (Mac) or File Explorer (Windows) — the file, not its contents.
2. On the phone, open the Clipboard panel and tap Pull copied file from <computer>.
3. You will see "Asking <computer> for the copied file…", then a running "Receiving… nn KB", and finally the file's name and size. It appears in the APP CLIPBOARD list with a 📄 marker.
4. Switch the phone to the other computer.
5. Open the panel and tap the paste button on that file's row.
6. The file is saved on the second computer in its Downloads → Remotype folder, and it is also placed on that computer's clipboard — so ⌘V in Finder, or Ctrl+V in File Explorer, pastes it wherever you like. The panel confirms: "Saved on <computer> — it's on its clipboard too."

Follow-me clipboardNeeds the computer app

An optional setting that carries the clipboard with you automatically when you switch computers.

1. Tap the gear in the header.
2. Open Multi-computer.
3. Turn on Follow-me clipboard.

The description in the app says it exactly: "When you switch computers, carry the clipboard with you — copy on one, switch, and paste on the other." With it on, whatever was on the first computer's clipboard is placed on the second computer's clipboard the moment you switch, with no taps in the panel at all.

Clipboard over Bluetooth (no computer app)Android only

When your Android phone is acting as a plain Bluetooth keyboard, Remotype can still get your clipboard across — by typing it out.

On a Bluetooth connection there is no companion app on the other side, so there is no clipboard to sync with. Remotype falls back to typing the text as keystrokes.

1. Copy the text on your phone.
2. On the computer, TV or console, click into the text box you want it in.
3. In the Remotype header, tap the clipboard icon — over Bluetooth it is labelled Type out clipboard.
4. A dialog titled Type out clipboard? shows a preview and a summary — how many characters, how many line breaks, and how many characters had to be dropped.
5. Tap Type it out, or Cancel to back out.
6. While it types, the same header button turns into a Stop button. Tap it to stop part-way.

Computer vitals: CPU, memory, volume and now playingNeeds the computer app

A live readout of how hard the computer you are controlling is working, refreshed every second and a half.

On both phones, vitals can sit permanently above the deck:

1. Tap the gear in the header.
2. Open Host and turn on PC vitals.
3. Go back, open Dock, and turn Mode dock (beta) off. The strip is only drawn when the dock is off, and the dock is on by default — this step is what makes it appear.
4. A slim strip now shows CPU, RAM and VOL, plus what is playing.

The fuller view lives with the computer itself:

1. Find the computer's chip in the strip at the top of the screen.
2. Press and hold it — or, on the computer you are currently controlling, tap it and choose About this computer.
3. The panel shows whether it is Controlling now or on standby, when you connected, and bars for CPU, Memory and Volume, with a NOW PLAYING line when there is one.
4. Tap Close when you are done. The red button in the same panel drops that computer — it reads Disconnect for the computer you are controlling, and on iPhone Remove from pool for one on standby.

Walk-away lock: lock your Mac when you leaveiPhone only

Your Mac locks itself shortly after your iPhone leaves the room, using Bluetooth.

Walk-away lock lives in the iPhone and iPad app only, and only works when the computer is a Mac running Remotype Host. Your phone quietly broadcasts over Bluetooth, your Mac measures how strong that signal is, and when the signal fades for long enough the Mac locks its screen.

To turn it on:

1. Open Remotype and connect to your Mac.
2. Open Settings. On the connect screen it is the gear in the top-right. If you are already connected, tap the coloured button at the top-right of the header (it shows the name of the mode you are in, with a small arrow), then tap Settings at the bottom of the panel that slides in from the right.
3. Under the heading YOUR COMPUTERS, tap Walk-away lock.
4. Turn on the Walk-away lock switch. If iPhone asks for permission to use Bluetooth, allow it.
5. Pick a Sensitivity: Near (you must stay within a metre or two), Medium (arm's length or desk distance, the default), or Far (anywhere in the same room is fine).
6. Pick a Delay: 15s, 30s (default) or 60s. This is how long your phone must stay out of range before the Mac actually locks, so a moment of bad signal does not lock you out mid-sentence.
7. Read the small line of text underneath. It tells you exactly what state the feature is in — see the next section.

To turn it off, come back to the same page and switch Walk-away lock off. The row on the Settings home page shows On or Off, so you can check without opening the page.

If you walk back before the delay is up, nothing happens. If your Mac did lock and you come back, Remotype re-arms itself automatically — it will not lock you a second time until you have genuinely returned and left again.

Walk-away lock: what the status line is telling youiPhone only

The small line of text under the Walk-away lock switch names exactly what is wrong, or that everything is fine.

With the switch on, Remotype shows one short line under the controls. These are the exact messages and what each one means:

• "Bluetooth permission is off. Allow Bluetooth to use walk-away lock." — You declined the Bluetooth prompt. Fix it in the iPhone's own Settings app, under Remotype.
• "Bluetooth is off. Turn it on to use walk-away lock." — Switch Bluetooth on in Control Centre or iPhone Settings.
• "Starting Bluetooth…" — The phone's radio is still waking up. Give it a second.
• "Connect to your Mac to arm walk-away lock." — The feature is switched on but the phone is not connected to the Mac right now. Nothing is being watched.
• "Arming walk-away lock…" — The phone has asked the Mac to start watching and is waiting for the Mac to confirm. If it never moves past this, see the Windows note in the previous section.
• "Armed. Watching for your phone to walk away." — Working, but the Mac has not locked onto your phone's signal yet.
• "Active. Your Mac is unlocked while your phone is near." — Everything is working and you are in range.
• "Your phone is moving away — locking soon." — The countdown you set as Delay has started. Come back and it cancels.
• "Your Mac was locked because your phone walked away." — It did its job.

The line only appears when the switch is on. If your Mac is running an older Host, the page shows "Update Remotype Host for walk-away lock." instead of any of these.

What Remotype sends, and where it goes

What you type, click, say or copy goes straight to your own computer or TV — never to us. Here's everything the app sends, and where.

• To your own computer or TV. Your typing, pointer, dictation, clipboard, passwords from Secrets, and your computer's screen and sound travel only between your phone and your own devices, over your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. They never pass through us. Over Wi-Fi, the connection is encrypted once your phone is paired.
• To us, once, when you start the free trial. Tapping Activate sends an anonymous code that identifies your phone, so the 14-day trial can't be restarted by reinstalling. We keep only a scrambled version of it with the date your trial began — no name, no email, no location.
• To RevenueCat, for purchases. When the app opens, it checks whether you've bought Premium. That involves an anonymous ID, your purchase history, and basic details like your phone's system version. Apple or Google take the actual payment — Remotype never sees your card.
• To our website, when the app opens. It fetches one small settings file, so we can tell you if an update is needed. Nothing about you is sent.

There's no account and no login, and no advertising or tracking of any kind. Remotype Host on your computer never connects to the internet at all.

What stays on your phone (and how to delete it)

Your saved passwords, settings and list of computers live only on your phone.

Remotype keeps a little information on the phone itself:

• Saved passwords (the Secrets feature), locked in the phone's own secure storage. Using one needs your face or fingerprint every time. They're typed straight into your computer — never copied to the clipboard, never saved in a log, never backed up to iCloud or Google.
• Your settings — pointer speed, theme, which modes you've hidden, and so on.
• Your computers and TVs, so the app can reconnect to them.
• Your monthly free Premium time, counted on the phone.

To remove it all, delete the Remotype app (on Android you can also go to Settings ▸ Apps ▸ Remotype ▸ Storage ▸ Clear data).

Two things to know on iPhone: the trial's anonymous ID is kept in the phone's secure storage on purpose, so it stays after the app is deleted — that's what stops the trial restarting. And the locked copy of a saved password can also stay there, even though the app can no longer find or use it. To be sure a password is gone, delete it inside Secrets before deleting the app.

Purchase records held by RevenueCat, Apple or Google are separate. To ask about those, or about your trial record, email support.remotype@custavia.com.

The permissions Remotype Host needs on your computerNeeds the computer app

Your computer grants Remotype permission to type and to see the screen, and you can revoke it any time.

Nothing Remotype does on your computer happens without the computer's own permission system agreeing to it. On a Mac there are two:

• Accessibility — "Lets Remotype type and move the pointer on this Mac." This one is required. Without it, keys and clicks do nothing at all.
• Screen Recording — "Needed for TV screen-mirror and computer audio." Only needed if you want to see your computer's screen on your phone, cast it to a TV, or hear your computer's sound on the phone. Ordinary typing and trackpad work fine without it.

When something is missing, an orange warning triangle appears in the top-left area of the app's header. To fix it:

1. Tap the orange warning triangle. A sheet called Computer permissions opens.
2. Each permission is listed with a short explanation and a Fix button.
3. Tap Fix. Remotype Host opens the exact System Settings pane on your computer.
4. Switch the permission on there, then come back to your phone. The warning clears by itself.
5. Tap Done.

When everything is granted, the sheet says "All set — every permission is granted."

Change the accent colour

Pick one of six accent colours; the whole app re-skins immediately.

1. Open Settings — the gear in the top-right of the connect screen, or Settings at the bottom of the panel that slides in from the right when you tap the coloured mode button in the header.
2. Under HOW IT FEELS, tap Appearance. The row already shows the colour you are using.
3. Tap one of the six circles next to Accent colour.

The choices are Cobalt (the default blue), Violet, Emerald, Amber, Rose and Teal. The selected circle gets a thicker ring around it, and the name appears at the end of the row.

The change is instant — there is no Save button, and no need to reconnect. The same six colours exist on iPhone and Android, so both of your devices can match.

Dark, Light or follow the system

iPhone lets you force Dark or Light in the app; Android follows whatever your phone is set to.

On iPhone and iPad:

1. Open Settings, then under HOW IT FEELS tap Appearance.
2. At the top you will see Theme with three buttons: Dark, Light and Auto.
3. Tap the one you want. Auto means "follow whatever my iPhone is set to". Remotype starts out on Dark.

On Android: there is no Theme control in the app — the Appearance page has the accent colours only. Remotype follows your phone's own light/dark setting instead, which you change in the Android Settings app (usually Display → Dark theme). On Android 12 and newer, Remotype also picks up the colours the system has drawn from your wallpaper, adjusting them where needed so text stays readable.

Turn key vibration and key clicks on or off

Two switches control whether the keys buzz and whether they click.

1. Open Settings.
2. Under HOW IT FEELS, tap Feel.
3. Haptic feedback — "Vibrate on each key." Switch it off for silent, still typing.
4. Key sound — "Click on key press." Switch it off to type without any noise.

Both are on when you install the app, and both take effect immediately.

Using Remotype with VoiceOver, TalkBack, bigger text or less motion

Remotype follows your phone's own accessibility settings — there is nothing extra to switch on inside the app.

Screen readers. Every key, mode and control is labelled for VoiceOver on iPhone and TalkBack on Android. Modifier keys announce whether they are held, latched on, or off, rather than just reading their name. The connection indicator is spoken as a single item — the computer's name together with its state — instead of one dot and one word.

Bigger text. Turn up Dynamic Type on iPhone (Settings → Display & Brightness → Text Size) or font size on Android, and Remotype's rows re-flow onto more lines instead of cutting words off. Every button is large enough to hit comfortably.

Less motion. Turn on Reduce Motion on iPhone, or Remove animations on Android, and Remotype changes behaviour: springy animations become instant, sliding panels cross-fade, pulsing indicators hold still, and the walkthrough's moving demonstrations freeze rather than loop. Remotype re-reads this setting live, so you do not have to restart the app after changing it.

Colour is never the only signal. The green, amber and red connection dots are always accompanied by words, so nothing depends on telling the colours apart.

Casting: what it actually doesNeeds the computer app

Casting puts your computer's screen on a TV, with your phone still driving the computer.

When you cast, your computer sends its screen — and, if you want, its sound — to the TV. Your phone is not in the middle of the picture; it stays what it always was, the keyboard, trackpad and remote for the computer. The app puts it plainly: "Your computer streams to the TV — your phone is the remote."

What you can cast to depends on what kind of computer you have:

• Mac: AirPlay TVs and Apple TVs, Chromecast and Google TV devices, and a plain web browser on any other screen.
• Windows PC: wireless displays (Miracast) — the same thing Windows calls Connect or Cast, and Samsung TVs call Smart View.
• Linux: casting is not available.

Two things casting is not: it does not put your phone's screen on the TV (your phone already does that on its own), and it does not turn the TV into a second monitor.

Starting a cast is a Premium feature. The keyboard and trackpad are free forever; casting is included in the 14-day trial, then in the 30 minutes a month the free tier gives you, or in a paid plan. Stopping or managing a cast that is already running is always available, even with no Premium — you can never be locked out of turning something off.

Cast your computer's screen to a TVNeeds the computer app

Pick your TV from a list and your computer's screen appears on it.

1. Connect your phone to your computer as usual.
2. Find the Cast control. If you are using the mode dock (the default), tap the coloured button at the top-right of the header to slide the dock out, then tap Cast under TOOLS. If you have turned the dock off, the Cast icon sits among the small icons in the header.
3. A sheet opens titled Your computer casts to these, with the reminder "Your computer streams to the TV — your phone is the remote."
4. Tap your TV in the list. Each row tells you how it is reachable — for example via your Mac · AirPlay, via your PC · Wireless display, or on this Wi-Fi · Chromecast.
5. Confirm when asked: "Cast this computer's screen to 'your TV' on this Wi-Fi network?" Tap Cast.
6. Watch the card that appears at the top of the app. It narrates each step — "Waking your TV…", "Connecting to your Mac…", then "Casting".

Next time is one tap. Once you have cast to a TV from a given computer, tapping the Cast icon starts that same TV again immediately, without the list. Long-press the Cast icon instead if you want to choose a different one.

If your TV asks for a code: Remotype shows Enter the code shown on your TV. Type the digits from the TV screen into the box.

If your computer needs one manual step: a sheet appears titled "Almost there — one quick step on your computer:" with numbered steps — on a Mac, open Control Centre, click Screen Mirroring, and pick your TV; on a PC, press Win+K and pick your TV. Do those and Remotype says "We'll take it from there."

To stop, tap Stop on the casting card.

Cast to a laptop, tablet or any screen with a browserMac computers only

Open a link on any other screen and your computer streams to it — no app, no setup, no Chromecast.

This option needs no TV and no cast device at all. Anything with a modern web browser will do: a second laptop, a tablet, a smart TV's own browser.

1. Open the Cast picker (the Cast control, as in the previous section).
2. Tap the first row, Cast to a browser / another screen — "open a link on any laptop or TV — no setup".
3. A card appears with the message "Open this on the screen you want to cast to — your computer streams there; your phone stays the remote."
4. Get the link onto the other screen in whichever way is easiest:
   • point that device's camera at the QR code;
   • or type the short web address shown under it — tap it on your phone first and it says Link copied;
   • or, where a short code is offered, use the or enter code line.
5. The card says "Waiting for a browser to open the link…" until the other screen connects, then changes to On 1 screen.

You can point more than one browser at the same link — the count goes up to "On 2 screens" and so on. Once it is running, the card shrinks to a small chip; tap it to bring the QR code back so you can add another screen. Tap the small chevron button at the top of the card to shrink it again, or Stop to end it.

While a cast is runningNeeds the computer app

The casting card is your control panel — volume, which display, and Stop.

While a cast is live, a card sits at the top of the app reading Casting to your TV, with a live status line underneath it. On it you get:

• TV volume — two round buttons, labelled TV volume (via your computer). These change the TV's volume, not your phone's.
• A display chooser — if your computer has more than one monitor, a small button shows the name of the display being cast. Tap it to pick a different one.
• Stop — ends the cast. The TV goes back to whatever it was showing, and you can start again straight away.
• A live status line — once running it reads "Casting" plus the current delay in milliseconds, and it will say "reduced quality" if Remotype had to dial the picture back to keep up.

Meanwhile the rest of the app carries on working normally. Keyboard, trackpad, media keys and everything else keep driving the computer while it is on the big screen — that is the point of the feature.

Casting settings: quality, sound and warningsNeeds the computer app

Three settings that change how casting behaves, all on one page.

1. Open Settings.
2. Under YOUR COMPUTERS, tap Casting. (The row shows the name of the TV you are casting to, or Off.)

On that page:

• Cast quality — three choices: Auto, Low-latency and High-quality. The page explains them: "Auto adapts to your network; Low-latency keeps motion smooth; High-quality keeps the picture sharp." Choose Low-latency if you are demonstrating something live and the delay is annoying; choose High-quality for slides and text. Changing it takes effect during a cast that is already running.
• Include computer audio when casting — on by default. "Off = video only."
• Warn before remote or cellular casting — on by default. "A heads-up before casting over a metered or far-away link." Leave it on if you pay for mobile data.

Below those, the NEARBY TVS section lists every screen your phone or your computer can currently see, with a small spinner showing that it is scanning. Each row says how it was found: on this Wi-Fi, via your computer, or not seen — checking… for one that has just disappeared.

Why can't I see my TV?Needs the computer app

Nearly every missing TV comes down to one of five things, and the app lists them for you.

Remotype has this list built in. Open Settings → Casting and tap Why can't I see my TV? to expand it. The five causes, in the app's own words:

• Your phone, your computer and the TV all need to be on the same Wi-Fi network.
• Guest and hotel Wi-Fi often keep devices from seeing each other (network isolation).
• For AirPlay TVs it's your computer that must be on the TV's network — the phone just points.
• Wireless display (Miracast) needs Wi-Fi turned on on the PC, even for a wired desktop.
• Some TVs ship with AirPlay switched off — on the TV, check Settings → Apple AirPlay settings → AirPlay: On.

Beyond that list, work through these in order:

1. Is the TV actually on and on its home screen? A TV showing an HDMI input often will not advertise itself.
2. Is Remotype Host running on your computer? If the phone shows "Your computer didn't respond", check that first, then try again.
3. Stay on the Casting page for ten or twenty seconds. Your computer's own search for TVs is slower than your phone's, and a row may say "finding on the network…" for a while before it settles.
4. Check for a VPN. A VPN running on your computer can stop it seeing anything on your local network.
5. Try 5 GHz. If casting starts but stutters, moving the computer or the TV onto the 5 GHz band usually fixes it.