Why Remotype stays connected

The mode with no network in it

On Android, Remotype is a real Bluetooth HID keyboard. Your computer, TV or console sees an ordinary Bluetooth keyboard and mouse — the same class of device as the one on your desk.

That matters for reliability more than any amount of tuning, because of what is absent: no Wi-Fi network, no router, no IP address, no mDNS discovery, no host process on the computer, no pairing server, no account. There is no connection to drop, because nothing is connected over a network. If your Bluetooth keyboard stays paired, so does this.

It is also why there is nothing to install on the other end. The trade-off is real and we will not hide it: Bluetooth mode carries keyboard and pointer only. Screen mirroring, audio and casting need the Wi-Fi mode below. And iPhones cannot do this at all — Apple does not let an iPhone act as a Bluetooth keyboard, so iPhone is Wi-Fi only.

When it does use Wi-Fi

The Wi-Fi mode pairs your phone with the free Remotype Host on a Mac or Windows PC, over your own local network — never through a server of ours. That is a real network path, so it can fail, and most of our engineering time has gone into the ways it does.

The log below is not a changelog of features. It is the list of connection defects we have hunted down, each with the actual cause.

The log

Peer-to-peer Wi-Fi could wedge the radio — macOS Host 1.0.7, 6 Sep 2026
Apple’s networking has an includePeerToPeer option that lets a listener ride the Wi-Fi radio’s peer-to-peer link (AWDL). Switching networks while it was on could leave Wi-Fi in a stuck state on the host machine. It is now off everywhere, and the host watches for network changes and rebinds itself instead.

Blank menu-bar window after hours idle — macOS Host 1.0.7, 6 Sep 2026
macOS App Nap throttles background processes. Left alone long enough, the host was suspended hard enough that its menu-bar panel opened empty. It now holds an explicit activity assertion for as long as it is serving.

Discoverable, but every connection timed out — Windows Host 1.0.6, 5 Sep 2026
When you join a new Wi-Fi network, Windows classifies it as Public and firewalls it harder. The host’s rules only covered Private networks, so it advertised itself correctly and then refused every connection — the most confusing failure mode possible. Its firewall rules now apply to all profiles.

No way in when discovery fails — current hosts
Automatic discovery uses mDNS, which some routers, guest networks and access points block outright. The host now also listens on a fixed port, 50808, falling back to an ephemeral one only if that port is taken, so you can always reach it by typing its IP address — including over Tailscale or a VPN from another network.

A stranger’s connection could end yours — current macOS host
An incoming connection used to be able to displace an open session before proving who it was, so a stray unauthenticated socket on the network could knock your phone off. New connections now sit on probation with their own buffer and cannot take the slot until they have authenticated.

The mirrored picture froze mid-session — current hosts
If screen capture stopped, the last frame simply stayed on screen and looked like a working connection. The host now treats cursor movement in the live state stream — never silence — as the signal that capture is alive, and restarts it when that stops.

Blank screen when the display had gone to sleep — current macOS host
With the Mac’s display asleep, the system reports zero displays available and capture starts against nothing. The host detects that case and retries instead of handing you a black rectangle.

A burst of input lagged everything behind it — current apps
Pointer movement, scrolling and presenter overlay generate a continuous stream. Sent as fast as they are produced, a brief slowdown backlogs the queue and every keystroke after it arrives late. These streams are now gated and coalesced: at most one in flight, intermediate positions dropped rather than queued.

Permission granted, nothing typed — current macOS host
macOS ties the Accessibility permission to an app’s code signature. After an update, the toggle could still read ON in System Settings while the grant behind it was stale and every keystroke was silently discarded. The host now recognises a changed signature and clears the dead grant so the switch means what it says.

What still goes wrong

An honest list is more useful than a perfect one.

• Networks that block mDNS. Guest Wi-Fi, client isolation and some mesh setups stop automatic discovery. The fix is Connect by IP, which works, but you have to know it exists — so the app now offers it as soon as a scan comes up empty.
• Networks that block everything. If an access point isolates clients from each other, nothing on your phone can reach your computer and no app can fix that. Bluetooth mode is unaffected by it.
• Same network required. Wi-Fi mode needs both devices on one network, unless you connect over Tailscale or a VPN.
• Bluetooth mode is keyboard and pointer only. Screen mirroring, audio and casting need the Wi-Fi host.
• iPhone cannot use Bluetooth mode. Apple’s restriction, not ours.

If Remotype drops a connection on you, we want the details — router model, network type, which mode: support.remotype@custavia.com. Fixes from those mails are what this page is made of.