How it works
Install, pair once, then it is a tap.
Four steps, one of which you only ever do once. The design goal was that the interesting engineering (region selection, key agreement, encoder tuning) is invisible, and the only thing you have to think about is which machine you want.
- 01
Install the agent on the machine
The agent is a small background service on the Windows PC, Mac or Linux box you want to reach. It asks for the permissions it genuinely needs (screen capture and input injection) and nothing else. On macOS that means granting Screen Recording and Accessibility once, in System Settings.
- 02
Pair once, with the code on its screen
The machine shows a QR code. You scan it with the phone or tablet that will control it, or type the pairing code. That exchange is what binds the two device identities together, and you do it once per machine. There is no permanent ID number and no standing password, so a stranger who knows your machine exists has nothing to use. The one way to pair without being at the machine is a share code you create and hand over yourself, which must be claimed within 30 minutes, and the device it pairs stays paired until you remove it or press Cancel access.
- 03
Connect from anywhere
After pairing it is a tap. The app finds the machine through the relay, the two ends authenticate each other and agree a session key the relay never sees, and the screen arrives. The status pill shows the live round-trip time for the connection you actually have.
- 04
Rest it when you are done
Rest switches the remote display off and releases the capture pipeline while keeping the machine reachable. It is the state a sleeping computer cannot offer you, because a machine that has gone to sleep is a machine you cannot wake from a beach.
Under the hood
Choosing a relay
TETHERÆ runs relay nodes in Europe and North America. When you sign in, the service hands your device the node to use, and it can hand a session to a different one while that session is running. Your app does not have to be updated for that to change, because the address is never frozen into the build. Latency is the entire experience of controlling a computer remotely: a connection 40 ms away feels like a computer, one 200 ms away feels like a video call with a machine.
What the relay is for
Most machines worth reaching sit behind a router that will not accept incoming connections. The relay exists so neither end has to open a port, forward anything, or expose a machine to the internet. It introduces the two ends and then forwards ciphertext between them.
Latency, and how the app reports it
The status pill colours the live round-trip figure rather than smoothing it into a rating, using bands that match how the connection actually feels:
- Under 40 ms: indistinguishable from sitting at the machine.
- 40 to 100 ms: comfortable for everything except fast games.
- Over 100 ms: usable, and you will feel the pointer trailing.
When the network is poor
The encoder adapts rather than stalling: quality drops before the frame rate does, because a slightly soft screen that keeps moving is far easier to work with than a sharp one that freezes.
- Ports to open
- None. The agent makes an outbound connection.
- Relay regions
- Europe and North America, assigned by the service
- Pairing
- The code shown at the machine, or a share code you hand out
- Session key
- Agreed end to end; the relay never holds it
- Usage metering
- 1 token = 1 MB of screen streamed to a device
Your machines. 100% access.
Free while TETHERÆ is in beta. No card, no time limit, no strangers.