A Mac on your desk is not always ready to use. It may be locked, it may be asleep, or it may be back at the login window after a log out or a restart. With Pro, you can get it going from the Mac you are at, without reaching for its keyboard. Both live in Settings → Lock & Login.
| The other Mac is… | What to do |
|---|---|
| Locked | Move the cursor onto it and type its password. See Lock screen |
| Asleep | Wake it, then type on its lock screen |
| At the login window (logged out or restarted) | Turn on Log in from another Mac on it once. See Login window |
| Shut down | Out of reach. Press its power button |
Lock screen
Unlock from another Mac is on whenever this Mac has Pro, for every paired Mac. Move the cursor onto the locked Mac and type: keys, pointer and clicks reach its lock screen, so you can type the password there from the Mac you are at. Nothing to set up.
The password travels encrypted like every other key you press. Continuo does not keep it or log it.
From sleep to the lock screen
A sleeping Mac has to wake before it can take input. With Wake paired Macs from sleep on (Pro, Settings → Wake & Sleep), tap the bolt beside it in the menu bar panel, or let Continuo wake it when you come back to your desk. Once it reconnects, cross over: if it wakes to its lock screen, type the password there. The Mac being woken needs Wake for network access turned on in System Settings. See Wake a sleeping Mac.
Lock every Mac when you lock one
With Pro, locking the Mac in front of you can lock your other Macs too, so walking away never leaves one of them open. Turn on Lock the other Macs when this one locks under Settings → Wake & Sleep → Lock Sync. It is off by default.
When you lock this Mac yourself, with Control-Command-Q, Lock Screen in the Apple menu, a hot corner, or Touch ID, every connected paired Mac that allows it locks its screen. Putting this Mac to sleep yourself, with Sleep in the Apple menu or by closing the lid while you are using it, counts as locking it, so the others lock too. A Mac allows it when Let my other Macs lock this one is on there, right under the first switch. That one is off by default too.
Only a lock you make counts:
- A screen saver or display sleep that locks this Mac after it sits idle does not lock the others. If you have been working at another Mac with its own keyboard while this one idled, that Mac is never locked under you.
- A Mac that falls asleep on its own after sitting idle does not lock the others either. Only a sleep you choose, moments after using the Mac, counts.
- The Mac you are sitting at is never locked by the one you are driving. If you are at one Mac, controlling another, and you lock or sleep the one you are controlling, the Mac in front of you stays unlocked and awake.
- Nothing is ever unlocked remotely. To get back into a locked Mac, type its password on it, or type on its lock screen from the Mac you are at.
To put the other Macs to sleep as well, not just lock them, see Sleep Sync.
Each Mac decides for itself whether the others may lock it. Let my other Macs lock this one is never copied between Macs: turning it on here changes nothing on your other Macs, and a Mac locks with the others only when it has Pro and this switch is on there. If a Mac’s pane reads This Mac can’t be locked remotely, its macOS does not offer the way Continuo locks a screen: it can still lock the others, but it will not lock with them.
Login window
With Pro on the Mac being logged in to, you can log in to it at the macOS login window, after a log out or a restart, from the Mac you are at.
On the Mac you want to log in to, turn on Log in from another Mac under Settings → Lock & Login → Login Screen. It is off by default: it installs a small helper, Continuo Pre-Login, and needs two approvals, which the pane walks you through:
- Background service: approve Continuo in Login Items & Extensions.
- Accessibility: allow Continuo Pre-Login, so it may move the pointer and type at the login window.
The pane shows Ready once everything is in place. Under Allowed Macs, every paired Mac may log in unless you turn it off; a Mac you pair later is allowed too, and unpairing a Mac takes it off the list.
At the login window you get keys, pointer and clicks. Right-click and scrolling do not work there. Moving this Mac’s own mouse or trackpad takes control back at once.
| The Mac you want to log in to | Works? |
|---|---|
| Logged out | Yes |
| Restarted, FileVault off | Yes |
| Restarted with Restart for Remote Login, FileVault on | Yes |
| Restarted from the Apple menu while you control it from another Mac, FileVault on | Yes, if you enter the password when Continuo asks |
| Restarted with nobody controlling it, FileVault on | No: it stops at the FileVault screen |
| Asleep | Wake it and type on its lock screen |
| Shut down | No |
| Powered on after a shut down, FileVault off | Yes, once someone presses the power button |
| Powered on after a shut down, FileVault on | No: it stops at the FileVault screen |
FileVault and restarts
After a restart, a Mac with FileVault on normally stops at the FileVault unlock screen, where only macOS runs. Restart for Remote Login…, in the menu bar panel, asks for the account password and restarts so that FileVault unlocks itself once, the way a macOS update does. Settings → Lock & Login has the same thing as a Restart for Remote Login row with a Restart… button; that row appears only when FileVault is on.
If you restart from the Apple menu while another Mac is controlling this one, Continuo asks the same question first: enter the password, leave it empty to restart without it, or Cancel. A Mac nobody is controlling is not asked: whoever is at it types the FileVault password after the restart.
The password is used once by macOS and never stored or logged.
A shut-down Mac is out of reach
Nothing runs on a Mac that is off, and Wake-on-LAN wakes a sleeping Mac, not one that is off. If a Mac should stay reachable, let it sleep rather than shut down.
How long it takes
The login window is usable from the other Mac about 15 to 30 seconds after a restart begins, most of it the Mac starting up and joining Wi-Fi. Ethernet is a few seconds faster.
When Pro ends
The helper refuses other Macs once this Mac no longer has Pro. Settings → Lock & Login then offers Turn Off, which removes it.