Pane
for Pane on iPhone and iPad

Pane RelayYour Mac, from anywhere.

A small app that lives in your Mac’s menu bar. Pair once by scanning a code, then Pane reaches the Mac from any network: cellular, hotel Wi-Fi, the office. No Tailscale, no VPN, no router settings.

Download for Mac $19 a year · 14-day free trial
QR · 10 seconds

Pair witha scan.

Pane Relay shows a code in the menu bar. Point the iPhone camera at it and Pane opens, saves the Mac and pairs it. Every iPhone and iPad you own, no accounts.

cellular · hotel Wi-Fi · CGNAT

Works whereVPNs are a hassle.

Both sides dial out, so it works behind any router, carrier-grade NAT included. Pane still tries the Mac directly first and uses the relay only when nothing answers.

no account · nothing stored

Privateby design.

The relay forwards bytes between your device and your Mac and keeps none of them. It knows a Mac by a random id, not by you. Your Mac login stays in the Keychain, as always.

launch at login

Set up once,forget it.

Pane Relay starts with your Mac, reconnects on its own and tells you when Screen Sharing is off. The menu bar shows what is paired and whether a session is live.

How it works

  1. Install Pane Relay on the Mac and open it. It registers itself with the relay and shows a pairing code in the menu bar. Make sure Screen Sharing is on (System Settings › General › Sharing); the app says so when it is not.
  2. Scan the code with the iPhone or iPad camera. Pane opens, saves the Mac if it is new and pairs it. For a second device, scan again. You can also copy the code and paste it under Relay on the Mac’s Edit screen in Pane.
  3. Connect as usual. At home Pane talks to the Mac directly. Anywhere else, when the home address does not answer, it goes through the relay. Same sign-in, same session, same keyboard shortcuts.

Pricing

$19 a year per Mac, with unlimited iPhones and iPads. Every new Mac starts with a 14-day free trial, no card needed. After that, buy a license key, paste it into Pane Relay and you are done. Charged in US dollars; the receipt and invoice come from Polar, our merchant of record, and your subscription, card and invoices live in Polar’s customer portal.

Buy Pane Relay Manage subscription

The iPhone and iPad app stays free. Tailscale, VPNs and public addresses keep working in Pane without Pane Relay.

Requirements

Questions

Is the connection encrypted?

Both legs run over TLS to the relay, so nobody on the Wi-Fi can read anything. Inside the relay the stream passes through as it would on your own network, where your Mac login is encrypted by Screen Sharing and the screen itself is not. End-to-end encryption between the device and the Mac, which would keep even the relay blind, is in the works.

What does the relay see?

IP addresses, timestamps and the amount of data, for as long as a session lasts. No screen content, keystrokes or passwords are stored, and there is no account that ties a Mac to a person. Details in the privacy policy.

Can I unpair a device?

Yes: in Pane Relay’s menu next to the device, or in Pane under Edit › Relay › Unpair. Pairing codes can be regenerated from the Mac at any time.

Do I need it at home?

No. On your own Wi-Fi Pane connects directly, relay or not. Pane Relay is for everywhere else.