Support

Most problems have a quick fix below. If yours doesn’t, email support@getsill.app. Say which Mac and which iPhone or iPad you use, their system versions, and what happened.

You can also report a problem on GitHub.

Need Sill for Mac? Download it here.

Sill can’t see your windows

The Sill menu on your Mac says Screen Recording Is Off, or your iPhone or iPad connects but shows no windows.

1. On your Mac, open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording. On macOS 14, it’s called Screen Recording.
2. Turn on Sill.
3. Quit Sill and open it again. macOS offers to do this for you.

In Sill’s settings, Permissions has buttons that open these pages for you.

Taps and typing don’t reach your Mac

Sill needs Accessibility to click, scroll and type for you. On your Mac, open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility and turn on Sill. It works right away.

Your Mac isn’t listed

• Check that Sill is running on your Mac. Its icon is in the menu bar.
• Put your Mac and your iPhone or iPad on the same Wi-Fi network. Guest networks, and many office and hotel networks, keep devices apart. There, use a USB cable or Direct Wireless Connection.
• Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac with a USB cable. Your Mac then shows as Wired.
• Check that Local Network is on for Sill on both, as below.

Local Network is off

If Sill on your iPhone or iPad asks you to allow Local Network, open Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network and turn on Sill.

On a Mac with macOS 15 or later, also open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network and turn on Sill.

Pairing your iPhone or iPad

Each iPhone or iPad pairs with your Mac once. After that, only the devices you paired can connect, and every connection is encrypted.

1. On your iPhone or iPad, tap your Mac. Its row says Not paired.
2. Your Mac opens a window with a code. Point your iPhone or iPad at it, or tap Enter Code Instead and type the 12 digits.

Over a USB cable, your Mac shows as Wired. Tap it, and the device pairs by itself, with no code, while your Mac is unlocked.

If it doesn’t work:

• Your Mac didn’t show a code. Choose Pair iPhone or iPad… in the Sill menu on your Mac, then tap your Mac again. After you click Cancel in that window, or after five wrong codes, your Mac waits 10 minutes before it opens the window for that device by itself again.
• Your iPhone or iPad asks you to unlock your Mac. Your Mac pairs a device only while it’s unlocked.
• Your iPhone or iPad says Update Sill beside your Mac. Your Mac has Sill for Mac 0.3.1 or earlier, from before pairing at home. Update it: download the newest version, or choose the item in the Sill menu that says a newer version is available.
• The Sill menu on your Mac says An iPhone or iPad Needs Sill Updated. An iPhone or iPad with an older Sill tried to connect. Update Sill on it.
• Your iPhone or iPad says your Mac removed it. It was removed in Sill’s Settings › Devices on your Mac. Tap your Mac to pair it again.

Sill’s Settings › Devices on your Mac lists the devices you paired. Remove one you no longer use, or have lost. Leave Require pairing on: with it off, any device on your network, and any app on your Mac, can see and control your Mac without pairing.

Direct Wireless Connection

Direct Wireless Connection lets an iPhone or iPad near your Mac connect without a shared Wi-Fi network, the way AirDrop does.

• Turn it on in the Sill menu on your Mac, or in Sill’s settings under General.
• If nothing is listed on your iPhone or iPad, tap Search Nearby. Your Mac then shows as Direct. An iPhone or iPad you already paired lists your Mac as Remote instead, with no Search Nearby: it looks for your Mac nearby by itself only if Direct Wireless Connection was on the last time the two connected on the same network or over a USB cable (a connection through a VPN doesn’t count). If it wasn’t, connect them once over a USB cable while it’s on, then unplug.
• Leave it off when your devices share a network. While it’s on, the Wi-Fi on your Mac keeps stepping away from its network, and streams over Wi-Fi can stutter.
• While it’s on, anyone nearby with Sill can find your Mac. Only devices you paired can connect, unless you turn off Require pairing.

Remote Access

Remote Access lets you use your Mac away from home, through your own VPN, such as Tailscale, or through a port you forward on your router. Only devices you paired can connect this way, and the connection is encrypted. Away from home, Sill starts at a lower quality that a slower connection can carry, and your iPhone or iPad tells you when the connection can’t keep up. When you get home, the session moves to your network by itself.

1. On your Mac, choose Remote Access… in the Sill menu and turn on Remote Access. For a port you forward on your router instead of a VPN, also turn on Allow connections from the internet there, and forward the port it names.
2. Pair each iPhone or iPad once, at home (above), and connect it to your Mac at home once while Remote Access is on: that is how it learns where to find your Mac from other networks. A device that has never connected at home: on your Mac, choose Pair iPhone or iPad… in the Sill menu, then on your device, tap Add a Mac… and point it at the code.
3. Away from home, turn on your VPN on your device and tap your Mac.

If it doesn’t connect:

• Your Mac has to be awake, with Sill running and its VPN on. Sill can’t wake a sleeping Mac. To keep it reachable, stop it from sleeping in System Settings › Energy (Energy Saver on macOS 14), or Battery on a laptop.
• Check that your VPN is on on your iPhone or iPad too.
• If your iPhone or iPad says your Mac didn’t answer although your Mac is awake, connect them at home once with Remote Access on, then try again away.
• If your device says your Mac no longer accepts it, it was removed on your Mac. Pair it again.

The picture stutters or lags

• Pick a lower Quality in the settings panel on your iPhone or iPad, or in the Sill menu on your Mac. Away from home, Sill streams at a quality of its own, which the Sill menu doesn’t change: lower it in the settings panel on your iPhone or iPad, tap the quality it suggests when the connection can’t keep up, or set it in Sill’s Settings › Streaming under Away from home.
• Use a USB cable, or 5 GHz Wi-Fi.
• Turn off Direct Wireless Connection if you don’t need it.

Sending a log

A log helps with problems that aren’t listed here. On your Mac, choose Show Log… in the Sill menu, or open the Sill folder in Library/Logs in your home folder. The log lists your window names, device names and network addresses, so read it before you send it.