Android and Mac, answered.

PhoneDesq is a Mac app that brings your Android phone to your Mac: its screen, its apps as Mac windows, and its texts, calls, chats, photos, files, notifications and clipboard. It connects over a USB cable or your own Wi-Fi, needs no account, and sends nothing from your phone to any cloud.

Yes — PhoneDesq is free during its launch. When you download it you get a free licence key by email; enter it in PhoneDesq › Settings › About & licence. Without a key it runs as a 14-day free trial. If PhoneDesq becomes paid later, you will be told well in advance.

No. There is nothing to sign up for or sign in to. Your email is used only to send your download code and licence key.

Any Android phone running Android 5 or later — Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Motorola, Oppo, Vivo and others. Opening phone apps as Mac windows needs Android 10 or later, and hearing the phone's sound on the Mac needs Android 11 or later.

Any Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later, with Apple silicon (M1 and later) or an Intel processor.

No. PhoneDesq is for Android phones. An iPhone already works with a Mac through Apple's own features, such as iPhone Mirroring and Continuity.

Connect the phone with a cable or over Wi-Fi, open Files in PhoneDesq, and drag files from the phone to the Finder — or drop files from the Mac onto the phone. Folders, large files and many files at once all work.

Open Gallery in PhoneDesq to see every photo and video on the phone. Drag them to the Finder, or select several and choose Save to Downloads to keep the originals, or Save As to convert photos to JPEG, HEIC or PNG and videos to MP4.

Yes. PhoneDesq does what Android File Transfer did — browse the phone's storage and copy files both ways — and adds a photo gallery, drag and drop, transfers that carry on after an interruption, and works over Wi-Fi as well as a cable.

Yes. Files of several gigabytes copy at cable speed, and if the copy is interrupted — the cable comes out or the Wi-Fi drops — it carries on from where it stopped when the phone is back, then checks the file arrived intact.

Yes. PhoneDesq shows the phone's screen live on the Mac, and you control it with the Mac's keyboard and trackpad: click, type, scroll and drop files onto it. It works over a cable or Wi-Fi, in the main window, its own window, or full screen.

Yes. Clicks, typing, scrolling and swipes on the Mac go to the phone, and the Mac's clipboard can be pasted straight into the phone.

Yes. PhoneDesq opens any Android app in its own resizable Mac window, laid out like a tablet, while the phone stays dark in your pocket. The app still runs on your phone — your Mac shows and controls it. Needs Android 10 or later.

Yes. Open WhatsApp from Chats or Apps in PhoneDesq and it opens as a Mac window — your real WhatsApp, with every conversation, photo and voice note. WhatsApp also has its own Mac app; PhoneDesq is useful when you want the phone's own WhatsApp, or other chat apps alongside it.

Yes, on Android 11 or later. While the phone's screen or an app is open in PhoneDesq, its sound plays through the Mac and the phone stays quiet.

Banking, ID and streaming apps hide their screen from other displays on purpose, to protect what is on it. PhoneDesq names the app instead of showing a black window; use those apps on the phone itself.

Yes. PhoneDesq shows your text messages with their time, read state and which SIM they came from, and you can reply or start a new message from the Mac. The message is sent by your phone, from its own number.

Yes. When the phone rings, PhoneDesq shows who is calling with Answer and Decline, and you hear the call through the Mac. Your voice still goes through the phone's microphone, so keep the phone nearby. You can also call anyone from the Mac's keyboard.

Yes. With the free PhoneDesq app on your phone, the phone's notifications appear in the Mac's Notification Center. Reply inline, use the app's own buttons, and clearing one clears it on both.

Yes. Send what you copied on the Mac to the phone, or bring the phone's clipboard to the Mac, from Clipboard in PhoneDesq.

Both. Plug in a cable once to set everything up; after that PhoneDesq reconnects over your home Wi-Fi by itself, and over Bluetooth where there is no shared network. Or scan one code with your phone's camera for notifications, calls, files, photos and the clipboard with no cable at all.

Android lets a computer show and control the phone's screen only with this setting on. PhoneDesq turns it on only while your phone is connected to your Mac and off when the phone leaves, and shows each step the first time. Texts, calls, notifications and files work without it.

Yes. Some banking apps refuse to open while Developer options are on, so PhoneDesq switches them off when your phone is not connected to your Mac (Settings › Services › Developer options). Your banking apps work as usual whenever you are away from the Mac.

Use a cable that carries data (some only charge), plug it straight into the Mac, unlock the phone, and tap Allow if it asks. If macOS asks "Allow accessory to connect?", choose Allow. PhoneDesq's Connection page checks each step and says what is missing.

No root. The screen, apps and files need nothing installed on the phone; the free PhoneDesq phone app adds notifications, calls and the cable-free connection, and PhoneDesq installs it for you.

Yes. Your messages, calls, contacts, photos, files, notifications and screen go from your phone to your Mac and nowhere else, over your cable or your own Wi-Fi, encrypted. There is no account and no cloud in between.

Only a daily check of whether PhoneDesq is free or paid, a weekly licence check (the key, a random ID for your Mac, its name and the app version), update checks, and — unless you turn them off — crash reports with no personal data. Never anything from your phone.

No. Apps in Samsung's Secure Folder stay on the phone, as Samsung intends.

scrcpy is an excellent free tool for mirroring an Android screen, run from the command line, and PhoneDesq uses its screen engine. PhoneDesq adds a Mac app around it: setup that guides you, Wi-Fi without commands, apps as Mac windows, texts, calls, notifications, photos and files.

Yes — PhoneDesq. Microsoft Phone Link is for Windows only; PhoneDesq brings the same idea to the Mac: your Android phone's texts, calls, notifications, photos and screen, plus its apps as Mac windows.

On the Support page, enter your email under Find my licence key and every key you own is emailed to you. Downloading again with the same email also sends your free key again.

Two. To move it to another Mac, choose Deactivate This Mac in Settings › About & licence on the old one, or activate on the new Mac and free a place there.

PhoneDesq asks for a licence key before opening its sections again; Connection and Settings stay open, and nothing on your phone is changed. While PhoneDesq is free, the key is free — it is in the email we sent when you downloaded.