How to control an Android phone from a Mac

The free way is scrcpy. It shows your Android phone's screen in a window on your Mac and lets you tap with the mouse and type with the Mac keyboard. It needs a cable the first time, USB debugging turned on in the phone's developer options, and Homebrew or a download on the Mac. It does not need an account or an app on the phone. The Relay, which publishes this guide, does not control the phone from a Mac, so if remote control is what you want, scrcpy is the tool.

Publisher note: The Relay publishes this guide and is one of the products discussed. Details about other products come from each maker's own pages, checked on 26 October 2026. Prices and features change, so confirm before you buy.

What does scrcpy do?

Its GitHub page says it "mirrors Android devices (video and audio) connected via USB or TCP/IP" and lets you control them using your computer's keyboard and mouse. It says the phone "requires at least API 21 (Android 5.0)," that it does not require root access or an app installed on the device, and that there is "no account, no ads, no internet required." It runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS under the Apache-2.0 licence. The version listed on the page on 26 October 2026 is v5.0.1.

For background, see what is scrcpy. For a wider view of screen options, see mirror Android to a Mac.

How do I set it up on a Mac?

1. Install it. scrcpy's macOS page gives brew install scrcpy, and says you need adb on your PATH, with brew install --cask android-platform-tools if you lack it. Our install guide walks through it.
2. Turn on developer options and USB debugging on the phone. Menu names differ by maker; the guide what is USB debugging and the Android developer docs show where to look.
3. Plug the phone into the Mac and approve the debugging prompt on the phone. If the Mac asks to approve the USB accessory, allow it.
4. Run scrcpy in Terminal. The phone's screen appears in a window.

scrcpy's own page says: "Make sure you enabled USB debugging on your device(s)," with an exception for OTG mode, where debugging is not required. For a wireless connection, see scrcpy over Wi-Fi.

How do I control the phone once it is open?

Per scrcpy's control page:

• Mouse and keyboard. Clicks act as taps, and keys are sent to the phone. Its keyboard page says the default mode "works everywhere, but it is limited to ASCII and some other characters." Other modes simulate a hardware keyboard: --keyboard=uhid works over TCP/IP, while --keyboard=aoa is USB only. For uhid you must match the phone's keyboard layout to the computer's.
• Pinch and rotate. Gestures are simulated with Ctrl or Shift plus a mouse drag.
• Clipboard. "Any time the Android clipboard changes, it is automatically synchronized to the computer clipboard." Auto-sync can be turned off. The page warns that pasting from the Mac into the phone makes the content readable by any Android app, so avoid pasting passwords this way.
• Control without mirroring. Run with --no-video --no-audio to control the device without showing the screen.
• View only. --no-control turns off input so you can watch without touching.

What are the limits?

• scrcpy connects over USB or TCP/IP, so the phone must be on the cable or on a network the Mac can reach. It is not a cloud service for a phone somewhere else.
• Keyboard input in the default mode is limited to ASCII and some other characters, per scrcpy's own page, so some languages need another mode.
• We have not tested every app. Test the ones you care about before relying on it.
• USB debugging is a developer feature that gives a connected computer wide access, so turn it off when you are done and only connect computers you trust.

What are the other options?

When is The Relay the better choice?

When the job is not controlling the phone but getting its content to the Mac. It copies the clipboard both ways, moves files over your network, shows texts and login codes, notifications, and calls on the Mac, and makes the phone a webcam. One subscription through Google Play covers your phone and your Mac, with a 7-day free trial. You can use scrcpy for the screen and The Relay for everything else. See The Relay vs scrcpy.

Questions people ask

Can I control my Android phone from a Mac without a cable?

Yes, scrcpy can connect over TCP/IP. The setup differs by Android version, so follow scrcpy over Wi-Fi.

Do I need to root my phone?

No. scrcpy's page says it does not require root access or an app installed on the device.

Can I just watch without touching?

Yes. scrcpy's control page says --no-control disables everything that can interact with the device, so you get a view-only window.

Is scrcpy safe?

It is open source under Apache-2.0, and it says it needs no account. Download it from its GitHub page or Homebrew. See is scrcpy safe.