Last week, a user contacted us regarding a feature request for Screens Express. The feature was easy to implement and gave us the kick in the butt we needed to finally update our utility app!
What’s New In Version 1.2
Visually, not much. Screens Express now displays the sharable link instead of only showing the Share button:
Other than that addition, we fixed a few crashes, fixed some UI issues and improved stability.
What Does Screens Express Do Anyway?
Many of our users have no idea that Screens Express exists or what it does. Basically, it grants a trusted party access to a Mac via a unique and temporary link. It ensures that the required services are configured and running properly on a Mac and configures the router so that the Mac can be accessed remotely.
Screens Express takes advantage of a Screen Sharing feature that has been part of macOS for several years.
Excerpt from https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25554:
“Anyone may request permission to control screen: Before other computer users begin screen sharing your Mac, they can ask for permission instead of entering a user name and password.”
This feature is very useful for helping friends, family or clients that are far away without needing them to install Screens Connect or deal with complicated router settings.
Once the link has been generated and shared, the trusted party can then launch Screens for iOS or macOS through the link to initiate a connection to a Mac. Before the connection can be established, a screen sharing request appears on the Mac, which the user can accept or deny:
Once the other party is connected, they can control a Mac until you quit Screens Express.
For more details, visit the Screens Express product page.
