MirrorAct is a free, open source Mac app that gives Mac owners in the EU an alternative to iPhone Mirroring. It shows your iPhone or iPad screen inside a device frame and records it, over a USB cable or wirelessly through AirPlay, and it also works with Android phones.
The project is published on GitHub by developer sopitz under the GPL-3.0-or-later license. It needs macOS 15 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon, and the build is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple.
MirrorAct Fills the iPhone Mirroring Gap in the EU With USB and AirPlay
The README says Apple’s iPhone Mirroring is not available in the EU, and the app is named after that gap. MirrorAct does not control the iPhone out of the box the way Apple’s feature does, but it puts the screen on the Mac in a device frame for demos, presentations, screenshots and screen recordings. Mac owners in the US already get iPhone Mirroring in macOS Sequoia and later, so for them the draw is the presentation side.
A cable connection captures the screen the way QuickTime does, which gives the lowest latency and carries audio. Wireless mode uses a built-in AirPlay receiver that decodes video with VideoToolbox without buffering. On the iPhone or iPad, you open Control Center, tap Screen Mirroring and pick MirrorAct, then enter the code from the start window the first time.
If MirrorAct does not appear in the list, turn on AirPlay Receiver in macOS under General, AirDrop & Handoff. The mirror window shows only the device in its frame, and a tool rail appears next to it when you move the mouse over it. These are the main tools.
- Device frames drawn for each model, covering notch, Dynamic Island and home button iPhones, iPads and Android phones, in portrait and landscape with seven frame colors
- A style panel for size, frame color, background (transparent, gradient, color or image), padding, shadow and aspect ratio (1:1, 16:9, 9:16 or 4:3)
- Screenshots and recordings with or without the frame and background, exported as PNG or HEVC with alpha for transparent backgrounds, and as H.264 otherwise
- A presentation mode that centers the device on your background in full screen, with no menu bar or Dock
- An editor that frames existing screenshots and recordings, trims video, and combines two screenshots as a duo, either side by side, staggered, tilted or in perspective
Installing MirrorAct Takes One Homebrew Command
With Homebrew, you install the app by running the command below. You can also download the zip file from the Releases page on GitHub and move MirrorAct to your Applications folder. Updates run through brew upgrade --cask mirroract.
brew install --cask sopitz/tap/mirroractFor a cable connection, unlock the iPhone or iPad, tap Trust This Computer and click the device in the start window. On first use, macOS asks for camera access, which is how macOS provides the device screen. After that, a few shortcuts cover most of the work.
⌘Stakes a screenshot and⌘Rstarts and stops a recording⌘Kopens the style panel⌃⌘Fpresents the device in full screen⌘Eopens the editor
Android phones need adb and USB debugging turned on, and the mirror window then controls the phone with mouse, trackpad and keyboard. Control of an iPhone or iPad is optional and aimed at developers. It runs WebDriverAgent on the device through xcodebuild, so it needs Xcode, an Apple developer team and Developer Mode switched on. A free Apple ID works, but its signature expires after 7 days.
Apps that protect their content, such as banking and streaming apps, stay black because iOS blocks them from being mirrored. The README says MirrorAct works locally, sends no data anywhere and has no telemetry.
MirrorAct is a useful stopgap for EU Mac owners and a handy tool for anyone who makes app demos, tutorials or presentations, because framing and recording sit in one app instead of a chain of tools. The setup is heavier than a typical Mac app if you want touch control on an iPhone, and mirroring plus capture is all most people need.
Anyone who wants the opposite direction, with a Mac streamed to an iPad, can read our Mirage app review. If you only need alerts from your phone on your Mac, our guide to iPhone notifications on your Mac covers it.
