Nearscreen
Nearscreen Receiver app icon. Windows & macOS · free

Nearscreen Receiver

The desktop app your iPhone streams to. It listens on your local network and nowhere else.

Download for Windows Download for macOS

Version 0.1.0 · Windows x64 (ZIP, 2.0 MB) · macOS (DMG, 4.2 MB, signed and notarised) · all releases · source

The other half is the phone: Nearscreen for iPhone, free on the App Store.

  • Local network only
  • No outbound connections
  • MIT licensed
The Nearscreen receiver window on macOS showing a live iPhone home screen, with a status overlay reading 20 fps, 0.7 Mbit/s, H.264.

Every state

What the receiver looks like

The Nearscreen receiver waiting screen on macOS.
macOSWaitingYour computer’s name, its address on the network, and a QR code.
The receiver consent dialog with Allow, Always allow and Decline buttons.
WindowsConsentAllow once, always allow, or decline. Nothing streams before you say so.
The iOS system Screen Broadcast sheet with Nearscreen selected.
iPhoneStart BroadcastThe system sheet does the rest — one tap and you are live.
A mirrored iPhone home screen showing app icons, including the Nearscreen app itself.
StreamingYour whole phoneNot one app in a box — the entire screen arrives as you see it, home screens and all.

Open source

Open source,
on purpose.

Nearscreen’s whole promise is that your screen never leaves your local network. You don’t have to take our word for it — this receiver is all the code that ever touches your video, and you’re looking at it: github.com/nearscreen/receiver.

First launch

What your computer will ask

On Windows

Unpack the ZIP and run the receiver. Windows asks once to allow it on your private network — click Allow, or the phone will never find your computer.

The build is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may also warn about an unknown publisher. Choose More info → Run anyway.

On macOS

Open the DMG and drag the app across. It is signed with our Developer ID and notarised by Apple, so a normal double click is all it takes — no Control-click, no warning to dismiss.

macOS asks once for permission to find devices on your local network. Allow it, or the phone will never reach your computer.

Or build it yourself

cargo build --release on Rust stable. Video is decoded by the operating system — Media Foundation on Windows, VideoToolbox on macOS — with no external media libraries.

Capture it in OBS

The window keeps a stable title — a regular Window Capture just works.

No outbound connections

No cloud, no telemetry, no update checks. Grep the source.

MIT licensed

The wire protocol is open — third-party receivers are welcome.